How to Play Klaberjass

Klaberjass is a two player trick taking game of Germanic origin which is also very popular in the Jewish community. This game also is known by quite a few other names, such as Bella, Klob, Kalabrias, Clob and Clobby. The game uses one 32 card Skat deck (which includes the cards from rank seven to Ace in each suit). The ranking of the cards is different for the designated trump suits than the other suits. For the trump suit, the ranking is as follows (from highest to lowest); Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7. In the three non-trump suits (each of the suits not designated as the trump suit for the hand), the ranking of the cards is as follows (from highest to lowest); Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

Card rankings in Klaberjass

Determination of the first dealer can be performed in a variety of ways, with draw for low card a common method. Each player draw a card from the shuffled deck and the player drawing the lowest card is set as the first dealer. Thereafter the role of dealer alternates amongst the two players.

After the first dealer has been determined, the dealer thoroughly shuffles the cards and offers it to his opponent to cut. After the cut, the dealer then begins dealing the cards in batches of three, starting with his opponent. After each player has a total of six cards, the dealer then places the remainder of the deck in the center of the table, turning up the top card of the stock and placing it face-up partially under the stock. The players then pick up and examine their hand in preparation for the bidding.

The opponent of the dealer has the first opportunity to bid. This player may then make one of three calls:

Take:
Schmeiss:
Pass:

If the non-dealer passes, the dealer than has the same options. If he calls "schmeiss" the opponent may either accept, which ends the hand with no score, or may reject the schmeiss, for which the turned up suit is automatically set as the trump suit for the hand and the dealer is set as Maker for the hand. If the dealer accepts the trump suit, that suit also becomes the trump suit and the dealer is set as the Maker for the hand.

If both players pass on the first round of bidding, a second round of bidding occurs, again starting with the dealer's opponent. This player again has three options:

Name a Trump Suit:
Schmeiss:
Pass:

If the non-dealer passes, the dealer then has the same three options. He may name a suit of his choice as the trump suit for the hand (but may not name the same suit as the original turned-up trump card), offer to schmeiss or pass. If he also passes on this second round of bidding, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer in turn deals the next hand. If he offers to schmeiss, his opponent (the non-dealer) must either accept the schmeiss (with the cards thrown in and the next dealer in turn dealing), or he may reject the schmeiss, in which case the player calling the schmeiss must name a trump suit for the hand and he becomes the Maker for this hand.

Once a trump suit has been determined during the bidding, the player who accepted or named the trump suit becomes the Maker for the hand and strives to score more points than his opponent during the hand, while his opponent attempts to prevent him from doing so.

After a trump suit has been determined, leaving the face-up trump card on the table, the dealer deals each player one more packet of three cards, starting with his opponent. He also removes the bottom card from the remaining stock, exposes it such that both players can see it's face and then sets it aside.

If original turned up trump card was accepted as the trump suit for the hand and either player has the seven of the trump suit, he may immediately show it and exchange it for that top trump card, replacing it with the seven and adding it into his hand.

Before play of the actual hand begins, a melding phase takes place. Only the player who has the highest scoring single meld can score for melds during the hand, so each player, starting with the non-dealer will declare the point value of his highest meld.

Meld types in Klaberjass

Melds consist of sequence of three or more cards. A meld of three sequential cards of the same suit has a point value of 20 points and a sequence of four or more cards has a point value of 50. The procedures of declaring the melds may seem somewhat elaborate, but the reason for this is to allow the players to communicate the melds they have for determination of the player who will score for them, while, at the same time, prevent unnecessary information from being provided about the specific cards found in that player's hand.

