Altbaumer

Players and equipment

Four players in two fixed partnerships, sitting diagonally across from your partner rather than alongside them. A 24-card pack: take a 32-card Skat deck and pull the 7s and 8s, or a standard pack stripped down to ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine of each suit. Suits run Clubs, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds.

Two cards sit above the whole deck as permanent top trumps, in every hand, whatever suit gets named: the Queen of Clubs and the Jack of Clubs, nicknamed the Big Tree and the Little Tree. The Big Tree is the single highest card in the game and the Little Tree the second highest, both ahead of every other trump. Below them the named trump suit ranks ace, king, ten, queen, jack, nine, and a plain suit ranks ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine.

The deal

Shuffle out the four nines and have each player draw one blind: the two red nines form one side, the two black nines the other, and whoever draws the nine of clubs deals first. The dealer shuffles the rest of the pack with an overhand shuffle, and the player to the dealer's left cuts. A cut that turns up a Tree lets that player keep it face up on the table, and if the very next card is the other Tree they may take that one too.

Deal anticlockwise — the reverse of most trick games — in two rounds, three cards then two, for five a hand. Anyone who has already taken a Tree (or two) from the cut gets correspondingly fewer cards in the first round, so every hand still ends with five cards each. The four cards left over sit face down as the stock. The deal passes to the right after every hand.

Play

Before the first card is led, the table names trumps. The dealer turns the stock's top card face up. Forehand — the player to the dealer's right — may take it as trumps, discarding a card face down to the stock in its place, or refuse it and have the dealer turn the next, and the next, until a different suit appears; whichever suit that is becomes trumps on the spot, and forehand still takes that card and discards one back. If all four stock cards turn out to be the same suit, that suit is trumps outright and forehand takes all four, discarding any four cards in return. A turned Tree counts as Clubs for this purpose.

Forehand and forehand's partner are the trump makers for the hand, whichever suit ends up as trumps — even one forced on them by a refusal — and the other side are the defenders.

Once trumps are set, either forehand or their partner may announce they are playing the hand alone. Their partner lays their cards face down and sits the hand out, and if the lone player then takes every trick, their side wins the whole match on the spot — see Scoring.

Forehand leads the first trick. Follow suit if you can; holding none of the suit led, you must play a trump if you have one, and only with neither may you play something else. The two Trees count as trumps for following suit, with one exception: if an ordinary club — ace, king, ten or nine — is led while some other suit is trumps, you may follow with any club at all, Tree included. Holding no ordinary club in that case, you must play a Tree if you have one, and only with no clubs and no Trees do you fall back to playing the trump suit. Lead a Tree itself, though, and the exception disappears — everyone must play a trump if they hold one, a Tree or a card of the trump suit, and only a player with neither may play any other card. The highest trump in a trick wins it (the Trees above everything), or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played, and the winner leads next. You never have to play a card that beats the one currently winning the trick.

Scoring

A hand on the sheet is one deal, played out to its fifth and final trick. Whichever side wins three tricks or more enters that hand's score in its own column — either partner can type it, and the host may enter or correct anybody's — a 1 for taking three or four tricks, a 2 for sweeping all five. The other side enters 0.

The trump-making side carries one extra risk. Fail to take three tricks while you named trumps, and the hand's real scoring marks your side down a point as well as crediting the defenders their 1 or 2. The score table only takes whole numbers from zero up, so there is no cell for that minus: enter 0 for the trump makers' hand as usual, and let the running total sit a point higher than a paper slate would show. Say so at the table if you would rather keep that penalty by hand on the side.

A lone hand changes the maths entirely. If the player going alone takes all five tricks, their side wins the whole match at that instant, whatever the running total reads — enter enough for that side to reach or pass five and bank the match straight away, rather than waiting on the usual count.

The target line is 5, and the first side to reach or cross it banks the match. End match is any member's door for a hand that breaks up before either side gets there. SquareScores deals nothing and sees no card — it only holds the hand-by-hand tally you enter.

A worked hand

Your side is forehand's team, so you are the trump makers, and diamonds are turned trumps. Between your two hands you win three tricks — one with the ace of diamonds, one with the king of diamonds and one with the Little Tree — and the other side takes the remaining two.

