Jass rules

How does a round of Jass work?

A round of Jass uses 36 cards, gives nine cards to each of four players and produces nine tricks. The players sit in two fixed teams, with partners opposite each other throughout the game. The dealer changes after each round, but the partnerships do not.

A round follows a clear sequence. The dealer gives the cards three at a time. The forehand then chooses the contract, or passes that choice once to the partner under Schieber, the Jass pass of the contract choice. The chosen contract sets the card-strength order for the round. Play then proceeds trick by trick in counter-clockwise order.

The forehand leads the first trick. The winner of that trick leads the next one, and the same pattern continues until all nine tricks have been played. Players must follow the suit led when they can. The contract determines how the legal cards compare, including the effect of a trump card when a trump-suit contract is in use.

The three contract families change the way you judge a hand. A trump contract gives one suit a special strength order. Obenabe, a contract with the normal high-to-low ladder, uses ace high. Undenufe, a contract with the ladder reversed, uses six high and ace low. A strong hand under one contract may be much less useful under another.

The team that captures a trick takes the card points in that trick. The card values guide explains those values separately from card strength. Strength decides who wins a trick; card values decide how many points the captured cards contribute to the team total.

The game continues for as many rounds as the agreed target requires. Common practice targets are 1000, 1500, 2500 and 3000. The app offers 1000 and 2500. Both teams use the same target, and the winning team is determined by the scoring order when a round carries a total past it.

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

The dealer deals the 36-card pack three at a time until each player has nine cards. Play runs counter-clockwise. The player to the dealer's right is the forehand, and the forehand chooses the contract and leads the opening trick.

The forehand can choose a trump suit, Obenabe or Undenufe, subject to the form of Jass agreed at the table. A trump contract names one suit as trump and gives that suit its own strength ladder. Obenabe keeps the normal order in every suit. Undenufe reverses the ladder in every suit, so the six stands at the strong end and the ace at the weak end.

The forehand may also pass the contract choice to the partner exactly once. This action is called Schieber. The partner must choose the contract after the pass and may not push the choice back to the forehand. The Schieber rules guide explains how this decision affects the hand and the responsibility for the contract.

The choice should reflect the cards in the hand and the way those cards work together. A hand with powerful cards in one suit may support a trump contract. A hand with high cards spread across several suits may suit Obenabe. A hand built around low cards may gain from Undenufe. These are practical evaluations, not substitutes for the agreed regional rules.

Once the contract has been chosen, the forehand leads. The first lead establishes the suit that later players must follow when able. The contract also tells players how to judge a trump card, a card in the led suit and a card from another plain suit.

The dealer rotates after each round. That rotation changes who is forehand and therefore who makes the next contract choice and opening lead. It does not change the seating arrangement: partners remain opposite each other, and the same two teams continue through the game.

Regional forms can differ in their contract options and related procedures. Name the form before dealing and apply its rules consistently. Do not assume that a rule used at one Swiss table is the only valid practice.

Which Jass cards are strongest in each contract?

The strongest legal card wins the trick. In the trump suit, the order from strongest to weakest is U, 9, A, K, O, 10, 8, 7, 6. The Under is called the Puur, and the nine is called the Nell.

In plain suits and in Obenabe, the order from strongest to weakest is A, K, O, U, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. In Undenufe, the complete ladder is inverted: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, U, O, K, A. The same card can therefore have a very different tactical role after the contract changes.

The forehand leads the first trick, and the winner leads the next one. Each player follows the suit led when able. If a player cannot follow the led suit, the contract rules determine the legal alternatives. In a trump contract, a trump card may take a trick from cards in the led suit, provided the play is legal under the form being used.

Resolve legality before strength. First identify the suit led and the trump suit, if the contract has one. Then compare the legal cards using the relevant ladder. A card from an unrelated plain suit cannot normally win merely because its printed rank looks high. The winner is the strongest card that the contract allows to compete for that trick.

Consider a trump-suit trick containing a card from the trump suit and cards from other suits. The trump card wins because the contract gives its suit priority. Within the trump suit, the Puur beats the Nell, and the Nell beats the trump ace. A plain-suit ace may be strong in its own suit, but it does not overtake a legal trump card.

Obenabe has no trump suit, so the highest card in the led suit wins under the normal ladder. Undenufe also has no trump suit, but the lowest cards have the greatest strength under its inverted ladder. In a suit led under Undenufe, the six beats the seven, while the ace is weakest.

The card values guide covers points as distinct from strength. The Puur and Nell are especially useful examples: their ability to win tricks follows the contract's order, while the points they bring to the captured trick follow their card values. Do not use point value as a shortcut for deciding the winner.

How do Weis, Stöck and trick points affect the Jass score?

