How to Play

Letzter Stich is a German last-trick game where every trick you win before the final one is worthless. Arrange your cards so the last trick is yours.

Letzter Stich, German for 'last trick,' is a minimalist trick-taking game recorded as early as 1707 and still played across German-speaking Europe as a gentle family game. Each deal is a full hand of tricks played without trumps, but every trick except the very last is worthless. The single goal is to arrange your cards, your leads, and your discards so that when the final trick falls, you are the one holding the card that wins it. The puzzle lies in spending strong cards without wasting them and in managing who leads as the hand shrinks.

Players

Letzter Stich works for 3 to 6 players. Three or four makes for the sharpest play because individual choices matter more; with five or six the hand is shorter and there is more luck. Two-player play is possible but the game loses much of its bite since there are only a handful of cards per player.

Card Deck

Use a 32-card French-suited Skat pack (Sevens, Eights, Nines, Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces in all four suits). With 3 players, remove all four Eights to give a clean 28-card deal of 8 cards each. No Jokers. There is no trump suit. Cards rank in their natural order high to low within each suit: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7.

Objective

Win the last trick of the hand. Only that trick earns any points; all earlier tricks are discarded without scoring. Over a match, the first player to reach an agreed target (commonly 10 points) wins.

Setup and Deal

1. Decide the match target (10 points is the tradition) and a per-hand stake if you want to play for chips.
2. Pick a first dealer by cutting; the deal passes clockwise each hand.
3. With 3 players, remove the four Eights. Shuffle and deal all cards one at a time clockwise so every player has the same number: 8 cards for 3 players, 7 for 4, 6 for 5, 5 for 6. Any remaining cards are set aside face-down and unused.
4. No trump is turned. There is no bidding or auction.
5. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.

Gameplay

1. On your turn, play exactly one card face-up to the centre of the table.
2. Follow suit: You must play a card of the suit that was led if you hold one. If you are void in the led suit (have no cards of it) you may play any card from your hand.
3. No trumps, no over-head requirement: There is no trump suit, so only cards of the led suit can win the trick. You are not required to play a higher card even if you can; you may slough a low card of the led suit whenever you want. This is the main difference from Femkort.
4. Winning a trick: The trick is won by the highest card of the led suit. The winner gathers the trick face-down in front of them (the pile will not be counted, but it signals who leads next) and leads the next trick.
5. Early tricks: Every trick before the last simply establishes who leads next. A player who deliberately wins a mid-hand trick gets control of the next lead but uses up a valuable card. A player who deliberately loses mid-hand tricks conserves cards but surrenders the lead.
6. The last trick: The hand continues until every player has played their final card. The player who wins that last trick scores the agreed value for the hand (typically 1 point). No other trick scores, regardless of its cards.

Scoring

• Standard scoring: The winner of the last trick scores 1 point per hand.
• Higher-stake scoring: Some tables score 10, 20, or 50 points per last trick when they want faster matches.
• Low-card bonus (optional): Award a double score when the last trick is won with a 7, 8 or 9, rewarding players who set up an unlikely winner.
• Running match: Accumulate points across hands until one player reaches the agreed target (usually 10).
• Stake play: Each player antes one chip per hand; the last-trick winner collects the pot.

Winning

A single hand is won by the player who wins the last trick. A match is won by the first player to reach the agreed score target, or by whoever has the most chips when the session ends. Ties in the match are resolved by a one-hand playoff between the tied players.

Common Variations

• Trumpf Letzter Stich: Turn the final dealt card face-up to set the trump suit. Trumps beat any non-trump and may be played only when a player is void in the led suit (or, in some tables, whenever the player wishes). Adds a layer of suit-management to the endgame.
• Low-card bonus: Double the score if the last trick is won with a card of rank 9 or below.
• Second-trick-last counts too: Both the final and penultimate tricks score; some groups play this when the hand size is long.
• Penalty edition: Instead of the winner scoring, give a penalty point to every player who failed to win the last trick; useful for large tables.
• Progressive hand size: Start at 5 cards each and add one per hand up to the deck limit, then back down, like Oh Hell.

Tips and Strategy

• Hoard one strong card per suit for the last trick. Aces and Kings are only useful if they are still in your hand when the last trick is led.
• Void a suit early. If you can get rid of all your cards of one suit, you gain the freedom to slough off your worst card whenever that suit is led against you.
• Watch who leads. The player who wins the second-to-last trick chooses the suit of the last trick, which makes winning that penultimate trick a surprisingly strong play if you hold the strongest card in a specific suit.
• Count Aces by suit. When you see all four Aces played in the early tricks, Kings become the de-facto top card and change your calculations.
• Lead a suit where you hold the low cards to force opponents to spend their strong cards early, then take the last trick with the Ace you kept back.

Glossary

• Trick: One round of play where every player contributes one card; won by the highest card of the led suit.
• Lead: To play the first card of a trick, which sets the suit the others must follow.
• Follow suit: To play a card of the same suit as the card that was led.
• Void: Holding no cards of a given suit; only then may a player play off-suit.
• Slough: To intentionally play a low, worthless card when you cannot or do not want to win a trick.
• Forehand: The player to the dealer's left, who leads the first trick.
• Skat pack: The 32-card German deck of Sevens through Aces used in this and many other German games.A♠7♠