Doppelkopf is a four-player trick-taking game which is a close relative of Skat, as both developed from the game of Schafkopf. As in Skat, the cards have points values and the purpose is to take tricks containing cards which are valuable in terms of points. There are also bonus points including one for catching a fox (taking a trick containing an ace of diamonds played by the opposition) and one for winning the last trick with Charlie Miller, the jack of clubs.
The deck used for Doppelkopf is unusual. In Germany, special Doppelkopf decks are sold, but you can make one up by taking the A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9 from each suit of two packs of cards. This will give you 48 cards, with each card in the set having a duplicate. If two duplicate cards are played to the same trick, then the first one played is the winner. Another unusual feature of the game is that usually more than half of the cards are trumps!
At the start of each hand there is a single round of bidding which determines whether the players are playing in partnerships or if one is playing solo against the other three. If a player is playing solo, they can choose trumps and also have the option of playing no trumps, which is known as a vegetarian solo!
Partnerships are formed in different ways as a result of the bidding. The most usual is that the two players who hold a queen of clubs will play together against the other two players. This means that when players start to play a hand, they may not know who their partner is!
There are standard systems of signalling used during the play of the cards to convey information to the partner. The signalling may include deliberate hesitation during play, which is permitted in the rules.
Doppelkopf is very popular in Germany, especially in the north of the country. The organising body for the game is the Deutscher Doppelkopf-Verband, which organises national individual and team championships. Their Web site has a list of almost 100 clubs in Germany where you can play Doppelkopf. There is also a tournament calendar, rating list, and details of national competitions. The German individual championships for 1999 were held in Menden in September, and the winner was Sebastian Hösel with Ulrich Rietz second.
There are local Doppelkopf clubs and associations which have their own Web sites, for example these ones in Dresden and Niederkassel.
A shareware program, Rasche's Doppelkopf, is available from this bilingual site of Skatmarketing. The same site has Mac programs for Skat, Doppelkopf and Schafkopf.
