Jass Club
Learn to Play Jass
Nine short lessons, from your first look at the cards to your first game of Schieber.
Lesson 1
The deck
Jass uses 36 cards: four suits of nine cards, from 6 up to Ace. Depending on where in Switzerland your family comes from, you grew up with French suits or Swiss-German suits. They play exactly the same; only the pictures change. This guide shows the Swiss-German cards.
Roses
Rosen
Härz
Acorns
Eichel
Egge
Shields
Schilten
Schufle
Bells
Schellen
Chrütz
The picture cards have their own names in the Swiss-German deck:
Lesson 2
Which card wins
In every suit the cards rank in the usual order, Ace highest and 6 lowest. The suit chosen as trump is different: its Jack and 9 jump to the top. Swiss players remember it as “Buur, Nell, As”: the Jack of trump (Buur) beats everything, then the 9 of trump (Nell), then the Ace.
Trump suit, high to low
Any other suit, high to low
Any trump, even the 6, beats any card of another suit.
Lesson 3
What cards are worth
Winning tricks is only half the story: what counts is the points inside them. Learn this table and you know most of Jass.
| Card | Other suits | Trump |
|---|---|---|
| Ace | 11 | 11 |
| King | 4 | 4 |
| Queen / Ober | 3 | 3 |
| Jack / Under | 2 | 20 |
| 10 / Banner | 10 | 10 |
| 9 | 0 | 14 |
| 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Last trick | 5 | |
| Total in every hand | 157 | |
Take every trick in a hand and you score a Match: 157 plus a 100 bonus, 257 points.
Lesson 4
Setting up Schieber
- Four players, two teams. Partners sit across from each other.
- Deal 3 × 3. Three cards at a time, three times around: nine cards each.
- Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right, the Swiss way.
- The first hand: whoever holds the 10 of Diamonds (the Acorn Banner) chooses the game.
The game is called Schieber, “the pusher”, because the player choosing the game may instead say “Ich schiebe” and push the choice across to their partner.
Common Swiss table practice, not on the rules sheet. After the first hand the right to choose usually passes to the next player in turn, and a pushed choice can't be pushed back.
Lesson 5
Choosing the game
The chooser looks at their nine cards and picks one of five games. The harder games are worth more: every point you make is multiplied.
Root · Red trump
Hearts or Diamonds · Roses or Acorns
Schwarz · Black trump
Spades or Clubs · Shields or Bells
Obenabe · Ace down, no trump
Highest card wins. 8s are worth 8 points.
Ungenufe · 6 up, no trump
Lowest card wins. 8s are worth 8, and 6s count 11 like an Ace.
Slalom · No trump
The first card decides whether you start Ace down or 6 up.
A Match in Schwarz is worth 514, in Obenabe or Ungenufe 771, and in Slalom 1028.
Lesson 6
Playing a trick
One player leads a card, then each player in turn plays one. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless someone plays a trump: then the highest trump wins. The winner collects the four cards and leads the next trick. Nine tricks make a hand.
Example · Roses are trump
The little 6 of Roses wins: any trump beats any other suit. Its team takes 4 + 11 + 0 + 10 = 25 points.
Common Swiss table practice, not on the rules sheet. You must follow the suit led if you can, but you may always play a trump instead. The one exception: you never have to give up the Buur to follow trump.
Lesson 7
Melds: Wiis and Stöck
Before the tricks begin to count, lucky hands score extra for combinations, called Wiis.
| 3 in a row, same suit (Drüüblatt) | 20 |
| 4 in a row | 50 |
| 5 in a row | 100 |
| 6 in a row | 150 |
| 4 Aces, 4 Kings, 4 Queens or 4 10s | 100 |
| 4 Nines | 150 |
| 4 Jacks / Unders | 200 |
| Stöck: King and Queen of trump | 20 |
4 in a row · 50
4 Unders · 200
When to announce
- Announce the value of your best Wiis as you play your first card.
- Only one team scores Wiis: the one with the best meld. Melds are compared by value, then length, then height, then trump, then position at the table.
- After the first trick, the winner (and their partner) shows the melds and scores them all.
- Stöck is announced when you play the second of the two cards, King and Queen of trump.
Lesson 8
Keeping score
After each hand, each team adds up the points in its tricks, multiplied for the game chosen, plus its Wiis. The first team to reach the target, usually 2500, wins.
Close to the end, the order of counting decides the winner. The house declares it before play, either Stöck, Wiis, Stich or Stöck, Stich, Wiis (marriage, meld, tricks, or marriage, tricks, meld).
If you know your team has reached the target, say so: “Bedanken” announces the win and ends the game on the spot.
Swiss players keep score on a Jasstafel, the slate with the big Z. Print one and try it.
More players?
5 players: take out the 7 of Hearts (Roses), deal 7 cards each, and one player is the helper, the Knecht. 6 players: use two decks, 12 cards each; when two identical cards fall, the second one wins.
Lesson 9
More games
Once Schieber feels easy, the rules sheet has four more games for three players.
Pandur
3 players · 8 cards each
The 6s, 7s and 8s come out (24 cards). Players bid card points from 100 up in steps of 10; the highest bidder plays alone against the other two. Bid Misère to lose every trick, or Pandur to win them all. Game is usually 17 points.
Bieter
3 players · 12 cards each
Bidding from 500 points decides the soloist, who then plays the whole game against the other two. Folding gives the opponents 157.
Putzer
3 players · 9 cards each + a stock
The top card of the stock (the Blind) sets trump and can be stolen with the 6 of trump. Miss your target and you get a Härdöpfel, a potato, worth minus one. Game is 7 points.
Coiffeur
3 players · 12 cards each
Everyone must play every contract once, plus a Joker worth 5×. Only the bidder's points count. Highest total at the end wins.
Guet Jass!
Practise card values in the Jass Academy, print a pocket card for the table, then come to a Jass night and play your first real hand.
Based on the Arizona Swiss Society rules sheet by Kurt & Susan (January 2023).