Win the bid to choose the trump, make tricks, but don’t fall in the sack!

Setup

With a 36 card deck (6-A), shuffle and deal each player three cards face down twice, so that each player has a row of six face-down cards in front of them. Then deal cards face-up on top of them, again 2x3. These are your table cards.

Deal another 2x3 cards per player for your hand.

Object of the Game

The aim of the game is to make tricks as fast as possible to either fulfill the bid, or keep the opponent from reaching it. Win five rounds and you are the victor.

Bidding

The game starts by each player inspecting their hand and estimating how many points they will be able to make. There are 157 total points in the game, so it can make sense to start bidding around 60. You must bid in increments of five. The non-dealer begins the bidding and the winner of the bid chooses the trump and plays first.

• This can be very decisive because the high bidder will attempt to choose the trump in which she has a “Bur” or “Nell” (see scoring below).
• Variant rule: if you don’t want to choose a trump, you can play “Bock”, “Gais” or “Slalom” (without trumps, eights are worth eight points to compensate)
  • Bock: aces highest trick rank, eights worth eight
  • Gais: sixes highest trick rank, eights worth eight
  • Slalom: alternate Bock and Gais every trick

Scoring

When you win a trick, you add the cards’ point value to your score. The player that makes the final trick gets an additional five points.

Normal (Trump Game)

Bock (Top-Down)

Gais (Bottom-Up)

Making Tricks

In Jass, you win a trick by playing the highest card (by trick rank). If you win the trick, you get to start the next trick. As in other games, any trump card can beat even the best card of another suit.

In Lake Constance Jass, you can choose to play a card from your hand or from your table cards. Once the trick is won, turn over any freshly revealed face-down cards.

Following Suit

When an opponent starts the trick and you have a card of that suit, you must follow suit or play a trump. If you don’t have a card of the same suit, you can play any other card (wrong suit or trump).

• One exception: you don’t have to follow suit with the Bur (trump Unter/Jack, the game’s highest card).

You are not required to make a trick, and can intentionally lose a trick, as long as you follow suit.

Scorekeeping

If the winner of the bid fulfills their bid, they write one tally. If they miss it, the opponent writes one tally. If either player makes 20 or less points, they are “in the sack”. This means the winner writes a tally as usual, and the big loser writes a “0”, which is equivalent to a negative tally. To get “out of the sack”, the player has to win another round, crossing through the 0 with a line:

End of Game

When one player has reached enough points that it’s impossible for the opponent to win, she can say “enough!” to end the game. Otherwise, the game ends when all cards have been played.

Other Jass Resources

• jassa.at: well-curated site of Jass rules and games (in German)
• Book: Jassen in Vorarlberg: extensive book on Jass cards, rules and history, including instructions for 33 diferent games plus a glossary of Austrian cards proverbs :D (in German)