Ace-Ten games

Many of Europe's most popular card games feature the Ace-Ten scoring system, where the cards count as Ace = 11, Ten = 10, King = 4, Queen or Ober = 3, Jack or Unter = 2. Pip cards below the Ten generally have no card point value and the pack is often shortened by removing the lower pip cards or 'non-counters'. This means that, in a typical shortened pack of between 20 and 36 cards, there are 120 card points and thus a winning total is typically 61 points. Wins are doubled for scoring three-quarters of the total points and trebled for winning every trick, a scoring system known as the Skat schedule after its "most illustrious" example, the German national game of Skat.[1]

There are 3 branches of the Ace-Ten family:[2]

• Schafkopf group. Here the trump suit is bolstered by the promotion of all Unters (Jacks) or all Obers (Queens) or both to be permanent top trumps.
• Marriage group. Bonuses are added for melding a 'marriage' or 'pair' comprising a King and Queen or King and Ober of the same suit and, in many cases, for winning the last trick.[lower-alpha 1]
• Jass group. Has the features above; in addition the trump Jack and trump Nine are permanent top trumps, known as Jass and Nel.

The historical English game of Losing Lodam also uses an Ace-Ten scoring system, but the courts are worth one point less i.e. the King is 3 points, the Queen 2 and the Knave 1.

Although the origin of Ace-Ten games is uncertain, it is most likely to have been invented by users of French cards in the Netherlands area, a hypothesis supported by the Dutch origin of the Swiss national game of Jass.[3]

The earliest record of the Ace-Ten scheme dates to 1718 and the French game of Brusquembille.[1]

Many Ace-Ten games have achieved national or regional status. They are usually played with cards typical of their particular country or region. These include:

• Belote, France's national card game, very similar to the Dutch Klaberjass[4]
• Binokel, Württemberg's national card game[5]
• Briscola, one of Italy's most popular games[6]
• Jass, Switzerland's national game[7]
• Klaberjass, the Dutch invented "international, classic two-hander"[8]
• Mariáš, Czechoslovakia's national game[9]
• Pinochle, USA, an "American classic"[2]
• Schafkopf, Bavaria's national game[10]
• Schnapsen, Austria's national game[11]
• Skat, Germany's national game[12]
• Sueca, Portugal's most famous card game[13]
• Tute, Spain's national game[14]

Other well known Ace-Tenners include:

• Marriage group
• Jack–Nine games

• Parlett, David (1991). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-282905-X
• Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London. ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5
• Tompa, Martin (2015). Winning Schnapsen. ISBN 978-1515377368