Doppelkopf – With piglets

Player: 4 active (often 5 at the table: the dealer sits out) · Cards: 2 × French deck 9–A (or 2 × Doppelkopf deck), 48 (variant without nines: 40) · Type: Trick-taking game (hidden partnerships)

Play Doppelkopf against the computer

Objective

Collect more card points than the opponents with your own (initially unknown) party: Re ≥121, Kontra ≥120.

Equipment & setup

Everyone gets 12 cards (with 40 cards: 10). Before play, reservations can be announced (solo, wedding, poverty – the latter a house rule).

Card ranking & card values

Card points as in the basic form. Trump with piglets (high→low): both Aces of Diamonds (piglets), 10 of Hearts (Dulle), Queen of Clubs, Queen of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds. Side suits: A, 10, K, 9 (Hearts without the 10: A, K, 9).

Gameplay

1) The player left of the dealer leads; play is clockwise.

2) Follow suit (trump counts as its own 'suit'); whoever cannot follow may trump or discard.

3) Of two identical cards, the one played first wins (exception Dullen: depending on the rule, the second beats the first, often except in the last trick).

4) Announcements: 'Re' or 'Kontra' until the 2nd card is played (with 12 cards: as long as you still have ≥11 cards); after that the declarations 'no 90', 'no 60', 'no 30', 'schwarz', each one card later.

Special rules & special cards

Piglets: if a player has both Aces of Diamonds, they announce them as soon as they play the first one. From then on both Aces of Diamonds are the highest trumps. The Aces of Diamonds then don’t count as foxes. Many groups only allow piglets in the normal game and in a wedding, not in solos. Wedding and solos otherwise as in the basic form.

Scoring & points

Game points (DDV): won 1; no 90/60/30/schwarz +1 each; 'against the old ones' (Kontra wins) +1; each Re/Kontra announcement +2; each declaration +1. Special points (normal game only): fox caught (opponents’ Ace of Diamonds) +1, Doppelkopf (trick with ≥40 card points) +1, Charlie (Jack of Clubs takes the last trick) +1. The soloist receives/pays triple.

End of game & winning

After an agreed number of rounds (tournament e.g. 24 games + compulsory solos).

Origin & history

Developed in the 19th century from Schafkopf with a double deck ('Doppel-Schafkopf'), mainly widespread in northern Germany. The German Doppelkopf Association, founded in 1982, sets binding tournament rules; private groups have very many house rules.