An extremely popular card game in northern Germany: a double pack, secret partners revealed by the Queens of clubs, and announcements that raise the stakes as the hand goes on.
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How to play
Doppelkopf is played by four players, you and three computer players. It uses 48 cards: two each of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine in every suit. Everyone gets twelve cards. Play is clockwise, and the player left of the dealer leads.
In a normal game the trumps, highest first, are the 10♥, the Queens (♣ ♠ ♥ ♦), the Jacks (♣ ♠ ♥ ♦), and then the A, 10, K and 9 of diamonds: 26 trumps in all. Clubs and spades rank A 10 K 9, and hearts A K 9. Of two identical cards in a trick, the first one played wins. You must follow suit if you can (trumps count as one suit), otherwise play anything.
Card points are Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Queen 3 and Jack 2, for 240 in the pack. The two players holding the Queens of clubs (the old women) are the Re side and play against the other two, Kontra, but nobody says who they are. Re need 121 card points to win, and Kontra 120, but if Kontra has been announced and Re has not, Re need only 120 and Kontra 121.
Before play each player, starting left of the dealer, says healthy or makes a reservation. A Solo beats Poverty, which beats a Marriage, and between two equal reservations the first player in order plays:
Marriage: you hold both Queens of clubs. The first other player to win one of the first three tricks becomes your partner. If nobody does, you play alone. If you hold both and say healthy instead, you play a silent solo.
Poverty: you have three trumps or fewer. You pass three cards, including all your trumps, face down. The first player from your left who accepts takes them, gives you any three back and becomes your partner. If nobody accepts, the same dealer deals again.
Solo: you play alone against three. In a trump solo you name the trump suit (diamonds is like the normal game; hearts, spades or clubs replace the diamonds). In a Queen or Jack solo only those eight cards are trumps, and an Ace solo has no trumps.
Announcements: a player may announce Re or Kontra while holding 11 or more cards. That's 10 if answering the other side's announcement, and generally one card fewer than the announcement being answered needed. After that, a side may announce no 90 (10 cards), no 60 (9), no 30 (8) and schwarz (7), each one only after the one before. Each raises the target: after Re announces no 90, for example, Re need 151 card points. A side that misses its announcement loses, and if both sides miss one, nobody wins the game. A Marriage delays announcements until the partner is found and lowers the card counts by the number of tricks that took.
Scoring: the winning side scores 1 for the game, 1 more if it is Kontra (against the old women), and 2 for each Re or Kontra announcement. Then, for each of no 90, no 60, no 30 and schwarz, it scores 1 if the losers fell under it, 1 if the winners announced it, and 2 if the losers announced it and missed. Outside solos either side also scores 1 for catching an opponent's fox (A♦), 1 for winning the last trick with Charlie (J♣) or catching an opponent's Charlie there, and 1 for a Doppelkopf, a trick worth 40 or more. (pagat still counts a Doppelkopf in a solo; here no extras count in a solo.)
Each player on a two-player side wins or loses the points. A lone player wins or loses three times as much, so the scores always add up to zero. A game is eight deals.
Controls
When it's your turn to speak, tap Healthy, Marriage, Poverty or one of the Solo buttons.
In a Poverty, tap three cards to pass (or, as partner, to give back) and tap the button.
During play an Announce button appears under the table whenever you may announce. Tap it before your next card to raise the stakes.
On your turn, tap a highlighted card.
The Rules button switches between the standard rules and the variations. Switching starts a new game, and your choice is remembered on this device.
Optional variations
The standard rules here are pagat.com's main description. Three common variations that pagat also lists are available as an option:
The second 10♥ beats the first when both are played to the same trick, except in the last trick.
In a solo, the soloist leads to the first trick.
Charlie scores only for winning the last trick with J♣. There's no point for catching an opponent's Charlie there.
Game modes
Daily: everyone gets the same deals each day.
New Game: a fresh game with new deals.
Tips & strategy
Lead a single black Ace early, while the suit is still likely to go round. The second round of a suit is often trumped.
Announce Re or Kontra when the hand is going well. It adds 2 points to what the game is worth and tells your partner which side you're on.
Give points to tricks your partner is sure to win, but keep your fox (A♦) away from tricks the other side might take.
Remember the first of two identical cards wins: under the standard rules a second 10♥ played to a trick that already has one can't win it.
Origins
Doppelkopf, double head, belongs to the Schafkopf family of point-trick games. German Schafkopf was being played by the 18th century. According to Wikipedia, its rules were first recorded by Paul Hammer in the early 1800s (its articles give both 1803 and 1811), and three of the variants he described already used a double pack. A Doppelschafkopf Society is mentioned in 1873, and in 1879 the usual Doppelschafkopf was a four-handed partnership game with 2 × 24 cards, 240 card points and 121 to win.
By the late 19th century the name Doppelkopf was attached to Schafkopf played with two packs. In 1927 Robert Hülsemann described an early version of the modern game with French-suited cards, the Queens and Jacks over diamonds, a penalty for losing the fox, and, for the first time, secret partnerships decided by the two Queens of clubs. In 1931 Karl Thoenen recorded that in many areas two red Tens, the Tolle ("mad ones"), had been added as the highest trumps.
Today Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat in Germany, especially in the north and the Rhine-Main region. The German Doppelkopf Association (Deutscher Doppelkopf-Verband) publishes tournament rules, but home games use many house rules. The rules here follow pagat.com's main description, written in our own words.
About Doppelkopf
Doppelkopf is a free browser version of the classic German card game, played against three computer players, with a daily game and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.
A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.
