Klaverjassen’s Origin and Rules

Playing klaverjassen requires three more partners, which makes four players, divided into two pairs. Besides, klaverjassen is played with a 32 card pack, called a piquet deck. The aim of the players is to score as much points as possible during 16 hands. The more valuable a winning card of the trick is, the more points a player gets.

Dealing Cards, Choosing Trumps

Before starting to play klaverjassen, a dealer must be chosen. A dealer shuffles cards and passes them to players. Usually cards are dealt these ways: 3-2-3 or 4-4. Thus every player gets 8 cards totally. A player to the left of the dealer usually chooses trumps. There are several ways to choose trumps: randomly or by a player’s choice. The first way of choosing trumps presupposes a player to shuffle cards and take the card on the top. Another one supposes a player to choose any card out of the shuffled pack of cards.

After trumps are chosen and cards are dealt, players can start their klaverjassen. The game is usually played clockwise, which means the first one to play is the person to the left of the dealer, the next one is the person to the left of his, etc.

The Game

After the trick is started, the players have to follow the quit if they can. The highest card of the suit takes the trick, bringing a certain amount of scores to the player. The amount of scores is varied depending on the card. For example, Ace gives 11 points, ten – 10 points, while King 4 and Queen - 3. When trumps win the trick, Jack gets 20 points, nine – 14 and Ace – 11.

For every game, there are bonus points scored. Players get them for running three cards of the same suit (20), for running four cards of the same suit (50), etc. The biggest amount of bonus points is scored for having four jacks. It is as much as 200 bonus points.

It goes without saying, these klaverjassen rules are very approximate, and every company can adjust them to their own situation.