German Schafkopf

Schafkopf appears to have developed in the early 19th century, although it is not clear when its modern-day counterpart, sometimes called Bavarian Schafkopf, emerged. In 1811, it is described as "a cute little game [played] with chalk and collection bag pennies".[1] In 1853, however, Von Alvensleben[lower-alpha 1] describes 'Schaafkopf' as being very common, especially with the lower classes perhaps due to its ordinary name ("sheep's head"), but that it also went under the "more noble" names of Society (Societätsspiel), Conversation (Conversationsspiel) or Denunciation (Denunciationsspiel). He hypothesises that the name comes from the practice of drawing the lines denoting points scored in the form of a stylised sheep's head. He goes on to describe in detail no less that nine variants of 'Schaafkopf' (in addition to Wendish Schafkopf), but states clearly that the original one was a four-hand, point-trick, team game with 4 Unters as top trumps (Wenzels) and trump suit nominated by the bid winner, that was normally played for beer. Other variants for four, six or eight players variously use six Wenzels (two Obers and four Unters) or eight Wenzels (four Obers and four Unters). Some use Bells as the permanent trump suit and at least one is a plain-trick game. The variants (with Alversleben's lettering in brackets) are shown in brief below. They are played by teams of two, with 32 cards and variable trumps, and are point-trick games except where shown:[2]

1. Four players, four Wenzels (A) – Urschafkopf or Ur-Schafkopf i.e. 'Ancient Schafkopf'.
2. Four players, six Wenzels (C)
3. Four players, eight Wenzels (D)
4. Four players, four Wenzels, Bells, no teams, plain-trick (B) – Schellen-Schafkopf i.e. 'Bell Schafkopf'.
5. Four players, six Wenzels, Bells (E)
6. Six players, six Wenzels, Bells, 36 cards (F)
7. Four players, twelve Wenzels, Bells, 2 x 24 cards (G)
8. Six players, twelve Wenzels, Bells, 2 x 24 cards (H)
9. Eight players, sixteen Wenzels, Bells, 2 x 32 cards (I)

No. 3 appears to be an early version of Bavarian Schafkopf, although the latter has Hearts as permanent trumps in the 'normal game'. Modern Wendish Schafkopf resembles no. 5 but has eight Wenzels; likewise Doppelkopf looks like an evolution of no. 7 to have eight Wenzels and an extra top trump, the Ten of Hearts.

The following rules appear to be based on Grupp (1994) and resemble those of von Alversleben's Type A above, the original Schafkopf game.[3]

Players and cards

German Schafkopf is played with 4 players and 32 cards which, depending on the region, may be German or French packs. The players form 2 permanent partnerships.[4]

Colours of the French suited cards
Diamonds (Karo)	Hearts (Herz)	Spades (Pik)	Clubs (Kreuz)
Colours of the German suited cards
Bells (Schellen)	Hearts (Herz)	Leaves (Laub)	Acorns (Eichel)

Trumps

German deck
Permanent trumps
U U U U
Additional variable trump suits
Acorns	Leaves	Hearts	Bells
A K O 10 9 8 7	A K O 10 9 8 7	A K O 10 9 8 7	A K O 10 9 8 7
French pack
Permanent trumps
J J J J
Additional variable trump suits
Clubs	Spades	Hearts	Diamonds
A K Q 10 9 8 7	A K Q 10 9 8 7	A K Q 10 9 8 7	A K Q 10 9 8 7

As in Skat, the highest trumps are the 4 Jacks or Unters in the sequence Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds or Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells. The remaining trumps are specified by the player who is the declarer by naming the trump suit at the outset. The cards of the trump suit then follow in the aforementioned sequence (see above).

Scoring

Example of a completed "sheep's head" used for scoring

There are three types of games won:

• Straight win (61 to 89 points scored): if the winner chose trumps he gets one game point, otherwise he gets two
• Schneider win (more than 90 points scored): if the winner chose trumps he gets two game points, otherwise four
• Schwarz win (opponents have no tricks): the winner gets nine game points, regardless of who chose trumps (nine dashes correspond to a whole sheep's head).

In a forced game, however, a winner who did not choose trumps gets the same as one who did.

For each game point won, the winner draws a line on a sheet of paper. The game is won by the first player to complete draw nine dashes in the shape of a sheep's head, the Schafkopf: four dashes arranged in a rectangle form the shape of the head, two dashes form the eyes, two more the horns and a single dash in the middle represents the nose.

The game described is the earliest form of German Schafkopf. Apart from Bavarian Schafkopf and the other early variants mentioned above, further variants have been developed, some in different regions. These include:

• Blattla, no Wenzels, Hearts as permanent trumps
• Bierkopf, a Franconian variant of modern Schafkopf with fixed teams and no solos
• Mucken, another Franconian variant with different contracts
• Bauernstoß, which is played in the Palatine region of Erfweiler.[5]

In an East German book of game rules[6] there are the following variations of German Schafkopf which appear to reflect, in part, von Alversleben's variants:

1. Classic Schafkopf: as described, Jacks/Wenzel are always trumps, the player with the so-called 'old man', the Jack of Clubs or the Unter of Acorns, must choose trumps if all pass or cannot bid more than 5 trumps.
2. Schafkopf with six (eight) Wenzeln and changing trumps: Queen of Clubs (Ober of Acorns) and Queen of Spades (Ober of Leaves) (and Queen of Hearts (Ober of Hearts) and Queen of Diamonds (Ober of Bells)) are declared as trumps and outrank the old man. The player with the old man calls trumps, if this has not been decided beforehand by the bidding process.
3. Schafkopf with four (six, eight) Wenzels and remaining trumps: Jacks/Wenzel (plus the 2 highest Queens/Obers or all 4) and Diamonds/Bells are always trumps.

• Officers' Schafkopf

• _ (1988). Spielregelbüchlein mit Skatordnung. p. 177, 8th edn., Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg.
• Bruckmann, Karl (1811). Karl Bruckmann oder William Sterne, Findling des Harzgebirges und Bewohner einer einsamen Insel der Südsee, Part 2, J.D. Schöps, Zittau and Leipzig.
• Danyliuk, Rita (2008). 1 × 1 der Kartenspiele - Bridge, Skat und Schafkopf. Glücks- und Familienspiele. Patiencen, Kartentricks u.v.m. Humboldt, Baden-Baden, ISBN 978-3-89994-188-3
• Danyliuk, Rita (2008). Das große Taschenbuch der Freizeitspiele: Spiele für unterwegs und Schönwettertage, Munich: Humboldt, pp. 149-151.
• Grupp, Claus D. (1997). Doppelkopf - Schafkopf - Tarock. Original edition. Falken, Niedernhausen/ Ts., 1997, ISBN 3-635-60223-X
• Hammer, Paul (1817). Taschenbuch der Kartenspiele, Weygandschen Buchhandlung, Leipzig.
• Von Alvensleben, L. (1853). Encyclopädie der Spiele. Otto Wigand, Leipzig.

• Bauernstoss at www.pagat.com.