Schnapsen

Description

Sixty-six or Schnapsen is a fast 5- or 6-card point-trick game of the marriage type for 2–4 players, played with 20 or 24 cards. First recorded in 1718 under the name Mariagen-Spiel, it is the national card game of Austria and also popular in Germany and Hungary.

Closely related games for various numbers of players are popular all over Europe and include Czech/Slovak Mariáš, Hungarian Ulti, Finnish Marjapussi, French Bezique and American Pinochle. Together with the Jack–Nine family they form the large King–Queen family of games.[1]

German Sixty-six is a 6-card game played with a deck of 24 cards consisting of the Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack and Nine, worth 11, 10, 4, 3, 2 and 0 card-points, respectively. The other major variant is Austrian Schnapsen, which does not make use of the Nines and has a hand size of 5 cards. The trump suit is determined randomly. Players each begin with a full hand and draw from the stock after each trick. The object in each deal is to be the first player to score 66 points. The cards have a total worth of 120 points, and the last trick is worth 10 points. A player who holds King and Queen of the same suit scores 20 points, or 40 points in trumps, when playing the first of them.