How to play Schnapsen
2 players · 20 cards · race to 66
Schnapsen is Austria's two-player classic and the smallest game on PlayTash: twenty cards, five in each hand, and a target of 66. What makes it more than a quick point-trick game is that reaching 66 does not win the deal — announcing it does — and that at any moment you can close the talon and bet that you will get there from the cards already in your hand.
Objective
Win tricks to collect card points and be the first to 66. There are 120 points in the pack, so only one of you can get there. Each deal is worth 1, 2 or 3 game points depending on how far behind your opponent was when you claimed, and the first player to 7 game points wins the match.
Twenty cards
Ace, Ten, King, Queen and Jack in each suit, and nothing else. The Ten ranks second, directly under the Ace — so it beats the King, and a trick with a Ten in it is worth contesting.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 11 |
| Ten | 10 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 3 |
| Jack | 2 |
Thirty points in every suit, 120 in the pack. Aces and Tens hold 84 of them between them, so the three court cards are a hand of almost nothing — unless two of them are a marriage.
The deal
Five cards each. One card goes face up on the table — that suit is trump — and the remaining nine lie face down across it as the talon. The trump card is therefore the bottom card of the talon and the last one anybody draws.
Your hand refills after every trick
The winner of the trick takes the top card of the talon and the loser takes the next, so both hands stay at five until the talon runs out — five tricks in.
The first half is a different game
While the talon lasts there is no obligation to follow suit at all. Play any card you like, including throwing away a trick you could have won. That is unusual enough to be worth saying twice, because every other trick game you have played asks you to follow suit from the first card.
Once the talon is empty
- • You must follow the suit led if you hold it.
- • You must beat the trick if you can.
- • If you have none of the suit led, you must trump.
So the first five tricks are about what you collect and keep, and the last five are about whether the cards you kept can still be played when you no longer have a choice.
Marriages
A King and Queen of the same suit, shown on your own lead, are worth 20 — or 40 if that suit is trump.
Two conditions ride on it
You must immediately lead one of the two cards you just showed, so declaring costs you the choice of what to play. And the points do not count until you have won a trick at some point in the deal — a marriage shown from a hand that never takes anything is worth nothing at all.
Exchanging the trump Jack
The Jack is the lowest trump in the pack, and its one use is trading. On your own lead you may swap it for the face-up trump card under the talon — often an Ace. Only while cards remain in the talon and it has not been closed.
Closing the talon
The only real bet in the game. At any point, on your own lead, you may turn the trump card face down and close. Nobody draws again, the obligations start immediately, and you have undertaken to reach 66 from the five cards in your hand.
Get there and you score as though you had gone out normally. Fall short and your opponent takes 2 game points — or 3 if they had not won a trick at the moment you closed. Everything is judged against where your opponent stood when the talon was shut, not where they end up.
Claiming 66
Reaching 66 does not end the deal. Saying so does — and when you say it decides what the deal is worth.
| Your opponent | You score |
|---|---|
| has won no tricks at all | 3 game points |
| is under 33 points | 2 game points |
| has 33 or more | 1 game point |
| and if you claim short of 66 | they take 2, or 3 |
Waiting is not safe, it is expensive: every extra trick you play while sitting on 66 is another chance for your opponent to climb past 33 and cost you a point.
One place PlayTash makes it easier than the book
The rules say players must keep the score in their heads and that a scoresheet is not allowed. That is a fine challenge with the cards in front of you and an unfair one on a phone, where you cannot see the pile your opponent collected and could not recount it if you tried. So your running total is on screen and the claim button only lights up when the claim is actually good. The penalty for a false claim still exists on the server — it simply is not a mistake a player can make by accident.
If nobody claims
Play can run all the way to the last trick with the talon exhausted and neither player ever going out. In that case the deal goes to whoever takes the final trick, for 1 game point, no matter what the card points say. It has one consequence worth knowing: a player who crosses 66 on that final trick scores 1 rather than 2 or 3, because there was never a lead left on which to announce it.
Strategy tips
- 💡Claim the moment the button lights up. Every trick you wait gives your opponent a chance to pass 33 and turn your 2 game points into 1.
- 💡The first half of the deal is free. Nothing forces you to follow suit while the talon lasts, so throw the cards you never want to be holding later.
