Welcome to SCHMIER!

Hey there! I’m going to tell you all about SCHMIER – the coolest card game with tricks! It’s super fun and can be played by 6 players. The goal? Well, it’s simple – you and your partner need to score 21 points before the other teams do!

SCHMIER is a game of partnerships. You’ll have 3 teams of two players, and guess what? No partners will be sitting next to each other! How cool is that?

Let’s Get Started – SETUP

First things first, we need to choose who our first dealer will be. Don’t worry, it’s totally random! And for each new deal, the dealer will pass the cards to the player on their left. Easy peasy!

Now, let’s shuffle the deck and deal 6 cards to each player. The dealer will hold on to the remaining deck for later. Are you ready?

Time to Rank Those Cards!

Before we jump into the action, we need to know the rankings and point values of the cards. The trump suit is the most powerful, and in SCHMIER, we’ve got Ace (the highest), followed by King and Queen. Then we have the Right Bauer and Left Bauer (they’re like special jacks), and after that, it’s 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and oh! Don’t forget our little joker, who’s kinda low in the ranks.

Remember – 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 part of the trump suit. Got it? Awesome!

So, here’s the deal: when we’re talking about playing cards, there’s a definite pecking order. At the top, we have the Ace and working our way down, we have the King, Queen, Jack, and then it’s a countdown from 10 to 2.

Now, when it comes to bidding in this game, things get a little more interesting. You see, players can earn points based on certain cards they win or specific criteria they meet during the game. It’s like a little competition within the game itself.

Let me break it down for you. There are a few things that can earn a player points. First up, we have the high trump, which is the highest-ranked card in the trump suit. And on the other end of the spectrum, we have the low trump, which is the lowest-ranked card in the trump suit.

But it doesn’t stop there. We also have the right Bauer and the left Bauer, which are two specific cards that can earn a player points. And let’s not forget about the joker – that little wildcard that can really shake things up. Oh, and we can’t leave out the Game, which is a whole other category of points.

So, as you can see, there’s a lot to keep in mind when it comes to playing cards and bidding. It’s not just about the value of the cards themselves, but also about meeting certain criteria and earning those precious points.

When we play the game of trump, there are different ways to earn points. The team that plays the ace of trump gets the high trump point, while the team that plays the 2 of trump gets the low trump point. If a team wins the jack of trump in a trick, they earn the Right Bauer point. And if a team wins the same-colored jack, they earn the left Bauer point. If a team wins a trick containing the joker, they get the joker point. Finally, the team that scores the most points throughout the game earns the game point.

Now, let’s talk about how players earn points for the game point. Each card has a different value. An ace is worth 4 points, a king is worth 3, a queen is worth 2, a jack is worth 1, a 10 is worth 10 points, and the joker is worth 1 point. We add up the points from all the cards the team has won in tricks to determine their score.

There are a total of 6 points up for grabs in the game. So, keep these rules in mind and try to earn as many points as you can!

BIDDING

Once we all get our hands, it’s time for the bidding round to start. I’ll go first since I’m sitting to the left of the dealer. Each of us will take turns bidding higher or passing. Remember, you only get one chance to bid. The goal is to bid on how many of the points above we think we can win in the round.

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

If everyone else passes, we start over with the same dealer and redeal the cards.

The bidding round ends when the dealer either bids or passes, or when a bid of 6 is made. The highest bidder becomes the winner and takes on the role of the bidder.

Once the bidding is done, it’s up to the bidder to choose the trump suit.

After the bidding round, everyone, except the dealer, can choose up to 3 cards to discard. The dealer will then replace those cards. Just remember, you can’t discard any trumps.

Alright, here’s how the game goes: first, the dealer will take all the remaining cards into their hand and discard down to 6 cards. Now, they can’t get rid of any trumps unless they have more than 6 in hand. And even if they do, they can’t discard the Ace of trumps, the right or left Bauer, the 2 of trumps, or the joker.

Let’s Play!

Now, the bidder gets to lead the first trick, and then we proceed in clockwise order. When it’s your turn, you gotta follow suit if you can. But don’t worry if you can’t, you can play any card, even trumps.

To win a trick, you gotta have the highest-ranked trump. If that’s not possible, you just need the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner collects the trick and leads the next one.

Once we finish playing all 6 tricks, the round is over. Easy, right?

Time to Score!

After each round, it’s time to tally up the points. Can’t forget about that!

When my team places a bid, we eagerly await to see if we were successful. If we come out on top, we celebrate the number of points we won (which could be more than we bid!). But if our bid falls short, we have to subtract the number we bid from our score. It’s possible for us to end up with a negative score. And let’s not forget, the opposing team also adds any points they earn to their own score.

GAME OVER

We keep on playing until one team reaches a score of 21 or higher. That team is declared the winner! But hold on a second, if more than one team reaches 21 during the same round, the team with the most points wins. And if there’s still a tie, guess what? The bidding team takes home the victory.

Hi there! I’m Amber (They/Them), a writer and gaming enthusiast from Austin. I’m pretty confident in my gaming skills, and I’m also a huge fan of dogs, plants, and D&D.