Sixty-Six
66 can be played with a 20-card deck, using only the tens through aces. This version of the game is also known as “Schnapsen”, and is very popular in Austria.
- For added fun, you can use a German-face deck as pictured above, but an ordinary pack of cards will work just as well.
- The game is played with two players.
Setup
- At the start of the game, each player is dealt five cards.
- An additional card is uncovered an placed under the deck perpendicularly. This is the trump suit.
- The game begins by the first player putting down a card.
Gameplay
The aim of 66 is to make tricks and weddings to accumulate 66 points before your opponent.
Making tricks
To make a trick, the opponent must play a higher card of the same suit or a trump card.
- You are not required to follow suit or to make a trick
- You have the option to play a card of the wrong suit or trump.
- The player who makes the trick plays the next card.
- After each trick, each player draws another card (until the deck runs out). Once the deck runs out, you must follow suit and must make the trick if possible.
Scoring of Tricks
| Card by Trick Rank | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 11 |
| 10 | 10 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen/Ober | 3 |
| Jack/Unter | 2 |
Weddings
Weddings consist of a queen and king of the same suit.
- You can make only announce a wedding if it’s your turn to begin the trick, and you have to play one of the two cards after announcing it.
Weddings are worth the following points:
- 40 points for a wedding in trump
- 20 points for each non-trump wedding
Closing the deck
You can pressure your opponent by closing the deck (on your turn).
- As soon as the deck is closed or runs out, players are required to make a trick or follow suit if possible. If the deck was closed, the closing player must win (by reaching 66)!
- If they don’t, the opponent wins two match points.
Once the deck has been closed, the defending player does not get points for any tricks or weddings they may make from that time until the end of the round.
Stealing the trump
- If you have the lowest trump card, you can exchange or the trump under the deck when it’s your turn.
- This can be very beneficial if that’s a good card (eventually, that card will be drawn othewise).
End of Game
- If you think you have reached 66 points, just say “66” when it’s your turn to end the round. But watch out– if you don’t actually have 66, you lose!
- Even if both players actually have 66, the first one to call it wins.
- Otherwise the game ends when all the cards have been played.
- If no one has reached 66 or closed by this point, the last trick wins!
Scoring
| Situation | Match Points |
|---|---|
| Called 66 or closed deck and opponent has 33 or more | 1 |
| Neither player called 66 or closed deck (winner of final trick wins) | 1 |
| Called 66 or closed deck and opponent has less than 33 | 2 |
| Opponent erroneously called 66 and you made at least one trick | 2 |
| Opponent erroneously called 66 and you have no tricks | 3 |
| Called 66 or closed deck and opponent made no tricks | 3 |
- Seven match points wins!
Variants
Playing with the 9s
You can also play 66 with 24 cards (inlcluding the 9s). In this case, the 9s are worth 0 points, and each player is initially dealt 6 cards instead of 5. All else remains the same.
Recommended Apps
- Schnopsen.com
- The most popular Schnapsen/66 app. This one lets you switch between various card faces and usually works very well (with ads).
- Great for playing online.
- Schnapsen Offline (Android)
- Nice offline implementation with pretty German-suited cards.
- Also nice is that you can opt to hide or show your points.
- 66 Offline (Android)
- Nice implementation of 66 with the 9s and six-card hands.
- You can choose to show your points or not.
- Only French-suited cards are possible.