Jass

Game rules

Jass is a typical Swiss game. It is quite old and was already played in the 18th and 19th centuries, although the first written game rules were only published around 1900.

The objective of the game is only to win as many points as possible by judiciously playing your cards. It is played with 2 teams of 2 players, with a Swiss card deck containing 36 cards (from 6 to ace), and is organized in rounds of 9 tricks.

Course of the game

Participants form two teams of two players and sit down at the table so that each team alternates turns. At the beginning of the round, the dealer gives 9 cards to each player, usually three at a time.

Before actually playing the cards, the player on the left of the dealer must choose a suit (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) as trump, which will be important for the round. The chosen suit will gain special properties that make it the most important suit, it is therefore important to choose one where you have high cards, or by default, one where you have many cards.
If the player who must choose the trump thinks he doesn't have a good enough hand to do so, he can pass the privilege to his teammate. In this case, the teammate must choose the trump and cannot pass again.

Once the trump is chosen, the card play can begin as described below. The player on the left of the dealer always starts the first trick, even if he let his teammate choose the trump.

At the end of the round, points are counted and the player on the left of the dealer becomes the dealer for the next round.

Card play

On their turn, the player must :

When everybody has played their card, the player who put the strongest one wins the trick. The strongest card is defined by :

The team who won the trick gets the points contained in it immediately.

Card values

For trump cards, the order and value are as follows:

For non-trump cards, the order and value are the following:

Last trick of the round is worth 5 supplementary points. A round always totals exactly 157 points. A whole jass game is usually played up to 1000, 1500 or 2000 points.

The apple or Putz for 3 or 5 players

The Apple or Putz (from German: to clean up) is a Jass variant which can be played with 3 or 5 players. There are no teams, everybody plays on their own. Rules concerning trumps, card order and value are the same as the standard Jass played with 4 players. However, the game doesn't count effective points but rather victories and defeats.

With 3 players

The dealer gives 9 cards to each player. The 9 remaining undealt cards form the kitty.

After the distribution, the dealer returns the top card of the kitty. This card indicates the trump suit for the round, and the person who owns the 6 can exchange it for the latter before the beginning of the first trick. The player right after the dealer can also, at their turn, if they want to, before having played their first card, decide to take the kitty. It thus becomes their new hand and the original hand is discarded. If this player decides to keep their original hand, the next one can at their turn decide to take the kitty. It must be taken before having played the first card, and you can't go back to the initial hand afterwards.

Each player totaling less than 21 points at the end of the round gets a negative point also called apple. The two best players receive a positive point, called Putz. If two players had so bad hands that they both get a negative point, the big winner receives two points instead of one. The game finishes when the winner reaches 7 points, or when the loser goes below -3.

With 5 players

With 5 players, the dealer deals 7 cards to each player. The only one that remains undealt indicates the trump suit for the round. Like the game with 3 players, the person who owns the 6 of trump can take it at its place. There is no kitty to exchange.

At the end of the round, the three best players get a positive point. If two players got less than 21, the best one marks two points. If three players got apples, the two best ones mark two points each, and if 4 players got apples, the big winner wins 3 points alone. The game ends when the winner reaches 7 points, or when the loser reaches -5.

Keyboard shortcuts summary