This meld declaration phase begins with the non-dealer who would indicate the specific point value for the highest meld found in his hand. Thus, he might declare a "20 meld", or a "50 meld". If he has no such meld, he would simply state "No melds". After the non-dealer makes his declaration, the dealer would then have an opportunity to respond. If the non-dealer had declared a meld and the dealer does not have an equal or higher meld, he would declare "Good", indicating his acknowledgement that the dealer has the highest meld and would therefore be entitled to score for that and any other melds he has in hand. If the dealer has a meld of higher point value than the non-dealer he would simply state "No good" and the dealer would be entitled to score for all melds in his hand. If the dealer had a meld of the same point value as declared by the non-dealer, he would instead request more information of the non-dealer by stating "How high?". The non-dealer would then respond by naming the rank of the highest card in that meld. The dealer would then respond to this declaration with either "Good", indicating the non-dealer does, in fact, have the highest meld, "No good" if the dealer's meld contains a higher highest card or "Equal" if both of the melds contain the same rank of highest card. In the case of "Good" or "No Good" the appropriate player would score. In the case of this second respond of "Same", the player's both state the suit of the meld. If one of the melds is in the trump suit, that meld is considered the higher such meld. But if neither meld is of the trump suit, the non-dealer is entitled to score for melds during the hand. If the non-dealer had initially stated "No melds", if the dealer has any melds, he may declare the point value of such melds and score for those melds. Thus, as noted, only the player with the highest value or highest ranked meld is entitled to score the for meld, as well as any other legal melds also found in his hand. Note that the ordering of the cards, in regards to forming of these sequence melds is somewhat different than the normal rank of the cards in play of the hand. For purposes of sequence melds, the ranking of the cards are as follows (from high to low); Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7. The player who is entitled to score for melds during the hand must show the melds after his first play to the first trick of the hand.

After the melding phase, play of the hand begins. The play consists of a series of tricks, with each player contributing one card to the trick. The dealer's opponent leads the first card to the first trick. He may play any card of choice from his hand to start the first trick. His opponent than contributes a card from his own hand to the trick. If he has a card of the suit originally led to the trick he must play it. If he does not have such a card he must play a trump card if he has one. If he also does not have a trump card, he may play any card from his hand. If a trump suit is led to the trick, the opponent must play a higher card of the trump suit if he has one.

The trick is won by the player of the highest trump card to the trick. If the trick contains no cards of the trump suit, the trick is won by the player of the highest card of the suit originally led to the trick. The winner of each trick sets the cards won in the trick aside, out of play, and leads the first card to start the next trick.

If a player has both the King and Queen of the trump suit he may declare "Bella" and add 20 points to his current score for the hand. A player is not obligated to make this declaration and score the points, however, if he does so, he must make the declaration after playing the second of the two cards which form the "Bella" to a trick. In addition to the "Bella" the winner of the last trick of the hand earns a 10 point bonus for his score for the hand.

After all nine tricks have been played and won, the players then examine the cards they managed to win and tricks to determine the points won during the hand. The following chart shows the value of each card in the deck.

Card	Scoring Value
Jack of trump suit	20
Nine of trump suit	14
Ace	11 each
Ten	10 each
King	4 each
Queen	3 each
Jack of non-trump suit	2 each
Nine of non-trump suit	0
8, 7	0

After all points scored for the hand are totaled for each player, it is determined if the maker managed to earn more points than his opponent. If so, both players add to their ongoing game score the total number of points earned during the hand. However, if the opponent of the maker earns the more points during the hand, that opponent earns a number of game points equal to the sum of all points earned by both players during the hand and the maker does not score any points for that hand. If the hand score for both players is exactly the same, the opponent of the Maker scores the total number of hand points he earned during the hand and the Maker scores no points for the hand. The player who earns the most game-points during a hand is set as the dealer for the next hand.

The first player to earn a total of 500 or more game points at the conclusion of any hand is declared the game winner.

Zensa: Zensa is a Bavarian version of Klaberjass, which also sometimes goes by the name Senserln. The game is played identically to the version of Klaberjass as described above, except that it allows several additional meld types that can be declared during the melding phase.

In addition to the standard sequence melds of length 3 and 4 allowed, Zensa also features the following melds as well:

Sequence of 5:
Four Jacks:
Four Aces, Kings, Queens or Tens:

If both players declare a meld of a 100 point value, the Sequence of 5 is considered higher than the meld of Aces, Kings, Queens or tens. If both players highest meld is four of Aces, Kings, Queens or tens, the player having the higher ranked four of a kind is entitled to score for his melds during the hand.

Other than the enhanced melding options available in this variant, all other rules are exactly the same as in standard Klaberjass as described above.

