Sheepshead is an American trick-taking card game. It is derived from Bavaria's national card game, Schafkopf (lit. 'sheep's head'), hence it is sometimes called American Schafkopf. Sheepshead is a game for five players.Sheepshead Basic Rules, sheepshead.org, Retrieved January 27, 2016
One of Sheepshead's distinguishing features, compared to other popular trick-taking card games like Bridge, Hearts, Spades, or Euchre, is a hidden-partnership structure. The picker's partner is determined at the beginning of each game, but their identity is unknown to the picker and the defenders. This creates an element of asymmetric information, as players must deduce the partner's identity through gameplay as in a Social deduction game. Each game, a "picker" and a "partner" compete against the other three players, and at the beginning of the game, only the partner knows their identity as the partner. Variants exist, some allowing for two to eight players; many slang terms are used with the game.
Sheepshead is most commonly played in Wisconsin, where it is sometimes called the "unofficial" state card game. In 1983, it was declared the official card game of the city of Milwaukee. It is also common among German counties in Southern Indiana, which has large German-American populations, and on the Internet.
Numerous tournaments are held throughout Wisconsin during the year, with the largest tournament being the "Nationals", held annually in the Wisconsin Dells during a weekend in September, October or November, and mini-tournaments held hourly throughout German Fest in Milwaukee during the last weekend of each July. National 3-Hand Sheepshead Tournament has been held annually in Wisconsin since 1970 in the month of March. 48-hand sessions are held at locations around the state, offering players an opportunity to play in as many of the 100 plus sessions as they wish.
Etymology Schafkopf literally means 'sheep's head' and may refer to the practice going back over a century of recording the score by drawing a stylised head of a sheep with nine lines.von Alvensleben, L. (1853). Encyclopädie der Spiele. Otto Wigand, Leipzig, p. 465 However, some sources argue that the term was probably derived and translated incorrectly from Middle High German and referred to playing cards on a barrel head (from kopf, meaning head, and Schaff, meaning a barrel).Wolfgang Peschel: Bayerisch Schaffkopfen - Wissenswertes, Humoriges; mit den offiziellen Regeln des Bayerischen Schaffkopf-Vereins.
Rules
Preparation Sheepshead is played with 7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A in four suits, for a total of 32 cards. This is also known as a Piquet pack, as opposed to the 52 or 54 present in a full French deck (also known as a Poker deck, or a regular deck of playing cards). A sheepshead deck is made by removing all of the jokers, sixes, fives, fours, threes, and twos from a standard deck.
Card strength Card strength in sheepshead is different from in most other games. It is one of the most difficult things for some beginners to grasp.
There are 14 cards in the trump suit: all four queens, all four jacks, and all of the diamonds. In order of strength from greatest to least: Q♣ Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ J♣ J♠ J♥ J♦ A♦ 10♦ K♦ 9♦ 8♦ 7♦ Also, there are 3 "fail" suits, each containing 6 cards (18 total). A, 10, K, 9, 8, and 7 of ♣, ♠, and ♥
When a card is a member of the trump suit, it loses its membership as part of its "standard" suit. For instance, the queen of clubs is in the trump suit, and cannot follow suit if another club is led.
Clubs, spades, and hearts take no precedence over other fail suits, unlike trump, which always take fail. (Notice how both aces and tens outrank kings; arguably the most confusing aspect of card strength). The lead suit must be followed if possible; if not, then any card may be played such as trump (which will take the trick), or a fail card. Playing a fail of a different suit is called "throwing off" and can be a way to clear up another suit. Additionally, throwing off a point card is called "schmearing."
Card point values Each card is given a separate point value as follows:
Ace — 11 points Ten — 10 points King — 4 points Queen — 3 points Jack — 2 points 9, 8, 7 — 0 points
The strongest cards (queens and jacks) are not worth the most points, giving sheepshead some of its unusual character.
There are 120 points total in the deck. The goal of the game is to get half of these (60 or 61); in case of a tie, the player who picked up the blinds loses, and that player's opponents win. (There are variant rules for more peculiar situations, such as the Leaster.)
Scoring Score is kept using game points (not to be confused with the point values of the cards) or using money. Points are given/taken on a zero-sum basis.
The following chart shows the game points for a five-person game (though other variations, with a different number of players, have different scoring). Game points are awarded based on the point value of cards taken during the hand. When playing for money, each game point generally represents a common money unit.
Point Total Picker (Alone) Picker (w/ Partner) Partner Opponents All Tricks +12 +6 +3 -3 91 to 120 +8 +4 +2 -2 61 to 90 +4 +2 +1 -1 31 to 60 -4 -2 -1 +1 0 to 30 -8 -4 -2 +2 No Tricks -12 -6 -3 +3
Thirty or thirty-one game points are called schneider -- that is, the picker (and partner, if any) are required to get 31 game points to get schneider, and the opponents are required to get only 30. There are 120 card points in the deck. Since it is possible to take a trick worth zero points, 120 points could be gotten without getting all of the tricks and thus the distinction between "All Tricks" and "120 points" is necessary. Players gain or lose game points such that a net gain of zero occurs.
