A charming thing about Doppelkopf is that it lends itself nicely to small variations and special rules. Talk to two different groups of players and you’ll likely notice that they play with slightly different rules. Some of these are fairly common and popular (some so popular that they’re almost considered part of the standard game), others more obscure and even regional.
Those special rules and variations tweak the game in slight ways. You are free to adopt as many of the rules below to your game as you like. Or don’t — that’s totally up to you. You’re also free to make adjustments and experiment as you see fit. Don’t like how certain things are played? Go and modify it — everyone does it.
In our browser game you’ll be able to select certain special rules according to your preference. Go ahead and try it:
Doppelkopf
A special rule that’s so popular that pretty much everyone plays it: A trick with 40 or more card points is called a “Doppelkopf” (yeah, just like the game!). If you play by this rule, you get one bonus point for each Doppelkopf you win at the end of each game.
Dullen
This rule is a hugely popular one, too: When playing with Dullen, the 10 ♥ ten of hearts become the highest trumps in the game.
As a consequence, the ♥ hearts suit has two fewer non-trumps than other suits, making it more likely that a led ♥ hearts card gets trumped.
When you use this rule, remember that Dullen do not apply in queens solos, jacks solos or ace solos. Here, they become a regular old non-trump. In all other games (normal games, weddings, suit solos) the Dullen keep their special role as the highest trump.
Catching foxes
Another rule that doesn’t need a lot of discussion to be included in most groups: When you catch foxes, a party gets a bonus point for each A ♦ ace of diamonds (also called “fox”), they win from the opposing party.
oxes only play a role in normal games and weddings (not silent weddings). In all solo games you don’t get a bonus point for catching a fox.
Charly
If you play by this rule, a party that manages to win the last trick with the J ♠ jack of spades (“Charly” or “Karlchen”) gets a bonus point. If someone (partner or opponent) overtrumps Charly, this bonus point does not apply.
Just like catching a fox, this rule only applies when playing a normal game or a wedding, not when playing a solo.
Catching Charly
If you play with the “Charly” rule and this rule, the party that manages to overtrump Charly in the last trick gets a bonus point.
Playing without nines / sharp Doppelkopf
Sharp Doppelkopf is regular Doppelkopf, but you remove all 9 nines from the deck. The deck only consists of 40 instead of 48 cards. As a consequence playing non-trumps changes quite drastically as players are less likely to follow suit. Sharp Doppelkopf tends to be faster and tactics shift a little as there are no longer any cards that don’t have any value.
Second Dulle beats the first one
If you play with Dullen, then this rule says that in a trick with two 10 ♥ Dullen the one played last beats the one played first. Usually the first card wins if two of the same cards have been played in the same trick. With this rule, you turn this around — but only for Dullen.
Some groups also grant a bonus point to the player who manages to capture a Dulle like this.
…except for the last trick
An exception of an exception: This rule says that the second Dulle played beats the first one — unless it’s the last trick.
Bockrunde
A Bockrunde (literally “buck round”) is a round of 4 games where the game score is doubled. Different events can cause a Bockrunde to start. A Bockrunde always starts after the current game and lasts for 4 games.
It’s possible that there are 2 (or even 3) active Bockrunden for the current game. In that case the score is quadrupled or sextupled.
You can mix and match which events (if any) cause a Bockrunde to start. A few popular examples:
…on hearts trick
If you play with Dullen and sharp Doppelkopf, there are exactly 4 non-trumps of ♥ hearts . A led hearts suit not being trumped is pretty unlikely.
With this rule, winning a trick consisting only of non-trump hearts cards causes a Bockrunde to start. Requires playing with Dullen and sharp Doppelkopf.
…on null game
Sometimes it happens that a game ends with exactly 0 game points for both parties. Usually this happens if the winning party didn’t make any announcements and the losing party scored bonus points.
With this rule, a 0-point game causes a Bockrunde to start.
…on failed announcement
If a party announces “Re” or “Kontra” but fails to win the game and meet their declared goal a Bockrunde is started.
…on split
If both parties scored exactly 120 card points a Bockrunde is started.
Piglets
If a player holds both A ♦ aces of diamonds (foxes), the “Piglets” rule turns them into the highest trumps in the game (even higher than Dullen). The player must declare “Piglets” when asked for their preferred contract ahead of the game. Usually solos and weddings get preference over a player wanting to play piglets.
Poverty
If a player has three or fewer trumps they can declare “poverty” as their preferred contract before the game starts. If nobody else wants to play a special contract (solo, wedding, etc.) then the person declaring poverty places all their trumps face down on the table and asks the other players in turn if they want to partner with them. Once the cards are exchanged, the game starts as usual.
If a another player accepts to partner with them, they take the covered cards on the table (they’re not allowed to see them before agreeing to partner) and return the same amount of cards from their hand to the declaring player. Often groups require that the partner reveals whether or not they gave the declaring player any trumps in return.
If nobody wants to partner with the declaring player, all cards are re-shuffled and re-dealt.
Throwing
You can agree that a player who has a particularly bad hand is allowed to “throw” their cards, demanding all cards to be re-shuffled and re-dealt. In this case, a player puts all their cards face up on the table. Commonly accepted causes for throwing are:
- a hand with five nines (when playing with nines) or five kings (when playing sharp Doppelkopf)
- a hand with four nines and four kings
- a hand that only contains trumps equal or lower than the J ♦ jack of diamonds
- a hand with only two or fewer trumps
Some groups require “throwing” to be treated as a declared contract that has a lower priority than solos or weddings. Other groups give a “throwing” declaration the highest priority. Up to you.
Forced announcement
If you play with this rule, a player who wins 30 card points or more in the first trick is required to make an announcement. This can be a very helpful rule for new players to get familiar with announcements.