Rules of Jass

Introduction to the basic principles of Jass

This page explains the basic principles of Jass. This includes the playing cards and their rankings and points values.

Playing cards

You can choose between a deck of German playing cards or a deck of French playing cards.

A deck of cards has 4 suits, each of which contains 9 playing cards. A total of 36 cards are used in the game. For every type of Jass game played on Jass.ch 3 × 3 cards are dealt, i.e. each player receives 9 cards.

The total value of all counters in the deck is 152 for Differenzler, Schieber and Coiffeur. Taking the last trick scores an additional 5 points, which means there are a total of 157 points to be won.

Ranking and card values

Trump

The suit declared trumps beats cards of all ranks in the minor suits. The ranking within the trump suit as well as the point values are shown in the adjoining table. A higher-ranked card beats a lower-ranked one.

Minor suit

The adjoining table shows the rankings within the minor suits as well as the point values. A higher-ranked card beats a lower-ranked one.

Tops-down and bottoms-up

There is no trump suit in tops-down and bottoms-up. The adjoining table shows the ranking as well as the point values. In tops-down, Ace is highest. But in bottoms-up, Six is highest. A higher-ranked card also beats a lower-ranked card in both tops-down and bottoms-up.

Trick

In Jass, the cards are always played in an anticlockwise direction. The player who plays the highest card or the strongest trump card wins the trick. He receives the four cards played and begins the next trick. The value of the trick is equal to the point value of all four cards. The last trick in a round is worth an additional 5 points.

Since the trump Jack and trump Nine have no point value in either tops-down or bottoms-up, the missing 32 points are made up for with the four Eights, each of which counts 8 points. This means there are a total of 157 points to be won in every game format.