GameTwist

Sheepshead is a game for four players, which can be played with either a long hand (32 cards) or short hand (24 cards). A deck used for Sheepshead has the following suits in order:

• Acorns
• Leaves
• Hearts
• Bells

The individual card values are as follows:

 

Card	Points
Ace	11 points
10	10 points
King	4 points
Over	3 points
Under	2 points
9	no value
8	no value
7	no value

 
Before the round begins, a ‘partner’ or ‘lone’ hand can be announced. The ranking order of the different games is as follows:

 

Solo-Tout Wenz-Tout Geier-Tout Solo Wenz Geier	1 vs. 3
Partner hand	2 vs. 2

  
Over and Under are trumps in every game except for Geier and Wenz. The ranking order of the cards is as follows:

Acorns Over – Leaves Over – Hearts Over – Bells Over – Acorns Under – Leaves Under – Hearts Under – Bells Under.

In partner games, Hearts are also trumps. For Solo games the announcer chooses the trump suit. For Geier (Tout) games only the Over are trumps and for Wenz (Tout) games only the Unders are trumps.

The trick order of the cards after the trumps for all of the suits is as follows:

Ace – 10 – King – 9 – 8 – 7

Order of play

At the beginning of the game each player receives either 8 or six cards. A round of bids if then made. The player with the highest bid is the playmaker. If there are no bids, the cards are re-shuffled and a new round begins. If a playmaker is chosen, the player to the left of the dealer begins by laying a card. Before the second card is played, an opponent can call “Stoss” (double). This signals that the opponent does not believe the declaring  team can reach the necessary points total. The playmaker can, in turn, call “Gegenstoss” (redouble). The cards are then played. The trick won last may be seen by all of the players.

Following suit

During the course of a round, each player must follow suit or trump whenever possible, irrespective of whether the card he/she holds is lower or higher than the one just laid.

If a player cannot follow suit, he/she can either lay a trump (and win the trick), or a card of a different suit. Likewise any suit can be played when trump is called for and the player has none in his/her hand.

In a partner hand, the called Ace must be laid when the corresponding suit appears for the first time. If this suit is not laid in the first seven tricks, the Ace may be played in the last trick.

If the called partner wants to lead with the called suit, he/she may only do so by playing the Ace. However, if the player has at least three other cards of the suit, one of these cards can be ‘played ahead’ the Ace. The called Ace may then be played in a later trick.

The individual games

Partner hand
The playmaker selects his/her partner by naming a non-trump Ace that he/she does not have. The player must, however, have at least one card of that suit in the hand. The partner may not acknowledge the partnership, yet it will become apparent during the game. 

Geier
In this game, only the four Overs are trumps. Acorns Over – Leaves Over – Hearts Over – Bells Over.

Wenz
In this game, only the four Unders are trumps. Acorns Under – Leaves Under – Hearts Under – Bells Under.

Solo
The playmaker may choose the trump. 

Geier Tout
The same as Geier, but the playmaker must win all of the tricks.

Wenz Tout
The same as Wenz, but the playmaker must win all of the tricks.

Solo Tout
The same as Solo, but the playmaker must win all of the tricks.

Runs

Runs are uninterrupted sequences of Overs and Unders, which are calculated at the end of the game. For partner hands and Solos, the runs begin with Acorns Over. For Wenz games, the run begins with Acorns Under. For Geier games the run begins with Acorn Over.

End of the game

At the end of the game the points achieved by each team are shown:

• If a team reached between 61 and 90 points, this team wins. 
• If both teams reached 60 points, the team, in which the playmaker is, loses.
• If a team has won 91 points or more, this team wins a “Schneider”. The team without the playmaker needs only 90 points to achieve a “Schneider”.
• If a team wins all 8 tricks, this team wins “Schwarz”.

The value of the game won is as follows:

 

Game	Points
Partner hand	1
Geier	5
Wenz	5
Solo	5
Geier Tout	10
Wenz Tout	10
Solo Tout	10
Schneider	+ 1
Schwarz	+ 1 (where there is no ”Schneider or “Schwarz” in the Tout variants)
Runs	+ 1
Double	Double the points value
Redouble	Quadruple the points value