Kein Stich
| Origin | Germany |
|---|---|
| Type | Trick-taking avoidance |
| Players | 3 or 4 |
| Cards | 32 |
| Deck | German or French pack |
| Rank (high→low) | A K O U 10 9 8 7 |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Playing time | 30 minutes |
| Related games | |
| Quodlibet, Rumpel, Herzeln, Rosbiratshka, Barbu | |
Kein Stich ("No Tricks") is a card game, which is well known in the German-speaking parts of the world under various regional names such as Herzeln (but see Herzeln and Herzla), King Louis, Kunterbunt ("Multicoloured"), Schwarze Sau ("Black Pig"), Fritz, Brumseln, Fünferspiel ("Fives"), Lieschen, Lizzy or Pensionisteln ("Pensioners").[1]
In the most common variant it is played by 4 people who are each dealt 8 cards (Ace/Deuce, King, Ober/Queen, Unter/Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven). The special feature of this game is that it consists of a compendium of five different deals. In the first four it is a trick-taking game; the fifth contract is a melding game, rather like Elfer Raus ("Eleven Out"). If it is played for money, small stakes (e.g. 5 cents) are paid into a pot during the trick-taking games and the money is paid out in the last game. The word "pfennig" is used here to mean the stake.
Rules
The cards rank in the order described above: A/D > K > O/Q > U/J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7. Tricks are won by the highest card of the led suit.
Trick-taking deals
The player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick. Thereafter, the winner of a trick leads to the next one. The fundamental rule is that players must follow suit (this is known as Farbzwang); there are no trumps. That means that if a player has at least one card of the led suit, it must be played. The four trick-taking deals are:
- No Tricks (Kein Stich): In the first deal, players aim to take as few tricks as possible. Each trick taken costs five pfennigs.
- No Hearts (Kein Herz): In the second deal, players pay a penalty of five pfennigs for each Heart card they take. The number of tricks taken is irrelevant. But Hearts are not trumps, so Heart cards may be discarded to a trick led by another suit, if the player cannot follow suit.
- No Obers (Kein Ober): In the third deal, the Hearts and the number of tricks won are unimportant. This time, each Ober captured costs 10 pfennigs.
- No Max (Kein Herz-König): In the fourth deal it is now important not to capture "Max", the King of Hearts, well known from the card game, Watten. He costs 40 pfennigs.
Lay-Off deal
In the fifth and last deal, the player who is dealt the Unter of Acorns (or in a French pack, the Jack of Clubs) leads, by playing it to the table. Each player in turn must either lay off a card to the Unter of Acorns or play another Unter. If neither is possible, they pass. Whoever, is the first out, wins 100 pfennigs; the second out wins 50; the third, 10, and the last out gets nothing. The stakes and the winnings, etc., should be agreed by the players beforehand.
Variants
No Penultimate Trick
One variant, No Penultimate Trick (Kein zweitletzter Stich), involves an additional trick-taking deal in which the penultimate trick costs 40 pfennigs.
No First or Last Trick
No First or Last Trick (Kein erster, letzter Stich) is like the preceding variant, except that players aim to avoid taking the first and last tricks, which each cost 20 pfennigs.
Black Pig
In the variant known as Black Pig (Schwarze Sau) the Queen of Spades takes the place of "Max" in the fourth deal.[2] c.f. Hearts.
King Louis
In King Louis, the first deal is omitted and the game starts with No Hearts.
Slam
Players may score for a slam (Durchmarsch) in all the trick-taking rounds. If a player wins every trick, they win 50 pfennigs and the others pay 30 pfennigs each.
Power, Blitz or Hardcore
In this variant, the first four deals are combined into one. In other words, players pay a penalty for each trick taken, for each Heart card, for each Ober and for the King of Hearts. For example, if the following trick is won - D
, O, 10, K it costs 1 stake for the trick, 4 for the Hearts, 2 for the Ober of Hearts and 8 for the King of Hearts.
Special variants
Variants exist for 3 to 6 players and for playing with 24 or 52 cards.