Clobyosh: Clobyosh is another game played very similarly to standard Klaberjass which is said to be very popular with Jewish players. This game also goes by the name Bela.

This game is played identically to standard Klaberjass with the following exceptions:

In order for the player who has declared the higher melds to be permitted to add these to his score for the hand, he must win at least one trick during play of the hand. A Bela may always be scored for the player declaring it regardless of the number of tricks that player may have won during the hand.
When playing the first card of a Bela (King and Queen of trump suit), the player must declare "Bela", and when playing the second say "from the Bela" in order to score for the Bela.
The schmeiss bid is not recognized or used in Clobyosh.
The first player to reach or exceed 501 points is declared the winner.
If a player manages to reach or exceed that total after the declarations, through a Bela, or from the 10 point bonus for winning the last trick, the game instantly ends and that player is declared the winner, with no actual further play of that hand continued.
If both players tie with the same number of points scoring during a hand, neither player scores any points for that hand. However, the total number of points from both players is awarded to the player during the next hand who scores the most hand points.

In all other aspects Clobyosh is played identically to Klaberjass as described above.

Darda: Darda is a game from the Czech Republic which is very similar to Klaberjass. In fact, the game is played identically to Klaberjass, with just a few exceptions, as follows:

The ranking of the cards is somewhat different in the game of Darda.

The ranking of the cards in the selected trump suit is (from high to low); Queen, 9, Ace, 10, King, Jack, 8, 7.
In the non-trump suit, the ranking of the cards is (also shown from high to low); Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

With the slightly different ranking of the cards in the trump suit, the point values of the cards, as won in tricks is also modified somewhat. The following chart shows these modified values as used to play Darda:

Card	Point Scoring Value
Queen of trump suit	20
Nine of trump suit	14
Ace	11 each
Ten	10 each
King	4 each
Queen on non-trump suit	3 each
Jack	2 each
Nine of non-trump suit	0
8, 7	0

The trump card is turned up as normal, however, a player may not exchange the trump seven for that card. Instead, he can exchange for the final card as follows. As in Klaberjass, after the players have been dealt the final three cards of the hand (so as to have a hand containing nine cards), the bottom portion of the deck is turned face-up to expose the bottom card of the deck. If either player has the trump seven he may then exchange that card for the card exposed (whether or not the exposed card is actually of the trump suit). If the trump seven was the card initially exposed for trump (and the suit of that card was eventually set as trump for the hand), a player holding the eight of the trump suit may exchange for this card instead. In performing this trade, naturally, the next card of this face-up deck will then be exposed. If the card which is exposed is of the trump suit, the player may again exchange, this time exchanging any card from his hand with this card. If the new card exposed is again of the trump suit, he may again exchange, continuing until the top exposed card of the turned over deck is not a card of the trump suit.
In addition to the normal melds, certain combinations of four cards of the same rank are also legal melds:
- Four Queens:
- Four Nines:
- Five card Run:
- Four of a Kind - Honours:
For purposes of declaring melds to determine which player has the higher scoring melds, the highest point value meld is considered the higher. For meld types that have the same value, a valid four of a kind honours meld is considered higher than a five card sequence.
The lead to the first trick is made by the player who determined the trump suit for this hand.
A player having the King and Queen of the trump suit (called a Bejle) has a scoring value of 40 points in Darda.

Other than these few differences, Darda is played, in all other aspects, the same as Klaberjass.

Klammern: Klammern is a Klabberjass variant that is commonly encountered in Austria, Liechtenstein and France. The game is designed for play by four players, playing in two teams of four players each. The ranking of the cards in the deck is dependent on if that cards suit is from the trump suit. Thus, the ranking of the cards in the deck are as follows:

In the designated trump suit for the hand, the ranking of the cards is as follows (from highest to lowest): Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7.
In the three non-trump suits, the ranking of the cards is: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

Determination of partnerships and first dealer can be performed using a variety of methods, with a draw for high cards commonly used. Once determined, each player should sit directly across the table from his partner. The designated dealer for the first hand should then thoroughly shuffle the deck and offer it to the player at his right to cut. After the cut, he then begins the deal. He deals in a clockwise rotation, starting with the player at his left. He first deals a packet of three face-down cards to each player, then a two card packet to each, and a final three card packet. The penultimate card dealt to the dealer, in his last packet of three, should be dealt face-up. The suit of this card designates the trump suit in consideration for use for the hand. The role of dealer should rotate around the table in a clockwise direction after deal hand.

