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Card Games: Ace-Ten Games
This is a very large group of point-trick games, mostly of European origin, in which the ace and ten are particularly valuable cards. A typical scheme is ace=11, ten=10, king=4, queen=3, jack=2. Sometimes this is simplified by counting 10 for aces and tens and nothing for other cards. Usually the ten ranks between the ace and the king.
- Dobbm (Tappen) - from the Stubai valley in Austria
- Six-Bid Solo and its variations Frog and Crazy Solo from the USA.
The cards used in mediterranean countries typically do not include a ten. In these places, ace-ten have been adapted by using another card to take the place of the ten. Usually the three is used; sometimes the seven.
Within the ace-ten games, several groups can be identified that have additional distinguishing characteristics.
- In the Schafkopf group some or all of the queens (overs) and/or jacks (unders) become permanent trumps.
- In the Marriage group there is an extra score for holding the king and queen (over) of a suit, and quite often for other card combinations as well.
- In the Jass group the jack and nine of the trump suit are the highest cards, above the ace. Usually the jack is worth 20 points and the nine is worth 14. The jass group can be thought of as a subgroup of the marriage group; there are scores for the king-queen (king-over) combination and for sequences of three or more cards in suit and for four of a kind.
- The Sedma group is a somewhat strange set of Central European games in which a card is "beaten" by an equal card. They have some claim to be included within the ace-ten games because the cards are played in something similar to tricks and the aces and tens are worth ten points each.
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This page is maintained by John McLeod (john@pagat.com).
© John McLeod, 1999, 2005
Last updated 23rd December 2005
