How to Play Schnapsen
How to Play
Schnapsen is Austria's quintessential two-player card game, descended from German Sixty-Six. A 20-card deck, marriage declarations, the trump-Jack swap, and the tactically decisive 'closing' of the stock make it one of the most strategically rich two-handed games in existence.
Schnapsen is the national two-player card game of Austria and Hungary and arguably the most strategically demanding 20-card game in the world. A direct descendant of the older German game Sixty-Six, Schnapsen has been refined over 200 years into a taut contest of memory, timing, and bluff. Two players alternate drawing from a tiny stock, declare marriages, swap the trump Jack, and ultimately race to 66 card points, with match results scored in 'Bummerl' (countdown-from-seven game points).
Quick Reference
- 2 players; use a 20-card deck (Jacks through Aces of four suits).
- Deal 5 cards each in 3+2 batches; flip the next card face-up as trump.
- Place the stock face-down over the trump card, leaving it visible.
- Open play (stock >0): play any card; trick winner draws first, loser second.
- Declare marriages (K+Q same suit) before leading: 20 points, 40 if trump.
- Close the stock before leading to lock in strict follow-suit rules.
- Closed play: must follow suit, else trump, else overtrump; else any card.
- Card values: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2.
- Win: 1 game point (opponent 33+), 2 (opponent 1-32), 3 (opponent 0).
- Bummerl: subtract wins from 7; first to 0 wins the match.
Players
Schnapsen is strictly two-player. Variants for three players (Dreierschnapsen) and four in partnerships (Bauernschnapsen) exist; this entry describes the classical two-player game.
Card Deck
- A 20-card Schnapsen pack: the Ace, Ten, King, Queen, and Jack of each of the four suits. Remove all 2s through 9s from a standard deck, or use a purpose-made Austrian Schnapsen pack.
- Rank order within each suit: Ace (high), Ten, King, Queen, Jack (low).
- Card point values (120 pips total): Ace = 11, Ten = 10, King = 4, Queen = 3, Jack = 2.
- Note the Ten outranks the King (both in rank and in pips), a shared feature with related Central European games.
Objective
Score 66 card points (or more) before your opponent during a single deal. The first player to claim 66 collects game points depending on the margin. Matches are scored in 'Bummerl': you start at 7 game points and subtract your winnings until zero. Whoever reaches zero first wins the Bummerl.
Setup and Deal
- Cut for first dealer; lower card deals.
- Shuffle; the non-dealer cuts. Deal three cards to each player in a single round, then flip the next card face-up in the centre to name the trump suit. Place the remaining stock face-down crosswise over this trump card, leaving the trump visible.
- Deal two more cards to each player (total of five cards each). Nine cards remain in the stock plus the face-up trump card.
- The non-dealer leads the first trick. Deal alternates after each hand.
Open Play (Phase 1)
- No obligation to follow suit while the stock has cards.
- Each trick: The leader plays any card; the responder plays any card; the trick goes to the higher trump (if any), else the higher card of the led suit. Cards of other non-trump suits cannot win.
- After each trick: The winner draws one card from the stock first; the loser draws one next. Both hands always return to five cards (until the stock is empty).
- The last card drawn is the face-up trump, taken by the player whose turn it is to draw at that moment.
- The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
Marriages and Trump Jack
- Marriage (K+Q of the same suit): Before leading a trick, you may declare 'Marriage' (or simply show the K and Q), scoring 20 points (non-trump) or 40 points (trump marriage). You must then lead one of the two cards of the pair to the trick. A declared marriage's score is provisional: it counts only if you win at least one trick that hand. If you never win a trick, unclaimed marriage points go to zero.
- Trump Jack swap: At the start of your turn (before you lead or follow), if you hold the Jack of trumps, you may exchange it for the face-up trump card under the stock. You then lead or follow with the Jack still in your hand (now you hold what was the face-up trump). This is only legal while the stock has at least one card.
- Both marriage halves in hand: You score a marriage by declaring it; you do not need both the K and Q to be played for the points to count. However you must lead one of the two as your next play.
Closing the Stock
- Before leading, a player may 'close' the stock by turning the face-up trump card face-down. This seals the stock, forbids further draws, and switches play to strict trick-taking rules (see next section).
- Closing is only legal if the stock contains at least two face-down cards plus the trump (i.e., you cannot close at the very end).
- The player who closes wins the hand at the closing stake (2 or 3 game points) only if they reach 66 card points; if they fall short, the opponent wins at the same stake even without reaching 66.
- Closing is the defining tactical move of Schnapsen; it locks the state of the game in your favour if you can count to 66 from your hand alone.
Closed Play (Phase 2) and Endgame
- Once the stock is exhausted or a player has closed it, trick-play rules become strict:
- Follow suit if you can.
- If you cannot follow suit, you must play a trump if possible (Übertrumpfen rule).
- If trump is led, you must overtrump (play a higher trump) if you can.
- If you cannot follow or trump, play any card.
- Play continues until all five cards are used, or until a player claims 66 points by saying 'Ich habe 66!' ('I have 66!').
Scoring Game Points (Bummerl)
- You win the hand by claiming 66 or more card points first. A false claim loses the hand at 2 game points.
