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| About | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Netherlands |
| Skills required | Tactics & Strategy |
| Gameplay | |
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 3-4 |
| Cards | 36 |
| Deck | Dutch |
| Play | Counter-clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 |
| Playing time | 20 min. |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Related games | |
| Klaverjas, Belote | |
Jass, pronounced like Londoners "yus" for "yes"[1], is a trick taking card game and a distinctive branch of the Marriage family, popularly supposed to be the progenitor of the American game of Pinochle[2]. It is often considered Switzerland's national card game, and is so much popular there that Swiss have come to apply the name Jass to every card game played with the Swiss-suited pack[3]. The game is also very popular in Liechtenstein, Vorarlberg in Austria, South Germany and parts of Bolzano-Bozen in Italy.
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Name
Jass, first mentioned in Switzerland in 1796,[1] is the name of the highest trump, the Jack, in a family of related games of Dutch origin. It is also the name of the game and of the traditional 36-card, Swiss-suited pack with which it is played. By extension, it is often used of any game played in Switzerland with such cards, whether or not of the true family. It is played with a deck of 36 cards (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6), used with French, Swiss-German or Austrian cards.
Rules
Jass is essentially a game of points which are scored for three features known as Stöck, Wys, Stich, repectively, "marriages, melds, tricks".
- Marriages: A marriage is the holding in one hand of the King and Queen of trumps. Its holder claims it upon the second of them to a trick. Its score of 20 is recorded as if made before those for melds and tricks, even though it is not revealed until after melds have been declared.
- Melds: A meld is a suit-sequence of three or more cards, or a quartet of Aces, Kings, Queens, or Jacks scorring as follows:
- Four Jacks: scores 200
- Five or more in sequence: scores 100
- Four A, K, Q: scores 100
- Four in sequence: scores 50
- Three in sequence: scores 20
- A card may not be used in two melds at once, though the trump King or Queen may belong to a meld in addition to being married, that is, a player holding four Kings and a sequence of four to the Ace or King would count only 100 for Kings, not also 50 for the sequence.
- Only the holder of the best meld may score for it, but he may also score for any other melds he holds involving entirely different cards, and in a partnership game, his partner also scores for those hold by his partner. The holder of the best meld is found in the following way as each player contributes a card to the first trick. The leader announces the value of his best meld. The next, upon playing his card, announces a higher value, he states the number of cards it contains. A longer meld beats a shorter, so the previous player then says "not good" if he can beat it, "good" if he can't, or "equal". If equal, the next states its rank if a quartet, or its top card if a sequence. A higher rank beats a lower, and the previous player again says "not good". "good", or "equal". Equality must mean a sequence is in question, whichthe second player can then only win by truthfully announcing "in trumps". Otherwise, all else being equal, the previous player wins by prior position. The next player in turn then competes, if he can, with the winner of the first contest. As before, the pecking order is: value, lengh, height, trump, position.
Play
Eldest leads to the first trick and the winner of each trick leads to the next. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are played. If trumps are led, suit must be followed if possible, except that a player whose only trump is the Jass need not play it but may discard any card instead. If a plain suit is led, players must follow suit or trump, as preferred, but any trump played must be higher than any other already played to the trick. Only if unable to follow suit may any of the players then renounce.
Score
The trump Jack, or Jass, also called Purr, counts 20 and is the highest card in the game. The trump Nine, or Nell, Näll, is the second best card. Plain suit numerals below 10 count nothing. The total value of all counters in the pack is 152, that is, 62 in trumps plus 30 in each plain suit. Winning the last trick scores an additional 5 points. Hence the total possible for the third scoring feature, "tricks", is normally 157 points.
Variants
Handjass
Played by 2-4, each for himself. Each played is dealt 9 cards in batches of 3s. If four players take part in the game, the last card is truned for trumps, so that dealer does not take it into his hand until about to play the first of the tricks. If two or three play then, the top card of the first dead hand is turned for trumps, which may be exchanged for the Six of trumps if it has been dealt.
The aim is to score as much as possible for cards and melds. Each player must first declare whether or not he wants to play the hand. If not, he turns it down and sits the deal out. If all players pass, there is a new deal by the same dealer and if all but one pass, he wins without playing.
Two game points are awarded at the end of the play, one each to the players making the highest totals. If there is a tie for second, it is broken in favour of the player cutting the higher card from the pack. If only one player stays in the game, he scores them both, as does the better of two players if the other failed to make 21. Any player failing to make 21 scores a negative game point. As each player reaches seven game points he drops out of play, and the last left in is the loser.
Schieber
While many variants of the game exist, with 2 to 6 players, the most commonly played is called Schieber, Chibre, and involves 2 teams of 2 players playing against each other.
