How to Play Jass
How to Play Jass
Jass is a lively Swiss trick-taking game for four people playing in two teams. You need a normal deck of cards, and you can find a regular deck of playing cards from Playmore. This beginner guide uses a common four-player partnership version, often called Schieber Jass. Regional and family house rules can vary, so agree on small differences before you begin.
Quick facts
| Fact | Beginner version |
|---|---|
| Players | 4, in two teams of two |
| Cards | 36 cards: 6 through ace in four suits |
| Deal | 9 cards to each player |
| Goal | Collect more points than the other team |
| Direction | Play proceeds counterclockwise |
| Round | 9 tricks, with 157 card points available |
What you are trying to do
Your team is trying to win valuable cards in tricks. A trick is one card played by each of the four players. The winner takes those four cards, and the points printed below are added to the team’s score. Because your partner sits opposite you, you can help one another without showing your cards. The best play is not always the card that wins immediately; sometimes you save a strong card for a later trick.
In the simplest first game, play several rounds and add each team’s points to a running total. The first team to reach an agreed target, such as 1,000 points, wins the match. You may also stop after a set number of rounds if everyone is still learning.
What you need
Use a 36-card pack. With a French-suited deck, remove every card from 2 through 5, leaving 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace in hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. A Swiss or German-suited Jass deck works too. You also need paper and a pencil or a notes app for scores, plus a flat place to play.
For a beginner-friendly first session, use only a declared trump suit. Leave special bonuses, called melds or Weis, out until everyone understands the basic tricks.
Set it up
Choose two teams and sit so partners face each other. Decide who deals first. Shuffle the cards and deal nine to each player, usually in groups of three. Deal counterclockwise, matching the direction of play. The player to the dealer’s right is the forehand, meaning the person who makes the first decision and leads the first trick.
The forehand chooses hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades as trump, or passes the choice to their partner. Trump is the suit that defeats cards from every other suit. If the forehand passes, the partner must choose a suit; in this simple version, do not pass again.
How to play
- Choose trump. The forehand names one suit as trump or passes to the partner. Put a marker in the middle if that helps everyone remember the suit.
- Lead a card. The forehand plays any one card face up. The other players then take turns counterclockwise.
- Follow the suit or trump. If you have a card in the suit led, you must either play that suit or play a trump; if you have no card in the suit led, you may play any card, subject to the undertrumping rule below.
- Remember the trump exception. If trump is led, play a trump if you have one. The trump jack is special: if it is your only trump, you may play another suit instead. This exception is easy to forget, so check with the table.
- Respect undertrumping. If a non-trump suit was led and someone has already played trump, do not play a lower trump unless all the cards left in your hand are trumps. This rule stops players from wasting a small trump while a higher one is already winning.
- Find the winner. If one or more trumps were played, the highest trump wins. Otherwise, the highest card in the suit that was led wins. The winner gathers the trick and leads the next one.
- Repeat nine times. Continue until every player has played all nine cards. Keep the tricks won by each team in separate piles so scoring is easy.
- Write down points. Add the values of the cards in your team’s tricks. The team that wins the ninth and final trick receives 5 extra points. Record both teams’ totals before dealing the next round.
In a trump suit, the order from strongest to weakest is jack, 9, ace, 10, king, queen, 8, 7, 6. The trump jack is worth 20 points and the trump 9 is worth 14. In every non-trump suit, the order is ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9, 8, 7, 6. The ace is worth 11, the 10 is worth 10, the king 4, the queen 3, and the jack 2. The remaining cards are worth 0. These unusual trump rankings are the heart of Jass, so keep a small reference card nearby for the first few rounds.
How you win
After a round, a team’s score is the total value of its captured cards plus the 5-point last-trick bonus, if it won that trick. There are 157 points available in a round. A team that wins every trick may receive an additional 100-point match bonus in many common versions, but skip that bonus for your very first practice round if you want fewer rules to remember. Add round scores to the running totals. The first team to reach the target agreed during setup wins. If both teams pass the target in the same round, the team with the higher final total wins.
Easy first-game tips
Count the trump cards you see. The trump jack and 9 are especially powerful, while a trump 6 is usually weak. Try to remember which cards in a suit have already been played, because a high card becomes safer once the cards above it are gone.
Talk with your play, not with secret signals or spoken hints. If your partner leads a suit, they may be showing strength or asking you to use that suit. When you cannot follow suit, consider whether taking the trick helps your team or whether a low discard protects a better card for later. Most importantly, announce your chosen trump clearly and ask questions before a card is played.
Quick questions
Can I play Jass with an ordinary French deck?
Yes. Remove the 2, 3, 4, and 5 from each suit, leaving 36 cards from 6 through ace.
Do I have to use melds and special bonuses?
No. Beginners can score only the cards and the final-trick bonus, then add melds such as Weis after the basic game feels comfortable.