Overview
Klaverjassen is a popular trick taking game from the Netherlands where teams of players try to draw the highest ranked card each round. Klaverjassen is played with two to four players, individually or two teams of two players.
Presets
- Solo: Version with 4 players and no teams
- Teams: Version with two teams of two players
Play Multiplayer Klaverjassen Online
The Deck and the Deal
Klaverjassen uses a 32 card deck consisting of 7s through Aces in each suit. After shuffling the deck, the dealer passes out a set of 3 cards to each player, then a set of 2, and finally a set of 3 again.
How to Play
Bidding
After all of the cards are dealt, a random card from a separate deck is selected to determine trump. After trump is determined, there are two rounds of betting. The first round begins with the player left of the dealer and going clockwise. On their turn, players have the opportunity to play with trump. If all of the players pass, then a second round of betting begins. During the second round, if a player wants to play with a trump suit other than the one previously determined, they can say Ein Kleines. If a player says Ein Kleines, then another player can out bid them and say Besser. If a player says Besser, they play with Clubs as Trump.
Melding
After the bidding round, there is a round of melding. Starting with the player left of the dealer, players can announce any melds they have in their hand. A Terz is a sequence of 3 cards and is worth 20 points. A Halber is a sequence of 4 cards and is worth 50 points. The player with the highest sequences gets the points. For example if a player announces a Terz and the next player announces a Halber, then only the player with the Halber gets the points.
Players can also announce a Belle which is the King and Queen of trump and is worth 20 points. Belle is always counted
Play
The player left of the dealer leads the first trick. Going clockwise, players must follow suit if possible. If they cannot follow suit, then they must play trump if possible. The player with the highest card wins the trick. Gameplay continues until all cards have been played.
Scoring
Players count the cards in the tricks won based on the ranking system illustrated above. If the player or team that declared trump has won a majority of the points, then each player/team receives the points earned. If the player or team that declared trump has lost a majority of the points, then they receive no points while the other players receive the points that they earned
Winning
The first team/player to reach an agreed amount of points wins the game.
Variations
CardzMania supports several customizable rules and options so you can play Klaverjassen exactly how you like or how you grew up playing with your friends and family. In addition to the classic way of playing, we often have new creative options for you to try to spice up the game if you are interested in trying different spins for fun.
Points
Players determine a set amount of points when the game ends.
Rounds
Players determine a set amount of rounds (also known as hands or deals) that the game will go to (instead of the points selection above).
Timer
Players only have a set amount of time to make their turn after which a turn is automatically played for them and the game proceeds: Fast is 7 seconds, Standard is 15 seconds, Slow is 30 seconds, and Very Slow is 60 seconds. Players can also choose to disable the timer, but that is only for private tables.
Trick Play
Players can determine the limits of trick play by choosing Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or Johannesburg rules. Amsterdam rules mean that if the lead card isn't a trump and another player plays trump, then you cannot play a lower ranked trump. Rotterdam rules are the default trick rules as illustrated in the above guide. Options: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Johannesburg
Bimah / Stick the dealer
Players can enable Bimah, or Stick the dealer. This means that the dealer cannot pass the second round of trump bidding.
Recall on bimah
Players can determine whether the dealer can recall the trump suit (from the first round) in the second round of bidding.
Melds
Players can determine if melds are shown during meld declaration.
Manual Bela
Have to declare bela manually (by clicking the bela button before playing the card). Otherwise it's declared automatically when the first card is played.
No trumps
Players can enable no trumps during trump making (in addition to the four suits).
Half Bayt Scoring
When the trump declarer's points are equal to that of opposition, Players can decide on how many points the opposition scores. Players can decide between half the points or all of the points.
Trump
Trump displayed. Options: Card, Suit
Suit
Suit calculated using dealer's card, randomly or following pattern CDHS
Jass
Players can determine if the Jack of trump's (or Jass) is worth 20 or 22 points.
Besser
Players can determine if Besser and small games are allowed in the second round of bidding.
NT Melds
Players can allow no trump melds.
