Welcome to Five Handed Schmier!

I’m here to introduce you to an exciting card game that can be played with 5 players. The goal of the game is to be the first to reach a score of 21 before your opponents do.

Getting Started

To begin, we’ll choose the first dealer at random. After each round, the dealer position will move to the left.

Next, the regular deck of cards will be modified. We’ll remove the 2s and 3s from the deck, leaving us with a special deck.

This special deck will be shuffled, and each player will be dealt 6 cards from it. The remaining cards are kept by the dealer for later use.

Understanding Card Rankings and Points

In this game, we have a trump suit, which is a special suit that holds more power than the others. The rankings for the trump suit are as follows: Ace is the highest, followed by King, Queen, Right Bauer, Left Bauer, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and the Joker, which is the lowest.

The Right Bauer is the jack of the trump suit, and the Left Bauer is the jack of the same color as the trump jack, and it’s also considered part of the trump suit.

Let me tell you about the different ranks in a deck of cards. We have the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4. Ace is the highest and 4 is the lowest.

Now, when it comes to bidding, players can earn points by winning certain cards or meeting specific criteria during the game.

There are various cards and criteria that can award points. These include the high trump, low trump, right Bauer, left Bauer, joker, and Game.

The high trump point is given to the team that plays the ace of trump. Meanwhile, the low trump point goes to the team that plays the 4 of trump.

If a team wins the jack of trump in a trick, they are awarded the right Bauer point. On the other hand, if they win the same-colored jack, they earn the left Bauer point.

The joker point is given to the team that wins the trick containing the joker. Finally, the team that scores the most points throughout the game is awarded the game point.

When it’s time to determine the winner, we look at the cards the teams have won in tricks. The value of each card differs. Aces are worth 4 points, kings are worth 3 points, queens are worth 2 points, jacks are worth 1 point, and 10s are worth 10 points. Even the joker has a point value, which is 1 point.

In total, there are 6 points available to be won.

Bidding

Now that everyone has their cards, it’s time to start bidding. The player sitting on the left side of the dealer is the first to bid, followed by the others in clockwise order. The goal is to outbid the previous player or pass if unable to do so. Each player only has one chance to make a bid. The bid represents the number of points the player thinks they can win in a round.

The minimum bid is 3 points, and the maximum bid is 6 points.

If all the other players pass and do not make a bid, the cards are thrown away, and the same dealer deals the cards again.

When the bidding begins in the game, it continues until either the dealer decides to bid or pass, or someone makes a bid of 6. At that point, the highest bidder becomes the bidder and wins the round.

Once the bidding is finished, the bidder gets to choose the trump suit, which will be the dominant suit for that round.

After the bidding is done, all players except the dealer have the option to discard up to 3 cards from their hand. The dealer will then replace these discarded cards with new ones. However, it’s important to note that trumps cannot be discarded.

The dealer, on the other hand, has a slightly different rule. They will take all the remaining cards into their hand and then discard down to 6 cards. However, they can only discard trumps if they have more than 6 trumps in their hand. Even then, they cannot discard certain important trumps, such as the Ace of trumps, the right or left Bauer, the 4 of trumps, or the joker.

Once the hands are finished, you can choose your partner by calling a card rank and suit. If the card you call is no longer in play, you’ll have to play alone. Alternatively, you can choose not to call a card at all and play alone. Just remember, you can’t call a card that you already have in your hand.

The remaining players will be on a team and will score the same at the end of the round.

How to Play

The bidder will start the first round. Play continues clockwise. Each player after the bidder must follow suit if they can. If they can’t, they can play any card, even a trump card.

The winner of a trick is the player with the highest-ranked trump card. If there are no trump cards, then the player with the highest card of the suit led wins the trick. The winner takes the trick and leads the next one.

The round ends as soon as all six tricks have been played.

SCORING

Scoring occurs after every round.

Your team must determine whether or not you successfully completed your bid. If you were successful, you will score the number of points you won (which may be more than your bid). If you were unsuccessful, then the number you bid gets subtracted from your score. It is possible to end up with a negative score. The opposing team also adds any points they earned to their own score.

Each player keeps track of their individual scores since teams can change every round.

END OF THE GAME

The game continues until a player reaches a score of 21 or higher. That player wins.

In the event that more than one player reaches 21 in a single round, the player with more points is the winner. If there is still a tie, then the player who made the highest bid comes out on top.

I’m Amber (They/Them), an Austin-based writer and gaming enthusiast. I consider myself a gaming master and I have a soft spot for dogs, plants, and D&D.