User:Bermicourt/Card games/Bauer

Bauer is a trick-taking card game that is mainly played in the German Saarland and surrounding region. It is related to Euchre and its ancestor, Juckerspiel.

Distribution
Bauer is a Saarland game with tournaments today being organised in places such as Überroth, 30 km north of Saarbrücken on the edge of the Hunsrück mountains, and Aschbach and Dörsdorf in the county of Saarlouis.

Rules
Bauer is played by four players in two teams of two, the partners of each team sitting opposite one another. The game is played with a French-suited, Skat pack of 32 cards ranking from King down to Seven. The aim of the game is to collect as many Brote, also called Schròòm in the Saarland, as possible. The team with the most Broten wins. In order to win a Brot, a deal is played for minus points. Both teams start with eight points. The one that gets down to nought first, wins the Brot and a new deal begins.

Deal and play
Dealing and play are clockwise. At the start of the game a dealer is chosen. The dealer shuffles the pack and offers it to his right for cutting. He then deals a packet of four cards to each player. Forehand, the player to his left, chooses a trump suit based on his first four cards. Once trumps are declared, the dealer deals another packet of four cards to each player. In the next deal, forehand becomes the new dealer.

Forehand leads to the first trick, which must be a trump card. In clockwise order, players must follow suit if able or play any card if they cannot follow. The highest card wins the trick and the trick winner leads to the next trick. When all eight tricks have been played, teams count their tricks and the team with the most has won. In the event of a draw (four tricks each), the team that chose trumps loses.

Trumps
The trumps in Bauer have a specific ranking. The highest trump, also called Der Dicke ("the Fat One"), is always the trump Jack. The second-highest trump, Der Linke ("the Left One"), is the Jack of the same colour suit as the trump Jack i.e. if Hearts are trumps, the J is the Linke; if Diamonds are trumps, J is the Linke; if Spades are trumps, J is the Linke and if Clubs are trumps, the Linke is J. The remaining cards of the trump suit rank as follows: Ace, King, Queen, 10, 9, 8 and 7.

It is important that the Linke, although it does not bear the suit markings of a trump, is treated as part of the trump suit. So it may be used to trump plain-suit cards or a lower trump or, if a trump is played, it may be used to follow suit provided the player doesn't have another trump card in his hand.

The ranking of the plain suits is as follows: Aces, King, Queen, Jack (unless it is the Linke), 10, 9, 8 and 7.

Scoring
At the start of each round, both teams have 8 points. After each deal, points are scored as follows:


 * If the team that declared trumps wins, they score one minus point


 * If the team that did not declare trumps wins, they deduct one point and the losers must add a penalty point to their tally.

The game value may be doubled if the opponents of the declaring team think they can win. This is called stoßen and is presumably done by announcing "Stoß!" after the trump suit is declared. Partners are not allowed to confer before doubling. The declaring team may redouble (zurückstoßen), the game value is then 4 points. If a team wins every trick they also win double.

Cards away
If a player believes he has a good enough hand to win every trick alone, he may announce "cards away!" (Karten weg!). His partner puts his cards face down and does not participate in the deal. If the soloist wins, he receives an extra Brot for his team. If, however, he concedes a trick to the opposing team, he loses and his opponents receive a Brot. The points scored in the current deal do not change in this instance. In the next deal, the game continues as normal, but can be doubled by Stoßen.

Variants
Bauer is played in different variants. In one version, instead of a full Skat pack, a shortened pack is used with the 9s, 8s and 7s removed. Players are dealt 5 cards each in packets of 3 and 2 cards respectively. Another variant is played with 6 players in 2 teams of three. In yet another variant, forehand is not obliged to lead with a trump to the first trick. There are also different ways of scoring.

Tournaments
Many bars or sports clubs in the Saarland region act as venues for Bauer tournaments.

Other sources

 * Bauerchen at marjorie-wiki.de a related game, ex-de.wiki 2014, but now fully sourced here
 * Bauer at marjorie-wiki.de, ex-de.wiki 2014. No sources.

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