What is an offline Jass app?

What does the offline Jass app include?

The offline Jass app provides a four-handed game of Schieber, the Jass form in which the contract can be passed to a partner. Four players sit in two fixed teams, with partners opposite each other. Three computer seats complete the table when people are not taking every seat themselves. The app deals the cards, manages the turns and records the written score for each round.

The contract choices include the four trump suits, Obenabe (high cards beat low cards) and Undenufe (low cards beat high cards). The app supports both the Swiss-German pack and the French pack. The pack changes the card pictures and the suit names, but the scoring system remains aligned between the two decks.

Pass-and-play lets people share one device at a local table. A player completes a turn, passes the device to the next seat and waits for the next turn. The computer seats follow the same table rules as human seats. That arrangement gives a player a practical way to practise Schieber, test a contract or play through a full game without an account or a connection.

The app offers target scores of 1000 and 2500. Practice tables also use 1500 and 3000, so regional or household routines may display a different target from the app. The underlying round remains the same: 36 cards, 9 cards to each of 4 players and 9 tricks.

The card values and scoring guide explains the values behind each trick. The Schieber rules explains how the contract choice moves from forehand to partner. Those references place the app's table within the wider rules of Jass without reducing the game to a short summary.

The store listings are not open yet. Nothing on the page is a pre-order, and no release claim is made here. The description sets out the planned product, its table structure and its scoring rules rather than inviting a purchase.

Can you play against other people in the app?

The app does not support play against other people through a connection. The design centres on three computer opponents and local pass-and-play on one device. A person can take a seat at the table, while the computer fills the remaining seats.

The distinction matters for anyone looking for a connected card room. The app has no matching service, lobby, chat, account system or shared table beyond the device in front of the players. A computer seat makes a round available without another person joining. Pass-and-play keeps the human table local: the device moves from one seat to the next, and each player acts only from the cards shown to that seat.

The app works with aeroplane mode on. No connection is needed to deal the cards, calculate a trick, apply the chosen contract or update the score. No account is needed. The app collects no data and shows no advertising.

A local table also preserves the hidden-hand structure of Jass. The screen can show the active player's cards, while the other hands remain hidden. Passing the device does not turn the round into an open display of every hand. Each person makes a decision from the information available at that seat.

A person seeking a connected table needs a different product. The app does not provide that mode, suggest that such a mode is hidden or describe connected play as a future feature. The table begins with the device, the cards and the rules.

For a concise reference to the physical scoring aid used by Jass players, see the Jasstafel guide. For the app's handling of personal information, see the privacy page. The supporting pages do not change the central answer: the app is offline, uses computer opponents and supports local pass-and-play.

How does the app protect hidden cards during play?

The app gives each computer seat only the information needed to make a legal decision. A computer player can see its own hand, the cards already played and the public state of the round. Another player's hidden cards do not form part of that seat's view.

Schieber depends on concealed information. A computer must know its own cards, but a computer seat must not see a partner's hand or an opponent's remaining cards. The app therefore separates the private information belonging to each seat from the public information shared by the table.

The public part of a trick includes the contract, the lead, the cards already played and the current order of play. The private part includes cards still held by other seats. A computer can follow suit, select a legal card and assess the visible position without receiving another player's hidden hand.

Pass-and-play follows the same boundary. The device holds the state required to run the round, but the active seat sees only the cards assigned to that seat. Passing the device does not expose the remaining hands. Each player must decide from the cards available during that turn.

Fair play also requires consistent table positions. The forehand, the dealer, the contract, the lead and the trick winner follow the same logic for human and computer seats. A computer may assess the visible position differently from a person, but a computer seat does not receive information that a person at the same seat could not use.

The design does not claim that a computer thinks like a human Jass player. The design establishes an information boundary. Computer decisions can differ from human decisions, while the cards hidden from a human seat remain hidden from the corresponding computer seat.

That separation also makes the score easier to audit. The app can record the public result of each trick and round without displaying private hands to the wrong seat. Players can therefore concentrate on the contract, the lead and the cards already visible on the table.

Swiss

French

Which Jass cards and contracts does the app support?

The app supports both decks used in Swiss Jass: the Swiss-German pack and the French pack. The Swiss-German suits are Schellen (bells), Schilten (shields), Rosen (roses) and Eicheln (acorns). The French equivalents are diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs, in that exact correspondence.

The court-card names also differ between the decks. The Swiss-German pack has Under, Ober and König. The French pack has jack, queen and king. In a trump contract, the Under is the Puur, the strongest trump card in the usual trump order. The Nell, the 9 of the trump suit, has its own place in the trump sequence.

