Cards fall into one of two categories: trump and non-trump. Each trump ranks higher than any non-trump. Trump cards are useful for winning tricks. But there are certain rules that define which card you are allowed to play in a given trick. We’ll take a closer look at those rules in a minute, but first let’s understand what exactly trumps and non-trumps are.

Trumps and their order

In a normal game (when playing solo it’s a little different) the following cards are trump:

1. All Q queens
2. All J jacks
3. All cards of the ♦ diamonds suit

Within the same trump-rank we use the order ♣ clubs   ♠ spades   ♥ hearts   ♦ diamonds .

This means that, for example, the Q ♣ queen of clubs ranks higher than the Q ♠ queen of spades , the J ♥ jack of hearts ranks higher than the J ♦ jack of diamonds and so on.

The order of all trumps is as follows:

Non-trumps and their order

Non-trumps are simply all the cards that are not a trump card. Wild, huh?

All non-trumps rank lower than trumps. That’s why trump cards are great for winning tricks while non-trump cards tend to work better for adding points to a trick (which is particularly useful for playing with your partner). If there are no trumps in the current trick, the highest non-trump card wins the trick.

The order of non-trumps follows the patten (in descending order) A ace , 10 10 , K king , 9 9 . This order always only applies to cards of the same suit.

Therefore an A ♣ ace of clubs does not beat a 10 ♠ ten of spades , as they belong to a different suit.

Quiz: Trump or non-trump?

Time for a little quiz to see if you’ve understood what’s going on. Is the card shown a trump or non-trump card?

Following suit

It’s your duty to follow suit in Doppelkopf. The lead card (this is the first card played to a trick) determines which cards all other players are allowed to play to the current trick:

If the lead card is trump…

• …you have to play trump if you’ve got one or more trump cards in your hand.
• …you are allowed to play any card if you don’t have any trump cards left.

If the lead card is a non-trump card…

• …you have to play a non-trump card of the same suit (spades, clubs, …) if you’ve got one of those on your hand.
• …you are allowed to play any card if you don’t have a non-trump card of the led suit. You can either play a non-trump card of a different suit (“discard” with a low-value card or “schmear” with a high-value card) or trump the trick with a trump card.

Following suit is a crucial rule in the game. If you fail to follow suit (whether you do it on purpose or by accident does not matter) although you would have been able to follow suit, you will lose the game immediately. To the dismay of your partner.

Winning a trick

The player who played the highest card to a trick wins that particular trick. If two players played the same card, the one that’s been played first wins.

The winner takes the trick and puts it face-down on a pile in front of themselves to make it easier to count their card points at the end of the game.

You don’t need to play trump in order to win a trick. If only non-trumps have been played to a trick, the highest non-trump of the led suit (i.e. the suit of the first card played to the trick) wins. It’s important to understand that the led suit is what matters here. An example:

A trick was led with the 10 ♠ 10 of spades . You play an A ♣ ace of clubs as you don’t have any non-trump of the spades suit. Then there’s an A ♠ ace of spades and a 9 ♠ nine of spades .

In this case, it’s not you who wins the trick, but the A ♠ ace of spades . The led suit was ♠ spades , and since nobody played a trump card to trump this trick, only non-trump cards of the same suit can overtake the played card.

Quiz: Who wins?

Quiz time! You’ll see a trick with four cards. The cards have been played in order, from left to right (left first, right last).

Tap the card that wins the trick:

Recap

This chapter packs a punch. Don’t worry, the next ones will be lighter. If you’ve understood the rules of trump and non-trump, you already covered a lot of ground.

We learned the following things:

• There’s trump and non-trump cards
• Trumps are good to win tricks by trumping other cards
• Non-trumps are often used to add points to a trick — but you can also win tricks with non-trumps
• In a normal game, all queens, jacks, and diamonds are trump cards
• Everything else is a non-trump
• You have to follow suit! If the led card is a trump, you have to play trump if you can. If it’s a non-trump, you have to play a non-trump of the same suit if possible. Otherwise, play whatever.
• The highest card played to a trick wins the trick. If two players played the same card, the first one wins.

In the next chapter we’ll look at what it takes to find your partner. Buckle up!