Bidding example in Klammern

After the cards have been dealt, each player has the opportunity to accept the suit of the exposed card as the trump suit. This starts with the player at the dealer's left (forehand) and continues around to each player until a player either accepts that suit as trump or all three players pass. A player so accepts this suit by stating "Ich gehe rein" or "I'm going in". The team containing the player who thus accepted this suit then become the declarers for that hand.

If all four players reject this suit, the dealer then takes the exposed card back into his hand. Each player then has an opportunity to call "Kleines" (little one) starting with the forehand player. If that player opts not to call "little one" the opportunity to so call this rotates around the table to each player, ending with the dealer. If no player elects to call "little one", the cards are all thrown in, shuffled, and there is a new deal by the same dealer. However, if a player calls "little one", any other player may call "Besser" (Better). A call of "Better" sets the trump suit to be used for the hand automatically as clubs (♣). If no player calls "Better" after an initial call of "Little one", the player who made that call then selects any trump suit of his choice to be used for the hand. If the call was Kleines or a player initially accepted the exposed trump suit, this is called a "Small game".

The player to the immediate left of the dealer plays the first card to start the first trick. Each other player in a clockwise rotation then plays a card to that same trick.

The leader to a trick may play any card of choice to start a trick. However, each other player in turn must play a card of the suit led to the trick if they have one. If a player does not have any cards of the suit led to the trick, but has a card in the designated trump suit for the hand, they must play that trump suit. And if previous cards of the trump suit have been played to that card, they must play a higher card of the trump suit to the trick, if able. If, in playing a card in the trump suit to the trick, a player is not able to beat the currently highest trump card in the trick, they may play any card from the trump suit. If a player had neither a card from the led suit nor any cards from the trump suit, they may play any card to that trick. After each player, in turn, has played one face-up card to the trick, it is examined to determine which player has won the trick.

The player of the highest card in the trump suit wins the trick. If the trick contains no cards in the designated trump suit, the player of the highest card in the suit originally led to the trick wins it. The won cards from the trick are set aside in a face-down pile near one of the players comprising the team which won that trick, and the winner of that trick leads the first card to the next trick.

The First Trick: As each player leads his first card to the trick, that player has the opportunity to score for any melds they may have in their hand. There are several types of legal melds in this game:

Terz:
Fifty:

For purposes of these sequential melds, the order of the cards in each suit is as follows: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7. Players are never required to announce and show their melds if they choose not to, but then may not thus score for them.

Only the team with the player having the highest ranking meld may score for their melds. Any Fifty is considered higher than a Terz. However, if multiple players have a Terz (plural Terzen), or multiple players have Fifties, it must be determined which is the highest. Of similar sequence types, that which has the highest top card is set as the winner. If these are equal, the suits then have a relative ranking for determining the highest of sequences with a highest top card. The suits thus rank in the following order (from high to low): diamonds, hearts, spades, clubs.

Whichever player thus has the highest ranked meld may then score for that meld and any others that he has. Each Terz scores 20 points and each Fifty scores 50 points, which will be added to the total for that team at the end of the hand. The partner of the player who thus had the highest meld is then entitled to show and score for any melds they also have in hand. These melds can only be scored during the first trick.

After these melds have been shown and scored for, the opponents of the side which decided the trump suit has the opportunity to announce "Kontra", which is a call by this opposing team that indicated that they do not believe the declarers will win the game and doubles scoring for the hand. To a call of "Kontra", the declarers may then call "Re" which doubles the scoring yet again for the hand.

After the first trick, the remainder of the tricks are then played as normal, with the winner of the first trick playing the first card to the second trick, leading any card of choice from their hand.