The deal The deck is shuffled and cut. The dealer then deals cards, starting with the player to the dealer's left, and typically two or three at a time to each person. In most standard five and six-handed games, two cards are also dealt to a separate pile called the "blind." Usually this is dealt as a pair between rounds of dealing at any time so long as the last two cards are not dealt into the blind (because the dealer might inadvertently reveal the bottom card while dealing or shuffling).
When done with a five-handed deal, each player should have six cards, with two in the blind.
In one variant, a player may require a redeal if the player's hand has no aces, no face cards, no trump, and no count/point cards. ("No ace, no face, no trump, no count.")
Picking The player to the left of the dealer gets first choice to take the blind (the two face-down cards not dealt to any player). If they pass, the option is given to the next player (in clockwise order). There are several Variations for if the dealer does not wish to pick up the blind—the dealer may be required to pick up the blind, or may have the option to call a Leaster, or may be able to call a Doubler.
The individual who takes the blind is called the "picker". The picker adds the two cards in the blind to their hand and then must choose two cards to lay down or "bury". The buried cards are added to the picker's score if the picker's side takes at least one trick.
The picker may also have a partner on their team who will then play against the remaining players. Depending on the variant or house-rule, the partner must automatically be the player with the jack of diamonds, or the picker may be able to call the ace of a fail suit and have that player be their partner. These are discussed in the variations section.
One of the more intriguing aspects of sheepshead is that the picker and partner change each hand, and a good deal of the game's strategy is in determining which player is the partner, as their identity is usually not revealed until after the game has begun.
Play After the picker has buried their cards, the person to the left of the dealer plays the first card. Play continues clockwise until everyone has played. Every player must follow suit if possible. Trump is considered a suit, so if trump is led, and a player has trump in their hand, they must play trump. If a player cannot follow suit, then they can play any card from their hand. The person who played the card with the highest strength takes the trick (the highest trump, or if none, the highest card of the fail suit that was led). The player who took the previous trick then plays, or leads, a new card for the second trick. After all tricks have been taken, their point values are totaled and the winner declared, with all players adding or reducing their personal points accordingly (see the charts, above). The deal then shifts to the person to the left of the previous dealer.
Strategy
Picker and partner The picker and partner should almost always lead trump. The picker should have the strongest hand, as they received additional cards, received free points in their bury, and hopefully had a stronger hand before picking. So for each trump they lose, four trump are lost by the other players. This is especially important in the called aces variant, as this gives the ace a much better chance of walking, or going around the table without being trumped. When the picker is weak, sometimes it may be wise to lead fail and hope that the partner can take the trick. In these circumstances, the partner leading trump may drain the picker's trump faster than a strong opponent, though this strategy may be dangerous if the partner is still unknown. Generally speaking, it is better to clear out as many suits of fail as possible when burying; it is better to have two clubs than to have a heart and a club. There are exceptions to this rule. Generally, it is best not to pick up the blind unless the player has four or more trump in a five-handed game, and it is best if at least one of those trump is a queen. Picking on three trump is unwise, unless they are very highly powered cards or the picker has point cards to place into the blind.
Opponents In the called aces variant, the opponents should usually lead another card of the called suit, as it is required by rule that the picker and partner must have and play a card of that fail suit for sure. Since there are five players and (usually) six cards in each fail suit, it is likely that one of the opponents will not have a card of that suit and thus be able to trump the trick and take the called ace for at least 11 points. If the opponents wait, an opponent might be able to throw off their single card in the called suit and thereafter be able to trump the first trick of the called suit. However, waiting is dangerous because there are only six tricks in the five-player game, and the picker usually tries to lead trump and thus bleed the opponents of their trump—in part for the very purpose of avoiding this tactic by the opponents. If the picker has one card of a given suit, they are more likely to have another card of that same suit than to have one of another fail suit. Leading that suit back at them (if possible) is a common strategy that will allow for a greater chance for the opponents to be able to trump or schmear the trick. Watch for tell-tale play. If a player schmears an ace or ten in front of the picker, there's a good chance that they are the partner. Never lead trump unless absolutely necessary; doing so will likely hurt the opponent's team more than the picker/partner.
All players Point counting is a very valuable skill when playing sheepshead, as it enables a player to know if a trick must be taken or if they've already won, enabling them to change their strategy to try for a greater victory. Trump counting is also important to keep track of the number of trump that have already been played, especially the queens and to a lesser extent the jacks.