Kruisjassen
Introduction
Kruisjassen is a Dutch jass game played by four players in fixed partnerships, two against two. This format gives the game its name, which means cross-jass. As played in the east of the Netherlands it is one of the most straightforward forms of jass, simpler than the better known game Klaverjassen. There is no bidding, trumps are chosen simply by turning a card at the end of the deal, and the result is determined by the value of cards taken in tricks - there are no extra points for card combinations.
This page is based on a contribution from Edon van Asseldonk, supplemented by information on other variants from various books and websites.
Players and Cards
There are four players in fixed partnerships, two against two, each player sitting opposite their partner and between the two opponents.
A 32-card French suited pack is used. As is usual in jass games the ranking of cards in the trump suit is different from the ranking in non-trump suits, the jack and nine of trumps being the most powerful cards. The card ranks from high to low and their values are as follows:
| trump suit | value | other suits | value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jack | 20 | ace | 11 | |
| nine | 14 | king | 3 | |
| ace | 11 | queen | 2 | |
| king | 3 | jack | 1 | |
| queen | 2 | ten | 10 | |
| ten | 10 | nine | 0 | |
| eight | 0 | eight | 0 | |
| seven | 0 | seven | 0 |
In addition the last trick is worth 5 points so that the total number of points available in each deal is 146.
Deal and play are clockwise and the turn to deal passes to the left after each hand.
Deal
The dealer shuffles the pack and offers it to the player to the left to cut. The dealer than deals a packet of three cards to each player, then a packet of two to each, then another packet of three to each. The last packet of three thus belongs to the dealer, but the last card of this packet, the bottom card of the pack, is placed face cup on the table for all to see and determines the trump suit for the hand. When everyone has seen this trump indicator card it is taken into the dealer's hand so that each player has a hand of 8 cards.
Play
The player to dealer's left leads to the first trick and thereafter the winner of each trick leads to the next. Any card may be led to a trick.
If a non-trump is led then players who hold a card or cards of this suit must either follow suit or play a trump. A non-trump card of a different suit can only be played if the player has no cards of the suit led. When playing a trump on a non-trump lead, it must be higher than any trumps previously played to the trick. A lower trump can only be played if the player has no option - i.e. a hand consisting entirely of lower trumps.
If a trump is led then the other players must play trumps if they have them. Any trump may be played - when a trump has been played there is no requirement to play higher. A player who has no trumps may play any card.
The trick is won by the highest trump in it or, if it contains no trumps, by the highest card of the suit that was led.
Scoring
When all eight tricks have been played, each team adds up the total value of the cards in the tricks they have won, the winners of the last trick adding 5 more card points for that. If one team has 100 or more of the 146 available card points they score 2 game points. If one team wins all the tricks they score 5 game points instead of 2. If neither team has as many as 100 card points then no game points are scored.
The first team to reach a cumulative score of 11 or more game points over as many deals as it takes wins the game.
Variations
Fixed length game
Instead of playing to a target, some instead agree to play a fixed number of deals, for example 8, and add up their card points over those 8 deals, the team with the higher grand total being the winners.
On the Kruisjassen page of his Cash Game Strategy site, Edon van Asseldonk includes a score sheet for a session of a cafe tournament played in Vragende in the province of Gelderland. This session consisted of 16 deals. In this tournament any team that took all 8 tricks in a deal scored an extra bonus of 100 card points (total 246). Winning all the counting cards and the last trick but losing a trick containing only worthless cards but not all the tricks would score just 146.
Kruisjassen with Tik
This variant is included in the description on the Twentse Volkscultuur page of the scholieren.com website (in the appendix "Bijlage B Spelregels bij Twentse spelen" near the bottom of the page).
In this variant, if a team reaches 50 card points during the play, either member of the team may tap the table. They then score just 1 game point for the deal. If both teams reach 50 it is the first team that taps who wins the point.
After a tap there is no extra score for taking 100 or more card points, but if a team that taps goes on to win every trick they score 6 game points.
Note that 50 card points is enough to guarantee that the opposing team cannot take as many as100 card points in that deal. The usual reason for tapping is that although your opponents cannot win the deal, you think your team will probably not reach 100 card points, so you forgo the chance to score 2 game points and instead claim 1 game point for the tap, which is better for you than scoring 0-0 for a draw when neither team reaches 100. Another possible reason for tapping is as a way to score 6 game points rather than 5 if you think your team will win all the tricks.
Kruisjassen with Roem
Descriptions of Kruisjassen are to be found in many 20th century Dutch card game books, and all of them feature extra points for card combinations held in a player's hand, known as roem and stuk. It may be that this version is not longer played, or possibly it is still found in some other regions of the Netherlands.
There are two types of roem: sequences of 3 or more cards in a suit and sets of four aces, kings, queens, jacks or tens. For the purpose of forming sequences, all suits rank in the non-trump order A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7. The scores for these combinations are as follows:
| four jacks | 200 |
| sequence of 5 or more | 100 |
| four aces | 100 |
| four kings | 100 |
| four queens | 100 |
| four tens | 100 |
| sequence of 4 | 50 |
| sequence of 3 | 20 |
Each player, just before playing to the first trick, declares their best instance of roem (if any) unless a higher combination has already been declared. Only one team can score for roem: the team that had the best instance of roem scores for all the roem in both their hands while the other team's roem scores nothing.
The types of roem are listed above in descending order. Between two sequences of equal length the sequence with the higher top card in non-trump order is better, if the top cards are equal the trump sequence is better, and if neither is in trumps the one declared by the player who played earlier to the first trick is better. The team who score their roem must show all the combinations they will score for at the end of the first trick.
If a player holds the king and queen of trumps, their team scores 20 for stuk. This always scores, irrespective of any roem held by any player, and does not need to be declared before the cards are played.
Because of these extra points, it is possible for both teams to reach 100 points in the same deal. Immediately after winning a trick, a member of a team who thinks that their team has at least 100 card points in tricks already won plus roem and stuk if any can claim to have won, saying 'ik dek' (I cover). If they are right they win the game, which is worth 2 game points if the opponents have less than 50 card points but only 1 game point if the opponents have 50 or more. If the team that claimed in fact has less than 100 cards points they lose and their opponents score 2 game points. A team that wins all the tricks scores 3 game points.
Points for roem and stuk cannot be claimed by a team that has not yet won any tricks. This means that a team that scores 100 in roem cannot claim to win until they have also won a trick. However, in the special case when one team wins all the tricks but their opponents had the best roem, the opponents are allowed to keep their roem points and score them in the following deal.