If a player has both the King and Queen of the trump suit in hand, that player may, in playing the first of these two cards to any trick after the first, announce "Bella". This announcement will then entitle that player's team to add 20 bonus points for that hand. It is not mandatory to make the call, but failure to make the appropriate announcement will then disallow that team from scoring for the Bella. Winning the last trick of the hand also earns a team 10 bonus points.

After all tricks have been played and won, each partnership than combines all the cards won in tricks and adds any card points they may have captured during play of the hand. The following chart shows the card point score for each card in play:

Card	Point Scoring Value
Jack of trump suit (called Jappa)	20
Nine of trump suit (called Mie)	14
Ace	11 each
Ten	10 each
King	4 each
Queen	3 each
Jack of non-trump suit	2 each
Nine of non-trump suit	0
8, 7	0

Five small points equates to one big point

Scoring: Scores in this game are divided into "Small Points" and "Big Points". If the declarers (the team which determined the trump suit for that hand) played a "Small Game" and earns more total points from the hand (a combination of captured card points, Bella, last trick and melds) is able to win more points than the opposing team, that team earns one "Small point". If the opponents had announced "Kontra" they score two "Small points" instead. If the "Kontra" was followed by a call of "Re" that team earns four "Small Points".

If, however the declaring team scored equal to or less points than the opponents, than the opposing team scores 2 "Small points" for a basic game, 4 for a hand in which they had called "Kontra", and 8 for a hand which included a call of "Re".

If one team currently has four or more "Small points" the opposing team is said to be "Laube" (in the trees) and will usually therefore attempt to become the declarers for each hand if possible (thus first accepting the called up suit on their turn or calling for a "Small game").

Once a team manages to earn five (or more) total "Small points" this translates to one "Big point". However, if the team earns five such "Small points" with the opposing team currently winning 0 "Small points", the winning team earns two "Big points" instead. Once a team thus reaches five or more "Small points" and thus earns one (or two) "Big points", both teams have their "Small points" reset to zero. The winner of a game session is whichever team thus manages to earn the most total "Big points". The game is often played in a match or tournament format, with "Big points" translated to Match Points. Using this format, 10 "Big points" would convert to 1 Match Point (rounding from 5 or more upward). The player with the highest number of Match points is usually declared the session winner. One special rule that is often used is that a player may attempt to win (or lose) the entire match in one game. He may do this by, before any hand is dealt, announcing that he intends to win every trick during that hand. If he does manage to thus win every trick during that hand, he immediately wins the entire match (no matter what his or any other players current score). However, if he loses one or more tricks during that hand, the match immediately ends. The player with the current highest number of match points (excluding the player who had incorrectly announce he intended to win every trick) is then declared the session winner.

Klapper-Jas: Klapper-Jas also called Klappern, Klapper-Jas and Klapper-Jass is a variant of Klammern which is mostly specific to the northern portion of Germany, notably in the State of Hamburg. It is played very similarly to Klappern, but has several minor differences:

The equipment needed for play is one 32 card deck, which is the same as is used for playing Klammern, as well as two dice which are used for recording the score as the game progresses. The ranking and scoring value of the cards (in every suit) is identical to that as is used in Klammern, described above.
Declarations are made before the first card to the first trick is made. Thus, each player in turn, starting with the player at dealer's left, makes their declarations for Terzen and Fifties.
In comparing two Terzen or Fifties that appear to be identical (consist of the same highest card), if one is in the trump suit, it is considered the higher. If neither is in the designated trump suit for the hand, the first one declared (in it's proper turn) is considered the higher.
In order to score for any declarations, a team must win at least one trick during the hand.
The announcement of Kontra (by the opponents of the team setting the trump suit for the hand) can be made by a player anytime up to the time in which he plays his first card to the first trick. The "Re" call can be made (by the team setting the trump suit) any time up to the time that player plays his first card to the second trick of the hand.