Tricks won

3

ace of diamonds, king of diamonds, Little Tree

Three tricks out of five scores, but it is not a sweep, so this hand is worth exactly one point.

Your side's column

1

-

Other side's column

0

-

Had your side taken only two tricks instead, your column for the hand would read 0 — the point you lose as trump makers has no cell — and the other side's would read 1, for its three tricks.

Ending

Hands continue, the deal moving one seat to the right each time, until a side's running total reaches 5 or more — that banks the match. Traditionally the side that gets there first also wins one leg of a longer contest, settled by playing a second such race and, if each side has won one, a short decider of a single hand, first to three tricks. SquareScores tracks each match on its own; launch a fresh one for the decider and let the running standings across your matches say who came out ahead.

Hold the Trees for the moments that matter

The Big Tree and Little Tree beat every other card in play, trump or not, so a side that keeps both back rather than spending them early usually controls the fifth trick when it counts most. A Tree thrown away to win a cheap trick in the second or third round is a Tree that is not there for the finish.

Watch for the ordinary-club exception

A plain club led under some other trump suit is the one moment a Tree can be played without being forced — and the one moment a player holding no ordinary clubs is forced to spend a Tree they would rather have kept. Know your own club count before the lead comes round, not after you have already followed.

Think before refusing the turned-up suit

Forehand's side are the trump makers whatever suit ends up as trumps, and refusing the turned card buys only one more draw: the first card of a different suit becomes trumps automatically, whether it suits your hand or not. Keep the turned suit if your hand is strong in it, and refuse only when almost any other suit would serve you better — a trump maker who fails to take three tricks costs their own side a point as well as handing the defenders one or two.

Save the lone hand for a genuine lock

Going alone is a huge swing — win every trick and the match ends on the spot — but it means playing five cards against two full hands with no help at all. Call it only when your own hand already holds both Trees, or enough top cards in one suit to run the table without your partner's help.

Read the discard, not just the lead

Whoever takes the turned-up trump card discards a card back to the stock face down, and a careful player remembers roughly what that was. It never returns to play, but knowing which card went missing from a hand often says what they were trying to get rid of.

St. Märgen scoring

A version once played in the village of St. Märgen, some way from where the game is best known today, kept the same hands and the same trump rule but scored them on a different slate: a line down the middle of the board with each side's name at the top, and a round mark rather than Altbaumer's curly line for a side that failed as trump maker. Nobody now remembers exactly how those marks converted into a winning line, so if your table wants to try it, agree the detail between yourselves before you deal.

How many cards do you deal in Altbaumer?

Five each, dealt anticlockwise in two rounds of three then two, with four cards left over as the stock. A player who took a Tree (or two) during the cut gets correspondingly fewer cards in the first round, so every hand still ends with five cards each.

What are the Big Tree and Little Tree in Altbaumer?

They are the Queen and Jack of Clubs, and they are always the two highest trumps in the game, whatever suit is turned up as trumps that hand. The Queen — the Big Tree — outranks the Jack, the Little Tree, and both outrank every other card in play.

Can you play Altbaumer with a standard 52-card deck?

Yes — strip it down first. Take out the twos through eights and any jokers, which leaves the ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine of each suit, 24 cards in all. A 32-card Skat pack with its 7s and 8s removed gets you to the same place.

What happens if nobody wants the turned-up trump suit?

Only forehand chooses. Forehand may refuse the turned card once; the dealer then keeps turning stock cards until one of a different suit shows, and that suit is trumps automatically — forehand takes that card into hand and discards one back to the stock. If all four stock cards are the same suit, that suit is trumps and forehand takes all four, discarding any four in their place.

Can a player go it alone in Altbaumer?

Yes — once trumps are set, either half of the trump-making side may announce they are playing the hand solo. Their partner sits that hand out face down, and if the lone player wins all five tricks, their side wins the whole match immediately, however far behind it was.

Why does play go anticlockwise in Altbaumer?

Nobody is entirely sure, but the anticlockwise direction is one of the few clues that the game is old. Both the deal and the turn to lead follow the same anticlockwise path.