Klaverjassen is one of the most popular card games in the Netherlands, traditionally played in cafes and social clubs, as well as at home. The game is for 4 players who play in pairs, sitting opposite each other. The game has a number of variants, named after the cities where they originated: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. This description is of the Amsterdam version, with some notes describing the variations. Another variation of Klaverjas is known as Kraken or Wilde Boom; this is described near the end of this page.
A 32 card pack is used, consisting of the cards A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each of the usual four suits - spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. Note that on Dutch cards the corner indices are usually A (Aas) for the ace, H (Heer) for the king, V (Vrouw) for the queen and B (Boer) for the jack.
The object of the game is to score as many points as possible in 16 hands. In competition games the players on one table will rotate so as to have had each of the other three as a partner, so playing 3 sets of 16 hands.
In each hand the object of the game is for the player (and partner) who chooses trumps to collect more than half of the available points. If they fail to do this then they score nothing at all and the opposing pair receives all of the points.
Points are collected by taking tricks containing valuable cards, and also as bonus points during the play.
The cards are shuffled and dealt, not as single cards, but in 3 groups, first three cards to each player, then two cards, then three cards. Sometimes the cards are dealt in two groups of four cards. The player to the left of the dealer chooses trumps.
In each hand one suit will be trumps. The ranking of the cards and their values are different in the suit chosen as trumps from the other suits. The ranking, from high to low, and the card values are as follows:
high . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . low Trump suit rank: jack nine ace ten king queen eight seven card values: 20 14 11 10 4 3 0 0 Other suits rank: ace ten king queen jack nine eight seven card values: 11 10 4 3 2 0 0 0
This gives 152 points in the pack in total.
There are a number of ways of deciding trumps. The players must agree before beginning to play which system will be used:
Irrespective of who chose trumps, the player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick. The other three players must follow suit if possible. If no trumps are played, the highest card of the suit led, according to the ranking order listed above, takes the trick. If the trick contains trumps, the highest trump wins. The player taking the trick leads the next trick and so on.
There are two versions of the rules governing the playing of trumps:
The bonus points for taking a combination of cards in a trick are called roem. The commonest type of roem is a run, or unbroken sequence of cards in a suit. For sequences, the order of cards in each suit is ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven. Note that this applies equally to trumps and to other suits, and is different from the ranking order of the cards for trick taking purposes. The possible roem are as follows:
There is also a bonus of 10 points for the team who took the last trick and an additional 100 bonus points if one team takes all the tricks.
Bonus points are noted on the score sheet as follows:
Players use their skill to collect bonus points in the tricks that they or their partners take, and avoid giving bonus points to the opposing pair. When bonus points are made they must be claimed by the pair who win the trick in order for them to be counted. It is sometimes correct deliberately not to claim bonus points; this happens if your team chose trumps, but you expect to lose the hand (in which case the bonus would go to the opposing team).
At the end of each hand the points in the tricks of both teams are counted. Each team then adds the bonus points collected. If the team of the player who made trumps has more points than their opponents, then each team is credited with the points they obtained. If the team of the player who made trumps fail to take more points than their opponents, then the team which made trumps score no points at all, and all the points for the hand, including bonus points collected by both sides, are credited to the opposing team.
If no extra bonus points are obtained then the points in one hand add up to 162 (152 for the cards and 10 for the last trick). The team which chooses trumps must therefore obtain at least 82 points in order to score.
Signalling to your partner is an accepted part of the game, and is necessary to skilful play. The most important signals are discards to indicate to partner which is your own strong suit, and leads to indicate the strength of your trumps. There are many ways of doing this, the most common being:
The signalling systems to be used between partners should be discussed (and announced to the opponents) before commencing play, to avoid confusion.
If there are only three players then each player receives 10 cards, in batches of 4, 3 and 3. After the first batch of 3 cards to each player, two cards are placed face down in the middle of the table.
The player to the left of the dealer can elect to play with a trump suit of his choice or pass. If he passes then the player to his left can play or pass. If he passes too then the dealer can play or pass. If all 3 players pass then the dealer shuffles and deals again. Once a player has elected to play he adds the two spare cards to his hand without showing them, and then discards two cards face down to one side. Normal play now takes place, except that there are 10 tricks. The player who takes the last trick also takes the two spare cards.
Each player plays for his own points, but tries also to prevent the player who made trumps from obtaining more than half the points. If the trump maker succeeds in taking more than half the points, each of the three players scores the points he has taken. If the trump maker takes half the points or less, he scores nothing, and both of his opponents score the total points in the hand, including any bonus points.
Rather than playing 16 deals, some play up to an agreed target score, for example 1500.
This version is also known as Wilde Boom (wild tree). After the trump maker has chosen trumps, each of his opponents in turn (first the player to his left and then the player to his right) has the opportunity to challenge this, saying "ik kraak" or "contra". An opponent will challenge if he thinks that the player choosing trumps will not get more than half the points. This challenge automatically doubles the final scores. If there is a challenge, the trump maker or his partner can challenge back (herkraken or ré), again doubling the points (so they are multiplied by 4 altogether). The opponents can then challenge again (superkraken) so that the points are multiplied by eight.
As well as scoring for card combinations in tricks, the players can claim before the first lead for any scoring combinations they have in their hands, and the scores for these are noted. As in normal Klaverjas, four aces, kings, queens or tens are worth 100, a run of three is worth 20, and a run of four is worth 50. In addition, a run of five or more cards of a suit in hand scores 100 points. If a player has the king and queen of trumps (stuk) in his hand at the start of play, he does not need to claim this straight away, but can wait and claim the 20 points for stuk during the play when playing either card.
The play follows the rules of normal Klaverjassen. If there has been one or more kraak, the side which announced the last kraak needs more points than their opponents to win, and whichever team wins scores all the points in the game, the other team scoring nothing. These points are doubled, redoubled etc according to the kraaks before the beginning of play.
If spades are trumps then an extra double is automatically applied to the final scores.
Nel - the nine of trumps
Roem - bonus points
Stuk - the king and queen of trumps
Nat or beet - not getting more that half of the points
Pit or mars - when one team wins all the tricks
Boom (tree) - the set of 16 deals which make up a game (or however many deals it takes before the winning team reaches 1500, if you play that way)
Kleur seinen - same suit signalling
Tegenkleur seinen - opposite suit signalling