Bauerchen

Bauerchen (also Bauersche or Bauersches) is a trick-taking card game that is played in the Palatinate region of Germany, especially around the city of Kaiserslautern. It is often played during leisure times as an alternative to well known games such as Schafkopf or Skat. Regular Bauerchen tournaments also take place.

Players

Bauerchen is a game for four, the two players sitting diagonally opposite one another forming a team, resulting in two teams of two.

Cards

French suits
Diamonds	Hearts	Spades	Clubs

The game is played with 20 cards from a French pack. A Skat pack may be used, in which case the Sevens, Eights and Nines are removed.

Card ranking

Trick-taking power

Within the four suits (Clubs, Spades (Schibbe), Hearts and Diamonds) there are five cards which are (from highest to lowest): Ace > Ten > King > Queen > Bauer (Jack).

Trumps

Permanent trumps are the so-called Bauern ("farmers" i.e. Jacks), from which the game gets its name. In addition there are all the cards in the trump suit, the ranking of the individual cards remaining the same as normal. Consequently there are always eight trumps in the game. These are, from the highest Bauer to the lowest trump card: Bauer of Clubs > Bauer of Spades (Schibbe) > Bauer of Hearts > Bauer of Diamonds > Trump Ace > Trump 10 > Trump King > Trump Queen.

Card points

The values of the individual cards are as follows:

Card	Symbol	Card points
Ace	A	11
Ten	10	10
King	K	4
Queen	Q	3
Bauer (Jack)	B	2

In addition the last trick of the game scores 10 points extra, so that there is a total of 130 points per game.

A game is a hand of five tricks, a round comprises several games - until one team reaches 12 points. The team that wins two rounds scores a stein ("rock"), sometimes called a knoddel; after which a new stein is played.

Playing

Dealing

Dealing and play are clockwise. Dealer shuffles the cards and offers them to the cutter to his right. The cards are then dealt in packets of 2 and then 3 to each player.

Trump suit

After picking up his cards, forehand calls trumps. Once all players have picked up their cards, forehand leads to the first trick. When the game is finished, forehand then becomes the next dealer.

Trick-playing rules

Each player must play to the trick in accordance with the following rules:

1. Players must always follow suit if possible (Farbzwang).

2. If unable to follow suit, players must trump (Trumpfzwang).

3. If unable to do either, a player may play any card (where possible 'smearing' their partner with high-value cards or playing low-value cards to tricks likely to be won by their opponents).

4. If a trump is played, players must beat the highest trump in the trick if possible. If unable to do so, they must play a trump. If that is not possible, rule 3 applies.

Other rules

• Natural trick (Naturstich): a suit trick (Farbstich) is one to which no trump has been played and the trick is thus made up of natural cards i.e. the Ace wins the trick (Ace, 10, King, Queen).

• Melding (Melden): if a player has a King and Queen of the same suit in his hand and plays either one of them, he can meld a "20", i.e. on the scoresheet and extra game point (Rundenpunkt) is credited. If they are of the trump suit, the player may meld a "40" and receives 2 bonus points. A game cannot be melded to a value of 31 points (?).

• Spritzen: the team that announced trumps plays "at home" (zuhause) and their opponents are said to be playing "away" (auswärts). A player from the away side has the right to "double" (spritzen), if he is sure of winning. In response, the home side may redouble (zurückspritzen) by calling "retour" or "re". Teams may spritz as often as they like and raise the stakes, usually 3-4 times being enough.

• Kart' ab: If a player is certain that he can win all the tricks alone (i.e. without the assistance of a partner), then he can say "ledig" ("single"), "buckel" ("hump") or "Kart' ab" ("cards down"), which means that his partner must lay his cards face down on the table and no longer take part. The winner of a "Ledig Spiel" ("solo game") automatically gets 12 points and ends the round.

Scoring

Game is 31 points. If a player reaches 31, the opposing side is given a "knoddel". If the opponents get 2 knoddels, the team wins a stein, which used to mean that their opponents had to buy them a stein of beer, i.e. a litre of beer.

If both teams each have one knoddel, the deciding game, is called a "Gehampelter",, "Hängo" or various other names.

Depending on the card points won, the following game points are scored:

If the opposing teams scores...

• 0 card points - "naked" (nackig gespielt): 3 game points
• 1 - 30 card points - schneider: 2 game points
• 31 - 64 card points - schneider frei: 1 game point

if the points are split 65:65, the away team wins. If the away team wins they always get an extra game point (i.e. 2, 3 or 4 game points). If players have spritzt, the points are doubled for each spritz.

Optional rules

1. "Carry forward" (Weiterschreiben): a round ends with 31 points, but excess points are carried forward to the next round. Also called the Siegelbach rule.
2. "Forty Rule at 10 Game Points" (40er-Regel bei 10 Rundenpunkten): instead of an extra 2 game points, only 1 is added.
3. "The Last" (Die Letzte): if a player is dealt 2 Bauers at the start and has to announce trumps, he can flip his 5th and last card for trumps instead.
4. "Single" (Ledig): In Gehampelten there is no "Ledig Spiel" (solo game).

Tournaments

Bauersche tournaments take place irregularly in various pubs in and around Kaiserslautern. The entry fee is decided by the publican.

External links

• [reduced=true Wo Bauern Trumpf sind] at www.rheinpfalz.de.