A team must win more than half the total points available during the hand to be declared the winners. Thus, the number of points needed for the trump declarers to win the game is dependent on the points earned through Terzen, Bella and Fifties. Thus, after adding all the points earned by both sides during that hand, the team which set the trump wins the hand if they manage to take at least one point more than half these total points.
The score earned for selecting the original suit as the trump suit is 2 (4 if "Kontra" called and 8 if "Re" is called after a "Kontra"). If the game is played with a different trump suit than originally exposed, the game is worth 1 point (or 2 with a call of "Kontra" and 4 with a later call of "Re").
Traditionally, the score in this game is recorded and retained by using a pair of dice, with one member of each partnership receiving one die. Since a die does not have a corresponding zero marker, it is initially placed with the number six faced. As a team earns their first points of the game, the die is thus set to the number of points won (i.e. 2, if earning two points), and as additional points are added as that team earns additional points on a hand. Thus, if the declaring team wins another game (by having a higher total in points earned from all sources during the hand), they earn a number of game points which are indicated by turning the die. If they win based on accepting the initial upcard or calling a "Small Game" they earn a base score of 2 points, thus increasing the current number shown on the upward face of the dice by two. If they instead earn less than the total number of points earned during that hand, the opposing team scores 4 points instead, advancing their die as appropriate. If the team instead called for a "Small one" or "Small game", that team earns one point instead with the opponents earning two if that team fails to win the hand. Thus, the team will first add points from the score shown on the die, and then once reaching the number "six" on the die, will then subtract the number of points earned, from the current number shown on the face of the die. The first team to thus go up and down the full range of numbers on their die wins the game. In order to help determine if a team is on the going up or going down phase, the die is usually started by placing on a piece of paper, unused card or some other object, and then after a team starts going back down, it is removed from atop the object and placed directly on the table to help indicate this.

Klapper Jas can also be played with two or three players, with each player playing independently. The three and two players variants of this game are played essentially the same as the four player partnership version, however there are a few differences, as described:

Three Player Variant: In the three player variant each participant receives a total of nine cards in three-card packets. The next card is then placed face-up crosswise across the remainder of the deck which is set in a face-up pile. The suit of this card is then set as the "suggested" trump suit for the hand. Each of the three players would then only pick up six of the nine initial cards they have been dealt to start. In reviewing these initial cards, each player determines if they prefer to play using the suit of the face-up card as trump for the hand. If no player elects to play with the suit of this trump suggestion card, the players in turn, starting with the player to the immediate left of the dealer, then have the opportunity to call and play a "Small one". If one player calls a "Small one", the other players than have one opportunity to call "Better", thus playing the hand with clubs set as the trump suit. Any player having the seven of the same suit as the exposed trump suggestion card (regardless of whether that suit actually is selected as the trump suit during this hand), may exchange it for the initially exposed trump suggestion card. However, the player must do this before playing a card to the first trick. After a game has been decided, the players may then pick up their remaining three face-down dealt cards to add to their hands. If the player designating the trump for the hand (whether by accepting the initial trump suggestion card or playing a "Small one" or calling "Better") is able to earn the highest point total of all three players, he is designated the winner and earns the appropriate number of points (as per the normal game). If he fails, each opponent then earns the total number of game points. As in the normal game, only the player with the highest Terz or Fifty can score for such combinations during the hand.

Initial deal in two-player Klapper-Jas

Two Player Variant: In the Two player version of the game, each player also receives nine total cards, dealt in three, three-card packets. The next card is turned up as the suggested trump card for this hand. The remainder of the deck is then placed in a neat pile face-up with only it's top card showing. The trump suggestion is set at a 90 degree angle on top of this deck. Each player than picks up six of the initially dealt cards to start. Each player, starting with the opponent of the dealer, then has the opportunity to accept the suit of the exposed card as the trump suit for the hand. If neither player accepts this suit, each player then has an opportunity to declare a "Small one", and if one player declares a "Small one" his opponent may declare "Better" to set the suit of clubs as the trump suit for that hand. Once one player becomes the declarer, both players then pick up the remainder of their dealt cards, adding it to their hand. If one of the players has the seven of the same suit as the exposed trump suggestion card, he may exchange the seven for that exposed card, but must do this before playing a card to the first trick. If the declarer of the trump suit for the hand manages to earn more points than his opponent, he thus wins the game and the appropriate number of points (as per the four-handed version of the game). If he fails, his opponents wins a number of points instead. The winner of each hand is set as the dealer for the next hand.

How to play Klaberjass