Bauernstoss

Players and equipment

Four players in two fixed partnerships, and a 32-card pack — the same cards Skat uses: ace, ten, king, queen, jack and the 9, 8 and 7 of each suit, nothing lower. The four jacks are always trumps, whatever suit is printed on them; no suit is trumps until the bidding below names one. Deal and play both run clockwise.

Ace

11

-

Ten

10

-

King

4

-

Queen

3

called the Dame

Jack

2

called the Bube; always a trump

Nine, Eight, Seven

0

worth nothing

Every card's points add up to 120, which is what a deal is fought over.

Trumps rank highest to lowest: the four jacks first, then ace, ten, king, queen, nine, eight, seven of whichever suit is named trumps. Among the jacks, the jack of clubs is highest; the order of the other three is not fixed, so agree it before play — most tables use Skat's: spades, then hearts, then diamonds. A non-trump suit ranks the same way, ace down to seven. Treat all four jacks as trumps the moment you are deciding whether you can follow the suit led — never as the suit printed on the card.

The deal

Before the first hand of a session, decide partners: deal cards face up, one at a time around the table, until two players have been dealt a jack. Those two play together for the rest of the session, and the table rearranges if it needs to so that each player sits between two opponents. Set the app's two sides to match before the first match — Bauernstoss keeps the same two partnerships game after game, so this is a once-a-session job.

The dealer shuffles, the player to the dealer's right cuts, and the dealer deals the whole pack out in batches of four, so each player ends with eight cards. The deal passes to the left after every hand.

Play

Before a card is led, the table bids for the right to name trumps. Starting with Vorhand — the player to the dealer's left — and going clockwise to the dealer, each player passes, names a number, or bids a Solo. A number is how many trumps you are offering to hold once your chosen suit is named trumps: your jacks plus every card of that suit. You need at least one jack to bid at all, and the player offering the longest suit wins the right to name it trumps. A tie for longest is settled by comparing the tied players' lowest card in their proposed suit — the higher one wins, and a tie on that goes to whoever spoke first — except that two players on the same side, tied for longest, may simply agree between them who plays, with nothing to compare. Vorhand, or whoever is first to speak once everyone before them has passed, must bid rather than pass while holding one, two or three jacks; holding none at all, you must pass. Holding all four jacks you must bid a Big Solo or pass — and if that player passes and so does everybody else, the hand is thrown in and the next player deals.

Instead of naming a suit length, the holder of the jack of clubs — the single highest card in the game — may bid a Solo and names the trump suit: an undertaking to win all eight tricks alone. A Solo beats any numbered bid and ends the bidding at once, and it cannot be bid on the first deal of each new game to 20. A Small Solo lets the bidder swap one card with their partner unseen, except that a jack must be passed face up; a Big Solo is played with the bidder's partner's whole hand face down and out of the hand entirely. Either way, only the bidder and the two opponents play the cards.

Vorhand leads to the first trick, unless a Small or Big Solo was bid by Vorhand's own partner — then Vorhand sits out and the dealer's partner leads instead. Follow the suit led if you can, treating every jack as a trump rather than its printed suit. Holding none of the suit led, you must play a trump if you have one — even if the trick has already been trumped by a partner, or you cannot beat what is already there — and only with neither the suit nor a trump in hand may you play anything you like. If a jack has already been played to the trick, anybody playing a trump afterwards must beat it with a higher jack if they are able to. The trick is won by its highest trump, or, where none was played, by its highest card of the suit led; the winner of each trick leads the next. In a Solo, the moment anybody but the bidder wins a trick, the Solo has failed and the hand stops there and then.

Scoring

Scoring runs on marks, chalked up on a line down the score sheet, though it is card points that decide the marks. Whichever side holds "the chalk" needs fewer points to score: on the first deal of each new game the chalk belongs to the side of whoever is dealt the jack of clubs, and after that a deal's own result says who holds it going into the next one.

Either side wins every trick

3 marks

Schwarz; the sweeping side scores and holds or takes the chalk

The chalk-holder takes 91 or more card points

2 marks

Schneider; keeps the chalk

The chalk-holder takes 42 to 90 card points

1 mark

the ordinary result; keeps the chalk

The chalk-holder takes 30 to 41 card points

1 mark

nothing for them; the other side (79 to 90) scores and takes the chalk

The chalk-holder takes under 30 card points

2 marks

nothing for them; the other side (91 or more) scores and takes the chalk

A Solo is worth more, and is all or nothing. A Small Solo scores 8 marks and a Big Solo 12, to whichever side actually wins every trick — the bidder's side if the Solo comes off, the two opponents if the bidder loses even a single trick — and the winning side also takes the chalk.

On SquareScores a round on the sheet is one deal. The side that scored marks types its own number into its own column for that round; the side that scored nothing types a 0, because a blank cell on this sheet means a deal nobody has entered yet, not a deal that paid out nothing. Either partner may type into their side's column, and the host may correct any cell on the sheet. The running total down a column is the game's score, and the first side to reach 20 marks or more banks the match — End match is any player's tap, not only the host's.

A worked hand

Team A already holds the chalk, 12 marks to Team B's 9. This deal Team A's tricks bring in both red aces, the ten of clubs and the jack of diamonds among others — 95 card points in all — against 25 for Team B.