- Game points to the winner:
- 1 point if the opponent scored 33 or more card points (normal win).
- 2 points ('Schneider') if the opponent scored between 1 and 32 card points.
- 3 points ('Schwarz') if the opponent scored zero card points (won no tricks).
- Closed-hand bonus: If you closed the stock and succeed, score per the usual scale; if you closed and fail, the opponent scores the closing bonus (2 or 3) depending on the opponent's card-point total.
- Bummerl: A match is scored as a countdown from 7. Each player starts at 7 game points; winners subtract their game-point win from their own total. The first to reach exactly 0 wins the Bummerl. A typical evening runs several Bummerl.
Winning
The match unit is the Bummerl. First player to count down from 7 to 0 game points wins the Bummerl. A typical session is a best-of-three or best-of-five Bummerl. Tournament play tracks Bummerl wins across many pairings.
Common Variations
- Bauernschnapsen: Four-player Schnapsen in two partnerships with a 24-card deck (Nines added). See the separate entry.
- Dreierschnapsen: Three-player version in which one player plays against two.
- Gschnapst / Gescheckt: Austrian provincial names; occasionally rules vary on whether the trump Jack swap may be combined with a trump lead.
- Sixty-Six (Sechsundsechzig): The German parent, with slightly different marriage rules.
- No-close Schnapsen: Disallows closing; a simplified introductory form for learners.
Tips and Strategy
- Count every card. With only 20 cards in play, every one dealt and played can be tracked. Knowing what remains is the single most powerful Schnapsen skill.
- Marriages are worth chasing. A trump marriage is 40 points by itself, most of the way to 66. If you hold K-Q of trumps, play patiently to guarantee at least one trick before declaring.
- Closing is about arithmetic, not gut feeling. Only close when you can count to 66 from your hand plus your already-won tricks plus any announceable marriage.
- The trump Jack swap is almost always correct. It exchanges a 2-point Jack for a possibly 10- or 11-point exposed card; the cost is only telegraphing that you held the Jack.
- In open play, win small. Spend Jacks and Queens on unimportant tricks; save Aces, Tens, and trumps for when they matter. Capturing a 2-point Jack for 11+10 = 21 points with your Ace is worth one trick of table presence.
- False claims are catastrophic. Never call '66!' without re-checking your tally; the penalty is losing the hand at 2 game points.
Glossary
- Stock / Talon: The face-down undealt pack, topped by the face-up trump card.
- Marriage / Zwanziger (20) / Vierziger (40): King-Queen pair of the same suit, scoring 20 or 40 when declared.
- Close / Zudrehen: Flipping the face-up trump card face-down to lock the game into strict follow-suit rules.
- Schneider: The 2-point win, when the loser took between 1 and 32 card points.
- Schwarz: The 3-point win, when the loser took zero card points (no tricks).
- Bummerl: The match scoring format; countdown from 7 to 0 in game points.
- Übertrumpfen: The rule requiring a trump lead to be beaten by a higher trump if possible.
Tips & Strategy
Schnapsen rewards counting above all else. Track what has fallen so you know when to close the stock. The key moment of every hand is a mental arithmetic exercise: can I reach 66 from my current hand alone? If yes, close; if not, keep drawing. Never close as a bluff unless you are willing to pay the price.
Schnapsen is a partial-information game that asymptotes to perfect information: as the stock empties, both players effectively know every remaining card. Elite players exploit this by shaping the deck's trajectory early, using marriages and the trump Jack swap to guarantee specific cards will be available when the stock runs out.
Trivia & Fun Facts
Schnapsen is one of only a handful of card games broadcast on prime-time Austrian television. The ORF Schnapsen-Championship attracts competitors from across the country, and Schnapsen terms like 'Schneider' and 'Bummerl' have entered Austrian everyday speech as shorthand for lopsided wins and match counts.
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01In a standard Schnapsen Bummerl, starting from what number do both players count down to 0 in game points?Answer From 7. Each player starts at 7 and subtracts their winnings.
History & Culture
Schnapsen evolved from the German game Sixty-Six (Sechsundsechzig), which dates to the early 18th century. The Austrian form, codified in the 19th century, introduced the definitive closing rule and the trump-Jack swap. Today Schnapsen is recognised as a competitive card game with a formal Austrian federation and a Swiss cousin called 'Gstampfter'.
Schnapsen is a fixture of Austrian and Hungarian café life, coffeehouse tournaments, and family evenings. It is regarded as both an accessible folk game and a serious competitive pursuit. The word 'schnapsen' in Austrian German has become a general verb for 'to play a fast two-handed card game'.
Variations & House Rules
Bauernschnapsen extends to four-handed partnership play. Dreierschnapsen adapts the game for three players. No-close and no-marriage variants simplify the rules for teaching. German Sixty-Six is the ancestral form with slightly different marriage and closing rules.
For an introductory evening, play a best-of-three Bummerl without the closing rule. For a competitive weekend, use the full Austrian Federation rules (including match-tournament Bummerl pairings). Always agree in advance whether marriages require the declaration to be spoken aloud or simply shown.