Roem
Roem points in tricks - straight flush, four of a kind, bela/stuk.
Black Bonus
Players can allow black bonus points for winning all the tricks. Black bonus points can be worth 50, 100, 150, or 200 points or they can be disabled.
Scoring Method
Scoring method to be used. Options: Accumulated points, Original/Small, Simple
Trick Basics
Trick Taking games center around having the highest ranked card in a draw. Typically, players of trick taking games sit in a circle, sometimes in teams and sometimes playing solo, and are dealt a hand of cards. Given the specific game's card ranking (and trump - special suit that beats other suits), players draw a card from their hand in hopes that it outranks the other cards played. The player who outranks the others wins the trick for that round and gameplay is repeated until the cards are exhausted. Typically the player or team with the most tricks wins the game.
In a trick, each player plays a single card. One player is selected to start, then play proceeds clockwise around the table. If possible, players must play a card which is the same suit as the first card played - this is called 'following suit'. If a player cannot follow suit, then they may play any card in their hand. Based on the cards played, one player is declared the winner of the trick, usually for playing the highest value card of the trump suit, or of the suit of the card which started the trick.
After all cards have been dealt, normal trick taking commences. Remember all cards of the suit declared as trump (trump cards) beats any other suit. Whichever team wins seven tricks out of thirteen wins the round, winning all thirteen tricks is referred to as court. If the dealers team achieves this feat, its called a goon court. In single sir, winning the first seven consecutive tricks constitutes a court.
After cards dealt, depending on the trump, you have to figure out your strategy for the game whether to play trump first or not. In single sir / single sar winning the first seven tricks constitutes as a court or a goon court, so the strategy is very different than double sir / double sar. Whichever team (dealers team or trump callers team) wins seven tricks wins the deal and the opposing team becomes the dealer. In double sir, you have to win two consecutive tricks, so the strategy is totally different as you need to keep another high card to win the pile. Note that the second and the second last trick cannot be won, so you have to be extra careful about that too. This game is played in many variations so you have to be extra careful about the rules.
Based on the cards played, one player is declared the winner of the trick, usually for playing the highest value card of the trump suit, or of the suit of the card which started the trick.
Hand
The cards that a player is dealt forms their hand. Each round, a player selects one of the cards in their hand and plays them into the pile. In most trick taking games, all players are dealt the same number of cards and the hand is hidden from the other players, but in some games, like 500, a player can reveal their hand for bonus points.
Pile
The pile is the spot where players place their chosen card for the round. The player with the highest ranked card receives all of the cards in the pile and sets them to the side. In most trick taking games, the individual cards in the pile have a specific point value that is given to the winner.
Dealer
The dealer is chosen at random and passes out the deck of cards to form each player's hand. In most games, the dealer position rotates to the left once the deck needs to be re-shuffled and re-dealt.
Trump
Arguably the most important part of any trick taking game, the trump suit is the highest ranked suit in the game. Every game has its own method of selecting trump. Some games leave the selection up to the winner of the bid while some games make the suit of the lead card the trump suit.
Order
The ranking of the cards is dependent on the game. Ace is usually considered the highest in trick games, but some games from Europe, like Klaverjassen, have the Jack of trump the highest card.
Auction/Bidding
Most trick taking games contain an auctioning/bidding phase at the beginning of gameplay. During this time, players take turns bidding how many tricks they expect to win in the game. The player with the highest bid leads the first trick and decides the trump suit in most games. Often times, if the winner of the bid, sometimes called the declarer, fails to win the amount of tricks they bidded, they receive a lot of penalty points
Lead Card
The Lead card is the first card in the trick. In most trick taking games, subsequent players need to play the suit of the lead card if they can.
Card Game Basics
A deck of cards consists of 52 cards, with 4 distinctive subgroups. Each of these subgroups is recognised by a symbol and are referred to as suits. They consist of Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. Each suit contains 13 cards which, generally, are considered in this order, Ace (A), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jacks (J), Queen (Q) and King (K). Some games include the two Jokers found in a standard deck but most games don't.
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