The scoring multiplier follows the suit position, not the picture printed on the card. Choosing the French pack therefore changes the visual language without changing the score. A suit keeps the same scoring position when its symbols appear as French suits, and the contract rules remain aligned.

The app includes trump contracts, Obenabe and Undenufe. Stöck, the king and Ober of the trump suit held in one hand, exists only in a trump contract. Stöck does not exist in Obenabe or Undenufe. The written scoring reference sets out the card order and values used at the table.

Regional practice explains why both deck systems remain familiar in Switzerland. The Brünig-Napf-Reuss line divides the country: Swiss-German cards are used to the east and French cards to the west. Neither deck is presented as the only correct choice. The app lets the player choose the familiar appearance while keeping the underlying score consistent.

Every contract uses the same four-handed structure. Cards are dealt three at a time, play runs counter-clockwise and the forehand leads the first trick. The contract changes how cards rank and score, but not the number of cards, players or tricks in a round.

A player who knows a French-suited deck can therefore begin without learning a second scoring system. A player used to Swiss-German cards can select Schellen, Schilten, Rosen or Eicheln and retain the familiar terms. The deck choice changes presentation, while the rules retain their defined positions.

How are the cards dealt and how is the contract chosen?

A round uses 36 cards, with 9 cards dealt to each of 4 players. The round contains 9 tricks. The dealer deals three cards at a time, play runs counter-clockwise and the dealer rotates after each round.

The forehand is the player to the dealer's right. The forehand chooses the contract and leads the first trick. The available choice includes a trump suit, Obenabe or Undenufe. The forehand may push the choice to the partner exactly once. This action is schieben, the passing of the contract choice to the partner. The partner must choose and may not push the choice back.

The chosen contract determines the order in which cards win tricks. In a trump contract, the selected suit becomes trump, and the Under of that suit is the Puur. Obenabe gives priority to higher cards. Undenufe gives priority to lower cards. Players still follow the trick-taking requirements for the selected contract.

The same sequence applies when the forehand is a computer seat or a human seat. The dealer's position determines the forehand, and the forehand's decision determines the contract. Schieben is not an unlimited exchange: the partner receives the choice once and must make the final contract decision.

The Schieber reference explains the contract-passing rule in its own context. The Jassgrenze reference explains the target-score boundary used in a game. The app offers target scores of 1000 and 2500, while practice tables also use 1500 and 3000.

The next round begins after the score for the completed round has been recorded. The dealer moves, the forehand changes with the deal and the next contract is selected under the same rule. The app keeps those positions visible so that players can follow the order without relying on a local custom.

A worked sequence is simple. The player to the dealer's right becomes forehand, chooses a trump suit or passes the choice once to the partner, then leads the first trick. After 9 tricks, the round is scored and the deal moves to the next player.

How does the app calculate the full Jass score?

The app records card points, the last-trick bonus, the all-tricks bonus, Stöck and Weis, declared combinations of cards. The pack contains 152 card points. The last trick adds 5 points, giving 157 points in a round. Taking all 9 tricks adds 100 points, making 257 points for the round before Stöck and Weis are added.

Stöck is worth 20 points. A team has Stöck when one hand contains the king and Ober of the trump suit. The 20 points belong to that team regardless of the Weis comparison. Stöck does not exist in Obenabe or Undenufe, because those contracts have no trump suit.

The declaration moment is strict. A player declares Stöck while playing the second of the two cards, not the first. If the next player has already covered that card before the declaration, the 20 points are lost. Partners may not remind each other. The app records the declaration at the required moment instead of adding Stöck later as an adjustment.

The score may include Weis alongside the tricks. The Weis explanation describes the declaration and comparison of Weis. A player who holds a qualifying combination must follow the applicable declaration procedure rather than treating Weis as an automatic addition after the round.

When a round takes a team past the target, points are counted in a fixed order: Weis first, Stöck second and tricks third. A team crossing the target in an earlier block wins. The order matters at the end of a game because a team's total is not treated as one undivided addition.

The Jassgrenze guide explains the target boundary and the crossing order. The app offers 1000 and 2500 as its target scores. Other practice tables use 1500 and 3000, so the target must be read as a chosen table setting rather than a universal figure.

The written score keeps separate ideas visible. Card points come from the cards won in tricks, 5 points come from the last trick, 100 points reward all 9 tricks, and special declarations are handled under their own rules. A final result can therefore be checked against the round structure instead of being reduced to the trick count alone.