Normally there’s two players playing together in a Doppelkopf game. But you also have the option to play by yourself, against three other players: A solo. There are different solos you can play, they all differ slightly and have a lot in common.

Playing solo

In a solo game you play alone, as the Re party. The other three players constitute the Kontra party.

Depending on the type of solo, the usual card order is shifted slightly.

To play a solo successfully you should have a strong hand. After all, you are taking it up against three other players who get to combine their card points at the end of the game.

If you contemplate whether you should play a solo or not, the following rule of thumb might help: Chances are high that you win a game of you lose no more than 4 tricks to the opposing party. If you lose 5 or more tricks, chances are high that the other party wins ¹.

Declaring a solo

If you want to play a solo you have to declare this before the first card is played (same goes for a wedding). Before each game starts the dealer asks each player (starting with the one to their left) if they want to declare a special contract. A special contract could be a solo, a wedding, or a special variation. In order to play a solo (or wedding) you simply say “hold” ("Vorbehalt") when it’s your turn to declare a special contract. Otherwise you say “fine” ("gesund") if you want to play a normal game.

If nobody declared a special contract (i.e. everybody said “fine”), you’ll play a normal game.

If a player said “hold”, the dealer asks which kind of special contract they want to play. This is the moment where you either say that you want to play a wedding or one of the solo games listed below.

If multiple players said “hold”, the player who’s sitting closest to the dealer (in clockwise order) gets to state their preferred contract first.

Once the contract is clear after each player declaring, the game starts.

Scoring

A solo is a great way to score a lot of points. While you share game points with your partner in a normal game, winning a solo grants you three times the score. If you lose, you’ll get three times the negative score accordingly. Your three opponents receive the normal amount of points (or negative points if they lose).

In a solo game, all announcements (“Re” & “Kontra”) and bids (“no 90”, etc) are allowed. They follow the usual rules. The points a solo player receives for announcing are tripled, too — a simple “Re” announcement is suddenly worth 6 points in a solo game.

Bonus points (for catching a fox, Charly, Doppelkopf, against the old ones, and others) do not apply in a solo game. Due to the changed trump order this wouldn’t make much sense.

Let’s look at an example to better understand this:

Solo types

Now that we understand what all solo types have in common, we can take a look at the differences of the repective solo types.

Queens solo

In a queens solo you play alone against three other players. Only Q queens are trump. ALl other cards (including J jacks or ♦ diamonds ) are non-trumps. Jacks get lined up with non-trumps of the same suite according to their rank.

The Q ♣ queen of clubs is the highest card in a queens solo. If you play with Dullen, these, too, will become non-trumps and get lined up with all the other cards of the hearts suit.

Just like in a normal game you need to follow suit. If the lead card is a trump you need to play a trump (if possible). In this case that would be a queen.

A common tactic when playing solo is to pull other players’ trumps early on. To do so, a solo player plays their highest trumps on order, forcing the other players to sacrifice their (hopefully few) trumps early.

Jacks solo

A jacks solo works just like a queens solo — with the exception that only J jacks are trump. All other cards are non-trumps. Queens are lined up with non-trumps of the same respective suit.

The J ♣ jack of clubs is the highest card in a jacks solo. Same rule applies here: Dullen become non-trumps.

Suit solo

In a suit solo the solo player can determine which suit (clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds) becomes trump. In a normal game ♦ diamonds are always trump. In a suit solo that suit can be changed:

• Clubs solo: All ♣ clubs are trump. ♦ Diamonds become non-trumps. Everything else stays the same.
• Spades solo: All ♠ spades are trump. ♦ Diamonds become non-trumps. Everything else stays the same.
• Hearts solo: All ♥ hearts are trump. ♦ Diamonds become non-trumps. Everything else stays the same.
• Diamonds Solo: ♦ Diamonds remain trump. Everything works exactly as it would in a normal game — it’s just that you play against three other players.

In contrast to a queens or jacks solo, the 10 ♥ ten of hearts remains the highest card of the game in a suit solo — if you play with Dullen, that is.

Ace Solo (Skeleton)

An ace solo (also called “skeleton”, “Fleischloser”, or “Knochenmann”) is a pretty bleak one: There’s no more trumps at all. All cards become non-trumps and get lined up according to their value within their suit.

Aces become the highest cards, followed by tens, kings, queens, jacks, and finally nines. You’re still required to follow suit. If hearts is the led suit, you have to play hearts.

If you play with Dullen, the 10 ♥ ten of hearts gets lined up as a non-trump.

The silent wedding

As we explained in the wedding chapter, the silent wedding is scored as a solo (i.e. triple points for the solo player). In contrast to all other solo types, the silent wedding does not need to be declared when asking for contracts (otherwise it wouldn’t be “silent”, would it?).

Practically speaking, the silent wedding works exactly as a diamonds solo would. All trumps and non-trumps remain the same as in a normal game.

The 10 ♥ ten of hearts remains the highest trump in the game if you play with Dullen. Bonus points do not apply (same as with every other solo).

Forced solo, voluntary solo

Some groups (and Doppelkopf tournaments) distinguish between forced solos and voluntary solos.

If you play with forced solos, every player must have played a solo until the end of a pre-defined number of games. Players are allowed to play more than one solo, those are then regarded a voluntary solo.

A forced solo always gets preference to a voluntary solo. If multiple players declare that they want to play a special contract, the forced solo gets the highest priority, followed by a voluntary solo, followed by a wedding.

If only few games remain there are still forced solos pending, the affected players have to play a solo — no matter if they have suitable cards or not.

When playing a forced solo, the solo player always gets to lead the first trick. In the next game, you return to the regular order where the player next to the dealer leads the first trick. In a voluntary solo you don’t change who leads the first trick.

Whether or not you distinguish between forced and voluntary solo is up to you. Best you quickly discuss this before starting your first game of the day.

Practice makes perfect

Solos make Doppelkopf a little more complicated but far more thrilling. They turn the trump order and many rules on its head and take some time to get used to. For new players it’s probably est to stay clear of solos for a little bit until you’re familiarized with the mechanics of the normal game. For advanced players, they’re a great tool to win more points.

Tactics and playing style changes a lot in a solo. It takes a good amount of practice to become a good solo player. Ultimately playing solo can pay off — or it can go horribly wrong.

Why don’t you take our browser game for a spin and practice the different solo types?