Bauerntarock
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| Origin | Austria |
|---|---|
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 3-4 |
| Skills required | Memory, Strategy |
| Cards | 36 |
| Deck | German |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | 2 X K O U 9 8 7 6 |
| Random chance | Moderate |
| Related games | |
| Tapp-Tarock | |
Bauerntarock (farmers' tarot) is a point-trick card game played in the Brixental, Austria. It may have originated in the 19th century as an adaptation of the 54-card Tapp-Tarock game onto the cheaper and smaller 36-card German deck. Another possibility is that it was adapted from the 78-card Tarok-Ombre game as the ratio of trumps to non-trumps is almost the same. It uses the Ace-Ten point structure found in popular regional games such as Jass and Schafkopf. It is closely related to Bavarian Tarock, Württembergischer Tarock, and especially Dobbm.
In each suit, the cards are ranked with the daus (deuce) as the highest, followed by the ten (marked with the Roman numeral X), the king, the ober, the unter, 9, 8, 7, and finally 6. Hearts are permanent trumps. The card points are as follows:
There are 120 card points in the deck. The 6 of bells is marked as "WELI" but has no significance in this game. The lowest trump, the 6 of hearts, however, is called the Spatz (sparrow) and plays a special role in bonuses and penalties mirroring the role of the pagat.
Like most Ace-Ten games but unlike other tarot card games, rotation is clockwise. In a three-player game, the dealer passes out eleven cards to each player with three cards going to the talon (stock). With four players, everyone gets eight cards with four going to the talon.
Players bid to become the declarer and play against the others (the defenders). Bidding starts with the player to the dealer's left. Players have three options:
The discarded cards or the unused talon will count towards the declarer's score at the end of the hand unless he failed to win any tricks. In this case, it would be forfeited to the defenders. After bidding, any defender who passed has the right to double the score for the hand (240 or 480 points). The declarer then has the right to redouble (480 or 960 points).
The declarer's goal is to win a majority of card points. The declarer leads the first trick. Players must follow suit. If void, they must play a trump. Only when void of the suit led and trumps can any card be sloughed. The winner of each trick starts the next one.
There is a penalty of 5 points for losing the Spatz to the opposite side; 10 points if it was on the last trick. There is a bonus of 10 points for winning the last trick with the Spatz. These points are also subject to doubling.
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Wikipedia