Schieber is usually played with two additional bids, Oben-abe and Unden-ufe, which may resonably be translated respectively as "tops-down" and "bottoms-up". Both are played at no trump, so that there is no Jass or Nell, nor cards worth 20 and 14. Instead, all Eights count 8 points each when captured in tricks, thus maintaining the total of 157 points for tricks, including 5 for the last. In "tops-down"", cards rank from Ace high to Six low and in "bottoms-up" their trick taking power is in reverse order, being Six the highest in its suit, and Seven the second highest, down to Ace.
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- In some circles the point value of 11 is transferred from Ace to the Six.
Reversed ranking also applies to melds of equal lengh, that is, a sequence of 7 8 9 beats another of 8 9 10, although four Jack still count 200 and so beat all else.
It is usual to double all scores made i contracts with Spades or Diamonds as trump, treble contracts in "tops-down", and quadruple those in "bottoms-up". The game target may then be raised to 2500, or 3000.
Notes
The game is designed for four players, sitting in two partnerships, opposite each other. 9 cards are dealt in batches of 3s. Eldest may nominate thr trump suit or schieben, that is, pass the privilege of naming trumps to his partner, who must then exercise it. If elder leads without making any announcement, whatever is led becomes trump.
Basic rules of Jass apply, and a team taking all nine tricks score 100 extra for the "match". Each deal from the second onwards is made by a member of the side which won the previous deal, so that the losing team has the advantage of making trumps and leading first. Play ceases the moment one side reraches 1000 points, for which purpose it is important to remember that scores accrue in order "marriage, melds, tricks".
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- By agreement, a meld of four Nines may be recognized, ranking below four Jacks and counts 150.
Table of contents
- The rank of the cards, from highest to lowest, and their values in card points are shown in the following table:
| Plain suit rank | A | K | Q | J | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 20 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Trump suit rank | J | 9 | A | K | Q | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
- The no-trumps game called Obenabe and Undenufe, in which the ranks are reversed, are shown in the following table:
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Pandur
Four players usually play, but only three are active in the game, and each in turn sits out the hand to which he deals. The scorekeeper deals first, giving 8 cards to each player in batches of 4s from a 24-card pack made by stripping out all ranks below Nine. I addition to the usual melds, a player may announce a sequence of six or a quartet of Nines, each counting 150 points. Only the soloist may score for melds, provided that he has the best, that is, if an opponent has a better meld, it does not score itself but only prevents the soloist from scoring.
Each in turn, starting with eldest, may bid or pass, and having passed may not come in again. The lowest bid is 100 and higher bids must be multiple of 10. A numerical bid is the minimum amount the soloist undertakes to make for "marriages, melds and tricks" in return for nominating trumps and leading to the first trick.
A bid of 200 is overcalled by misère, then trumps misère, then 210 etc. In misère, the soloist must lose every trick, playing at no trump. In trump misère, the suit of the card he leads is automatically trump. Players are still required to trump when unable to follow suit, but are not obliged to overtrump. A bid of 250 is over called by Pandur, and 300 by Trump Pandur. In Pandur, the soloist must win every trick, playing at no trump and in Trump Pandur, the suit of the card he leads is automatically trump.
If successful, the soloist wins a number of game points equivalent to the bid divided by 50 (maximum 6). Misère count 4, Pandur 5, Trump Pandur 6. For a failed bid, the game value is credited to each opponent. Game is 15 points or any other agreed target. If four play, the dealer gets the value of a failed bid, but not if he stands at 13 or 14 points.
Each player drops out upon reaching the target, the game being played by three, then two. The last one left in loses the game.
Notes
Trump Misère is a bit dangerous and must be made in a very short suit, typically in order to lose a card that would be even more dangerous at no trump, that is, with three safe suits and a singleton Queen, the soloist would announce "trump" and lead the Queen. As the Jack and Nine are top trumps, this would only lose if one opponent held the 10 and the others were void. If played at no trump, there would be three cards lower then the Queen, making the bid very risky. When only two players remain, so that eight cards are out of play, any misère, is riskier than usual, especially with a trump.
See also
References
- ^ a b David Parlett The Oxford guide to card games, pg. 292-293, David Parlett (1990) ISBN 0192141651
- ^ Foster's complete Hoyle, p. 207, Robert Frederick Foster (1922)
- ^ The game of Tarot: from Ferrara to Salt Lake City, p. 568, Michael A. E. Dummett, Sylvia Mann - 1980 ISBN 0715610147
External links
- Samschtigjass Online-Jass (German)
- Card Games: Jass Group at Pagat.com
- Jass English explanation of Rules and Gameplay
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