Klaverjassen (Dutch Jass)
You and North are partners against West and East with 32 cards. Choose trump, win the tricks with the most points, collect roem, and make sure the side that plays scores more than half.
Also try Euchre → Also try Belote →
How to play Klaverjassen (Dutch Jass)
Dealing and choosing trump
Everyone gets eight cards from a 32-card deck (7 up to ace). Starting left of the dealer, each player may play, naming any suit as trump, or pass; the first to play is the player for that hand. If all four pass, the player left of the dealer must play and choose trump. That same player, left of the dealer, always leads the first trick, and the deal moves one seat to the left each hand.
Card order and points
In trump the order is jack (20 points), nine (14), ace (11), ten (10), king (4), queen (3), eight and seven (0). In the other suits it is ace (11), ten (10), king (4), queen (3), jack (2), nine, eight and seven (0). The last trick is worth 10 more, so every hand holds 162 points.
Following suit and trumping
Follow the suit led if you can. When trump is led you must play a higher trump than any in the trick if you can. If you can’t follow, you must trump, overtrumping a trump already played if you can; if you can’t overtrump, play a card of another suit, since undertrumping is only allowed when you hold nothing but trumps. Rotterdam rules always make you trump. Amsterdam rules let you play any card except a lower trump while your partner is winning the trick.
Roem, nat, pit and controls
Cards in one trick can make roem for the side that wins it: three in a row of a suit 20, four in a row 50, king and queen of trump (stuk) 20, four kings, queens, aces or tens 100 and four jacks 200. The player’s side must score more than half of all points and roem, or it goes nat and the other side scores everything. All eight tricks is pit, worth 100 roem. Tap a card to lift it and tap again to play, or drag it; with a mouse, a click plays it. Keys: arrows and Enter, P to pass, C, D, H or S to play a suit.
Questions
How do you play Klaverjassen?
Four players in two partnerships get eight cards each from a 32-card deck. One player chooses trump and their side must then score more than half of the points and roem in the hand. The jack and nine are the highest trumps, and players must follow suit, trump and overtrump by strict rules. After 16 hands (or 8 on the short levels) the higher total wins.
What is roem in Klaverjassen?
Roem are bonus points for cards that fall together in one trick, scored by the side that wins it: three cards in sequence of one suit are 20, four are 50, the king and queen of trump together (stuk) are 20, four kings, queens, aces or tens are 100 and four jacks are 200. Sequences use the order 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace. Roem is counted for you here.
What is the difference between Rotterdam and Amsterdam rules?
Under Rotterdam rules you must always trump when you can’t follow suit, even if your partner is already winning the trick. Under Amsterdam rules you don’t have to trump while your partner is winning: you may play any card except a trump lower than one already in the trick, unless you hold nothing but trumps. Everything else is the same.
What does nat mean in Klaverjassen?
The side that chose trump has to score more than half of all the card points and roem in the hand. If it doesn’t, it is nat: it scores nothing and the other side scores all 162 points plus all the roem. Taking every trick is pit, which adds 100 roem.
Do the computer players cheat?
No. Each computer player decides using only its own cards, the bids and the cards already played, plus what the rules reveal, such as a player who didn’t follow suit having none left. To choose a card it tries out many possible layouts of the cards it can’t see.