- 💡A marriage is worth more than most tricks — 40 in trump is a third of the way to 66 on its own — but you have to win a trick before it counts for anything.
- 💡Watch which trump the face-up card is. If it is an Ace, the trump Jack is suddenly worth holding on to; if it is a Jack, there is nothing to trade for.
- 💡Close the talon when your own five cards can already get you there, not when you feel lucky. Missing hands over 2 game points, or 3 if your opponent has no tricks yet.
- 💡If you cannot win, deny. An opponent held under 33 costs you 1 game point instead of 2, and one held to no tricks at all is the difference between 1 and 3.
About Schnapsen
Schnapsen is the national two-player card game of Austria and is played across the countries around it, particularly Hungary, where it is known as Snapszer or Hatvanhat — sixty-six. It is closely related to the German game Sechsundsechzig and belongs to the same broad family as Bezique, Pinochle and Spain's Tute: games where a King and Queen of one suit can be declared for points.
What sets it apart from its relatives is its size. Twenty cards and five in hand is small enough that a good player can know where nearly every card is by the time the talon runs out, and the closing rule exists to let you act on that knowledge before your opponent catches up.
Schnapsen is traditionally scored downwards. Both players start on 7 game points and subtract what they win, and the first to reach zero takes the match — the count is called the Bummerl, and the loser of a session is said to be left holding it. PlayTash stores and displays the same number counting up to 7 instead, because every score on the platform counts up; it is the same match, read the other way round.
The rules on this page follow pagat.com, the reference used when Schnapsen was built here. Its three- and four-player relatives, Dreierschnapsen and Bauernschnapsen, are genuinely different games with a different pack and a bidding round, and are not offered.
Play Schnapsen online for free, against a friend or against a bot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I have to announce 66? I already got there.
Because in Schnapsen reaching 66 does not end the deal — saying so does. And the timing is the whole point: you score 3 game points if your opponent has taken no tricks at all, 2 if they are under 33, and only 1 otherwise. Every extra trick you play while sitting on 66 gives them another chance to climb past 33 and cost you a point. Waiting is not safe, it is expensive.
What happens if I claim and I am wrong?
Your opponent takes 2 game points, or 3 if they had not won a trick yet. On PlayTash you cannot reach that by accident: the claim button only lights up when the claim is actually good. The penalty is still enforced on the server, because the browser is never the authority on whether a move was legal — it just is not a path a human player can stumble into.
Why is my score shown on screen? I thought you had to keep it in your head.
You do at a real table — the rules say outright that a scoresheet is not allowed. That is a good rule with the cards in front of you and a bad one on a phone, where you cannot see the pile your opponent collected and could not recount it if you wanted to. Being punished for arithmetic you have no way to check is not the same challenge, so the running total is on screen. It is the one place PlayTash deliberately makes the game easier than the book.
What does closing the talon do?
It is the only real bet in the game. On your own lead you turn the trump card face down: nobody draws again, the follow-suit obligations start immediately, and you have undertaken to reach 66 from the five cards already in your hand. Get there and you score as if you had gone out normally. Fall short and your opponent takes 2 game points, or 3 if they had no tricks at the moment you closed.
Why can I play any card at the start and not later?
While cards remain in the talon there is no obligation to follow suit at all — throw whatever you like. That is what makes the first half of a Schnapsen deal a different game from the second. The moment the talon runs out, five tricks in, you must follow suit, beat the trick if you can, and trump if you are void. Closing the talon brings that forward deliberately.
What is a marriage, and when can I show one?
A King and Queen of the same suit, worth 20 — or 40 if that suit is trump. You show it on your own lead, and you must then lead one of those two cards, which is the cost of declaring. The points also do not count until you have won a trick at some point in the deal, so a marriage shown from a hand that never takes anything is worth nothing.
What is the trump Jack for?
It is the lowest trump in the pack and its one use is trading. On your own lead you may swap it for the face-up trump card sitting under the talon, turning your worst trump into whatever was turned up — often an Ace. You can only do it while cards remain in the talon and it has not been closed.
Nobody reached 66. Who wins the deal?
Whoever takes the very last trick, for 1 game point, regardless of card points. That covers the case where play ran all the way out with the talon exhausted and nobody ever had a lead to claim from. It has one consequence worth knowing: a player who crosses 66 on the final trick scores 1, not 2 or 3, because there was no lead left on which to announce it.