Sixty-Six
The German game Schnapsen grew out of, played with four more cards and a longer talon. The last trick is worth ten, which means a deal can end level, and a level deal is scored by nobody and played again.
The cards
- Twenty-four cards: ace, ten, king, queen, jack and nine in each suit. The nine is worth nothing and is there to be thrown away.
- An ace is worth 11 card points, a ten 10, a king 4, a queen 3, a jack 2 and a nine none. That is 120 in the pack before the last trick is paid.
- The ten beats the king. Only the ace is above it.
- Six cards each. The next card is turned face up for trumps and the remaining eleven go on top of it, leaving twelve to draw.
Playing a trick
- The non-dealer leads first. While the talon has cards you may play anything: there is no need to follow suit and no need to try to win.
- A trump beats a plain suit; otherwise the higher card of the suit led takes the trick.
- The winner draws first and the loser second, so the face-up trump card falls to the loser of the last drawing trick.
- Once the talon is closed or spent you must follow suit and beat the led card if you can, and trump it if you are void.
Declaring
- A king and queen of one suit, shown when you lead, are worth 20, or 40 in trumps. You must lead one of the two, and only one marriage may be shown per lead.
- The 20 or 40 counts only once you have taken a trick.
- No marriage may be declared from the moment the talon is closed or runs out. Schnapsen allows it and this game does not.
- Holding the nine of trumps you may swap it for the face-up trump card before leading, but only once you have already taken a trick.
- You may close the talon either before or after drawing, which Schnapsen does not allow. Close before drawing and both hands stay one card short.
- If your opponent closes and you hold the nine of trumps, you may take the trump card in exchange at that moment even with no trick to your name.
How a game ends
- Sixty-six card points wins the deal, and you must declare it: just after taking a trick or just after showing a marriage.
- Going out with fewer than sixty-six hands your opponent the deal for 2 game points, whatever their tricks.
- A correct declaration scores 1 game point if your opponent holds 33 or more, 2 if fewer, and 3 if they have no trick at all.
- If nobody goes out, the last trick is worth 10 extra card points, making 130 in the pack, and the higher total wins on that same scale.
- Equal totals after that bonus is a drawn deal: nobody scores it and it is dealt again. No other game here can end that way.
- Close and fail to reach sixty-six and your opponent scores 2, or 3 if they had no trick when you closed. If instead they go out first, they score 2.
- Both players start on nothing and add what they win. The first to 7 game points or more wins the match.
- A resignation ends the game, and a missed move deadline is a loss, exactly like resigning.
These are the German rules, and Schnapsen is the Austrian game descended from them. They differ in thirteen places, and this page follows Sixty-Six throughout: taking a rule from each would give a game no rule book describes.
Sixty-Six terms
- The talon
- The twelve cards left to draw, the face-up trump card among them.
- A marriage
- King and queen of a suit, shown when leading: twenty, or forty in trumps, and only while the talon is open.
- Closing
- Stopping the draw by turning the trump card down. Here you may do it before drawing as well as after.
- The last trick
- Worth ten card points on top of its cards, but only in a deal nobody went out in.
- A drawn deal
- Equal card points once the last trick is paid. Nobody scores and the same dealer deals again.
- Schneider
- Losing with fewer than 33 card points, which costs 2 game points rather than 1.