DOBBM

Welcome to Dobbm, a unique card game designed for 4 or 5 players. If there are 5 players, the dealer will sit out each round, leaving 4 active players at a time. The game is played with a special Tell Card deck, which consists of four suits and nine cards in each suit.

The objective of Dobbm is to accumulate as many points as possible in each round, in order to receive a higher payout at the end. The game does not have a definite endpoint, and players can choose to stop bidding whenever they want.

SETUP

To begin, the first dealer is chosen randomly. The dealer for the next round will be the declarer from the previous round. The deck is thoroughly shuffled, and the player to the right of the dealer cuts the deck. Each player is then given 8 cards in a clockwise order, with 4 cards remaining in the center for later.

In 5 player games, I don’t get to play. I have to sit out for a round until the new dealer starts the next game.

Now, let’s talk about the ranking and values of the cards. There are four suits: acorns, bells, hearts, and leaves. Each suit has 9 cards. The cards rank from Sow (high) to 6 (low), with 10, King, Ober, Unter, 9, 8, 7 in between.

The cards also come with values. In the same order, the values are 11 points, 10 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 0 points for the rest.

Oh, and by the way, the trumps suit is always hearts for this game.

Now let’s move on to bidding, exchanging, and doubling.

So, here’s how it goes: once the cards are dealt, we all need to decide who’s gonna take the lead. This person, called the declarer, has the power to shape the game and choose their opponents. Now, when it’s your turn, you have three options to bid, and once you make your bid, there’s no going back or raising the stakes later.

First, you can pass if you don’t want to be the declarer. This means you’re out of the running. Second, you can bid Dobbm, which means you want to be the declarer and play a regular game where you get to exchange cards from the center pile. And finally, you can bid Solo, which means you want to be the declarer but you don’t want to exchange any cards.

If everyone passes, we start the round again. Now, in a game with four players, the dealer stays the same. But in a game with five players, the dealer passes the torch to the left, and the new dealer gets a special payment called Stockeri, which I’ll explain later when we talk about scoring.

So, here’s the deal with Dobbm. When someone calls Dobbm, all the other players can only call solo or pass. If someone bids solo, they become the declarer and the game starts. If no one else bids, the person who called Dobbm becomes the declarer and gets to exchange cards.

Once we know who the declarer is, if Dobbm was bid, the declarer gets to exchange cards. They take four cards from the table, put them face down in the center, and replace them with four cards from their hand. Now, here’s the twist: If someone wants to put down a sow (a special card), they also have to put down a trump card. And if they have two sows, they need to put down two trumps. These cards will count towards the declarer’s score at the end of the round.

In a solo game, there’s no card exchanging. But the face-down cards still count towards the declarer’s score at the end.

Once the exchange is done, it’s time to decide whether to raise the stakes or start the game. Any player can call for the stakes to be doubled or choose to pass. If a player calls for a double, the player who declared can either redouble or pass and start the game. This back-and-forth can continue until one side decides to pass and start the game. The stakes can be doubled as many times as the players want.

HOW TO PLAY

Let the game commence! It’s me versus everyone else. I kick things off by leading the first trick, and whoever wins that gets to lead the next one. As the leader, I can choose any card I want, and everyone else has to follow suit if they can. If they can’t, they have to play a heart. And if they don’t have a heart either, they can play any card they like. The trick is won by the highest trump card, or if there’s no trump, by the highest card of the suit that was led. Whenever I win a trick, I keep it face-down in a pile next to me. The opponents do the same with their won tricks, all in one pile.

SCORING

So, here’s how it goes: After everyone plays their cards, we count up the points. The team with the most points gets paid, but only if they have at least 60 points. If they have less than 60, no one gets paid.

If someone wins all 8 tricks, that’s called a match. If the other team wins a match, they get paid instead of the person who played the cards.

Now, let’s talk about the stakes. Before we start the game, we decide how much money we’re playing for. If the person who played the cards wins, everyone else pays them the agreed amount. If the other team wins, the person who played the cards pays them instead.

When it comes to the game, stakes are determined by scores. If my score is between 61 and 65, each opponent pays me 1 stake. If my score is between 66 and 70, they pay me 2 stakes. And if my score falls between 71 and 75, they pay me 3 stakes. The number of stakes paid continues to increase as my score goes up.

On the other hand, if my score is between 55 and 59, I have to pay each opponent 1 stake. For a score between 50 and 54, I have to pay 2 stakes. And if my score is between 45 and 49, I have to pay 3 stakes. The number of stakes I have to pay increases as my score goes down.

END OF GAME

There is no official end to this game. It only ends when all players are done playing.

There is no official end to this game. It only ends when all players are done playing.