Objective of the Game

Schafkopf is a traditional German card game played with four players. The goal is to win tricks and achieve a predetermined score either as a solo player or as part of a team known as the "Sägers."

Game Components

• A deck of 32 cards (Skat deck), including the suits: Eichel (Clubs), Grün (Spades), Herz (Hearts), Schellen (Diamonds), each with the following cards: Ace, King, Ober (Queen), Unter (Jack), Ten, Nine, Eight, and Seven.

Gameplay

1. Dealing Cards: The dealer shuffles and deals eight cards to each player.

2. Bidding: Players announce if they want to play a solo game or not. Possible solos include:

3. Suit Solo: One of the four suits is chosen as the trump.
4. Wenzel (Officer's Game): All "Unter" (Jacks) are trump.
5. Heart Solo: Trump are all cards of the Heart suit, including Ober and Unter.
6. Geier: All "Ober" (Queens) are trump.

7. Bettel: The aim is to win no tricks; there are no trumps.

8. Playing the Game: The player to the left of the dealer starts the first trick by playing a card. Subsequently, each player, in clockwise order, plays a card:

9. You must follow the suit if possible.
10. Trump cards can be used to win the trick.

11. If unable to follow suit or trump, any card can be discarded.

12. Scoring Points: At the end of each game, points from the won tricks are counted:

13. Ace: 11 points
14. 10: 10 points
15. King: 4 points
16. Ober: 3 points
17. Unter: 2 points
18. Others: no points

The team or solo player scoring more than half the points (at least 61 points) wins.

Special Features and Strategies

• Running Trumps: Additional points for consecutive trump cards starting from the highest.
• Strategy: The solo player should strategically use trumps and eliminate key opponent cards. The team should aim to stop the solo player by controlling the tricks and effectively using their trumps.
• Communication: Since players cannot verbally communicate, the play behavior significantly hints at strategy and card holding.

Schafkopf requires not only luck but also strategy and teamwork. A player can succeed by closely observing their own cards and the opponents' strategies. The game ends once a player reaches the target score or after a set number of rounds.