Team A's card points

95

aces, tens and a jack among their tricks

Team B's card points

25

the rest of the pack

This deal's result

2 marks

Schneider — 91 or more, with the chalk already theirs

Team A's marks

14

up from 12

Team B's marks

9

unchanged

Team A types 2 into their own column for this round; Team B types 0 into theirs, because they are still in the game, just pointless on this deal. Team A keep the chalk into the next hand, needing only 42 again.

Ending

A side needs 20 marks or more to win the game outright. On SquareScores the match banks itself the moment a side crosses the line — any player may tap End match, you do not need to wait on the host or on whoever dealt. A session often runs several games to 20 back to back with the same two partnerships; start the next match and carry straight on.

Bid your shape, not just your length

The longest suit you can offer is not always the one you want trumps in. Holding three jacks, the ace and ten of clubs, the king of spades and two low hearts, you could bid 5 with clubs as trumps — but bidding 4 with spades as trumps can be stronger: the club ace and ten still win as side cards, and the king of spades becomes a trump with a fair chance of taking a trick of its own.

Keep track of the chalk

The whole shape of a deal changes with who holds the chalk. Holding it, 42 is enough to keep scoring every hand, so play safely for the middling points that get you there. Chasing it from the other side, nothing short of 79 earns you anything at all, so a cautious defence that merely survives is worth exactly as much as folding outright — play for the full point count, not just for tricks.

Reading a Solo

A Solo bid tells you everything about the hand before a card is played: the bidder holds the jack of clubs and is confident enough to go it alone against both of you. Lead your own long suits early and force the bidder to follow before they can establish their trumps, because a single trick lost by the bidder loses the whole thing for their side.

The jack-overtake rule is not optional

It is easy to forget, mid-trick, that playing a trump over a jack that is already down obliges you to beat it with a higher jack if you hold one — you cannot simply trump low and hope. Count the jacks as they fall; with all four gone, every remaining trump is just a plain card in that suit's own order.

Play the partner you were dealt

The jack deal gives you a partner, not a choice, and a strong Bauernstoss side is one that bids to its partner's known cards rather than its own hand alone. A player who has already passed with no jacks has told you something useful — bid with that in mind rather than as if the hand were yours to win alone.

Alter Schoofkopp

Played in nearby Niederhochstadt under the name Old Schafkopf. The target is 15 marks rather than 20, sometimes drawn as a sheep's head on the score sheet so the first side to finish the drawing wins. The chalk on the opening deal goes to whichever side takes 61 or more card points and banks a mark at once, rather than to whoever holds the jack of clubs; a 60–60 split hands the chalk to the trump-maker's opponents instead, and after that 42 and 79 apply as usual. Schneider needs only 89 points rather than 91, and Schwarz is worth 4 marks instead of 3. A player dealt all four jacks may simply make trumps in the ordinary way, with no Solo forced on them, and an equal-length tie is always settled by comparing lowest trumps, even between partners. Following a trump lead is stricter: beat the highest trump played so far if you can. On a plain-suit lead you cannot follow, you still must trump as usual, but need not beat an earlier trump or overtake a jack with a higher one. There is no Small Solo — only the Big Solo, called "Lech Dich" — and bidding it stakes the whole game: the bidding side wins the game outright on success and loses it outright on failure.

Deutscher Schafkopf

The 19th-century book game behind both of the above, described in accounts going back to 1811 and not known to survive at any table today. It used German-suited cards, with the Unter as the top trumps and the Ten ranked between the Ober and the Nine rather than between the Ace and King. The minimum bid was five trumps, with no Solo of any kind, and a length tie was settled by adding up the value of the whole trump suit rather than comparing single cards. The trump-making side scored 1 mark for 61–90 points and 2 for 91 or more; their opponents scored 2 for 61–90 and 4 for 91 or more. Winning every trick won a whole extra game outright, and a 60–60 split was settled by the next deal. Marks were drawn as a sheep's head, completed at 9.

How many cards are dealt in Bauernstoss?

Eight each, from a 32-card pack dealt out in batches of four. The pack is the same 32 cards Skat uses — ace down to seven in each suit, nothing lower.

Who decides the partnerships?

The cards do. At the start of a session, deal face up around the table until two players have been dealt a jack — those two are partners for the rest of the session, and the table shuffles seats if needed so nobody sits beside their own partner.

Can one player be dealt all four jacks?

Yes, and when it happens that player must either bid a Big Solo — undertaking to win every trick alone, with their partner's hand face down and out of play — or pass. If they pass and everyone else does too, the hand is thrown in with no result and the next player deals.

What happens if you cannot bid?

Holding no jack at all, you must pass; there is nothing to offer. Holding one, two or three jacks, you must bid rather than pass if the bidding has reached you with everyone before you having passed — only once somebody else has already named a number are you free to pass yourself.

What is "the chalk"?

The chalk is which side currently has the easier target. Holding it, you need only 42 of the 120 card points in a deal to score a mark and keep it; chasing it, you need 79 before you score anything at all. A poor deal costs you the chalk as well as the hand.

How do you win Bauernstoss?

By being the first side to reach 20 marks or more. Big and Small Solos can swing several marks at once, so a game can turn very quickly on one bold bid.