A Jass round contains 152 card points, and the team that takes the last trick receives 5 additional points. That makes 157 points in a round before the match bonus. Taking all nine tricks adds 100 points, making 257 points for that round.

The team that captures a trick receives the points of the cards in that trick. The last-trick bonus is added to the team that takes the final trick. If one team captures all nine tricks, that team receives the match bonus as well. The card values guide helps you work out the card total from the tricks won.

Weis, a declaration of qualifying combinations in a hand, is scored separately from the tricks. The exact declarations depend on the regional form in use. Read the Weis rules guide before play and agree which declarations the table recognises. A declaration does not remove the need to play the round or capture tricks.

Stöck is a separate declaration worth 20 points. It means holding the king and Ober of the trump suit in one hand. Stöck is credited to that team regardless of the Weis comparison. It does not exist in Obenabe or Undenufe because those contracts have no trump suit.

The timing of Stöck matters. Declare it while playing the second of the two cards, not while playing the first. If the next player has already covered that second card before you declare the Stöck, the 20 points are lost. Partners may not remind each other, so the player holding the cards must make the declaration at the correct moment.

Record the running score on the Jasstafel, the traditional Jass score sheet. The Jasstafel writing guide shows a clear way to enter the round totals and declarations. Keep the two teams separate and record the points in the agreed form so that the result can be checked at the end of the round.

The order for a target-crossing round is fixed: count Weis first, Stöck second and tricks last. Suppose a team passes the target when Weis is counted, while the other team passes it only after trick points are added. The first team wins because it crossed in the earlier scoring block, even if the later total would otherwise be higher.

When does a Jass game end, and which rules vary by region?

A Jass game ends when a team reaches or passes the agreed target and wins under the scoring order. Common practice targets are 1000, 1500, 2500 and 3000. The app offers 1000 and 2500.

The round that carries a team past the target must be completed and scored. Count the blocks in this order: Weis first, Stöck second and tricks last. A team crossing the target in an earlier block wins. The final result therefore depends not only on the total points in the round, but also on the block in which each team crosses.

For example, one team may pass the target during the Weis block while the other team remains below it. The first team has already won under the agreed order. If the second team later gains Stöck or trick points and reaches a larger total, that later block does not change the earlier crossing result.

Regional Jass rules are not identical. Contract options, Weis declarations and some details of trick play can vary between Schieber and other local forms. State the form before the first deal, agree the target and settle any disputed regional point before play begins. A standard explanation should name those variations rather than present one table's customs as universal.

The shared structure remains straightforward. Four players form two fixed teams with partners opposite each other. The dealer deals three at a time. The forehand sits to the dealer's right, chooses the contract or passes the choice once through Schieber, and leads the first trick. Play runs counter-clockwise through nine tricks, and the dealer rotates after the round.

Use the Schieber rules guide when the forehand passes the choice. Check the card values guide for points, the Weis rules guide for declarations and the Jasstafel writing guide for the score sheet. Following that order mirrors the round: choose, play, declare and record.

Good Jass play combines contract judgement with careful memory. Track the strong cards, follow the legal suit obligation and plan which player should win the next lead. At the end of the round, write the complete score before applying the target-crossing order. That record settles the result without relying on a later recollection of individual tricks.

• Schieber rules Learn the complete Schieber Jass round, from dealing and schieben to following suit, declarations, multipliers and the winning score.
• Card values Jass card values depend on the contract, but every deal contains 152 card points before the 5-point last-trick bonus.
• Weis Jass Weis compares declared melds, and only the team with the single best meld scores Weis for both partners.
• Stöck Stöck is the 20-point combination of the trump king and Ober in one hand, declared as you play the second card.
• Trumpf, Obenabe, Undenufe The forehand selects a suit, Obenabe or Undenufe, and that contract fixes card strength, card values and the multiplier for the round.
• Following suit Farbzwang requires the led suit when possible; trump rules then decide whether you must overtrump, may undertrump or can keep the Puur.
• Schieben Schieben passes the contract choice from the forehand to the partner once, while the forehand remains responsible for leading the opening trick.
• Writing the score A Jasstafel records each team’s score with grouped strokes, symbols and a remainder, then preserves the order in which a target is reached.
• Match and target A Jass game ends when a team reaches its target, but a close round is decided by the order in which each score block is counted.
• Dealing and seating Seat partners opposite, deal counter-clockwise in groups of three, and let the player on the dealer’s right choose the contract and lead.
• How to play Jass Learn one complete round of Jass, from the deal and contract to legal tricks, card points, bonuses and the final entry on the Jasstafel.
• Swiss or French cards Swiss-German and French cards belong to the same Jass tradition: regional symbols differ, but the suits, ranks and scoring positions correspond.
• What Jass is Jass is a Swiss family of trick-taking games for four players, using a 36-card pack, fixed partnerships, contracts and nine tricks.