Schafkopf
A picture of four Obers of German cards
|
|
| Origin | Germany |
|---|---|
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 4 |
| Skills required | Tactics & Strategy |
| Cards | 32 |
| Deck | German |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | EO, GO, HO, SO EU, GU, HU, SU HA H10 HK H9 H8 H7 A 10 K 9 8 7 (first played suit) |
| Playing time | 20 min. |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Related games | |
| Doppelkopf, Sheepshead, Skat | |
Schafkopf (German: [ˈʃaːfkɔpf]) or Schaffkopf (German: [ˈʃafkɔpf]) is a late 18th-century German trick-taking card game most popular in Bavaria, but also played in other parts of Germany as well as other German-speaking countries like Austria. Its modern descendants are Doppelkopf, Skat and the North American game of Sheepshead. Its earliest written reference dates to 1803, although it only came to notice by the polite society of Altenburg in 1811. Today Schafkopf is an important part of the Bavarian culture and way of life.
Explanations of the origin of the name Schafkopf vary. One suggestion is that Schafkopf acquired its name at a time when it was played up to nine points, which were marked with a piece of chalk as nine lines on a board, gradually building up to the stylized representation of a sheep's head (German: Schaf = sheep, Kopf = head). Another is that it comes from "Schaffen" and "Kopf", "to work one's brain." A third theory, from the author Wolfgang Peschel, states that in earlier times the game was generally played on the top (head, Kopf) of wooden beer casks (middle high German: Schaff = cask). To this day, such casks are used as tables at beer stands and beer halls.
Schafkopf is played by four players with 32 cards with the German/Bavarian deck of cards which has four different suits (colors): Eichel (acorn), Gras (grass), Herz (heart) and Schellen (bells), and eight different values: Ober (officer), Unter (sergeant), Ass/Sau (Ace/Pig), 10, König (King), 9, 8 and 7. In a normal round of Schafkopf all Obers and Unters as well as all heart cards are trumps and two people are playing against the other two. All cards have, independently of their trump status, a point value which is always constant in all game modes: Ober=3, Unter=2, Ace=11, 10=10, King=4 while 9, 8 and 7 have zero value, which gives a total of 120 points. The goal of the game is to have the most points, i.e. at least 61 for the offensive and 60 for the defensive players. Schafkopf has a follow suit/trump rule while hearts are counted as trump, not as suit, as long as its trump status is not changed which is the case in some special game modes (Solo, Wenz). In Germany, Schafkopf is not deemed a gambling game and can therefore be legally played for money. Especially in Bavaria it is normally played for small amounts of money to make it more interesting and the players more focused. Normal rates are 10 Euro cent for normal and 50 for solo games.
...
Wikipedia