Instructions Königrufen

Objective of the Game

Königrufen is a traditional Austrian card game belonging to the Tarot family of games. The goal is to score the most points by winning tricks. Players attempt to strategically use their cards to score more points than their opponents.

Cards and Basic Rules

The game is played using a Tarot deck of 54 cards. This deck consists of 22 trump cards (Tarocks) and 32 suit cards. The suit cards are divided into four suits: hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. Each suit has eight cards: king, queen, cavalier, jack, and the values 10, 9, 8, and 7.

The Tarocks are numbered from I (Pagat) to XXI plus the Sküs (Fool).

Game Sequence

1. Shuffling and Dealing: First, the deck is well shuffled. Each player receives a certain number of cards until all cards are dealt out.

2. Bidding: The first phase involves bidding, where players determine who the declarer (the player who announces the game) is and what type of game will be played. The most common types are:

   1. Solo: A player plays alone against the others.
   2. Rufer (Caller): The player calls a king card they do not have, and the player holding this card becomes their partner.
   3. Calling the King: If playing the Rufer game, the player calls a king to determine their partner.

3. Playing: The player to the left of the dealer leads the first card. The highest trump or the highest card of the led suit wins the trick. Tricks are collected and played in turn.

4. Scoring: At the end of the game, the collected tricks are totaled for points. Certain cards carry point values, such as:

   1. King: 4 points
   2. Queen: 3 points
   3. Cavalier: 2 points
   4. Jack: 1 point
   5. Tarock I (Pagat), XXI, and Sküs: particularly valuable

5. Settlement: Players settle with the points they have won. The points can also depend on special bids or calls during the bidding phase (e.g., Pagatultimo, Mondfangen, etc.)

Strategic Tips

• Tarock cards are generally powerful; use them judiciously to secure crucial tricks.
• Keep an eye open for call combinations (Calling a king means you have someone on your team).
• Track trump cards and played kings.
• Card counting: Try to keep track of cards that have already been played to improve your probability of winning upcoming tricks.

Königrufen is a game full of strategic depth and definitely worth learning, especially if you enjoy trick-taking games or traditional card games.