Cego is a special type of Tarok, played in south west Germany. It was developed in the early part of the nineteenth century and became the national card game of Baden and Hohenzollern, where it remains extremely popular. These are the only parts of Germany where genuine Tarok cards (here known as Cego cards) are still in general use. (A game called Tarock is played in Württemberg and Bavaria, but that game uses a normal 36 card German pack).
Cego is unusual among Tarok games in that an extra hand, the Cego, sometimes known as the Tapp or Blinde, is dealt to the centre of the table. Many of the bids involve playing with this extra hand, retaining only one or two of one's original cards and discarding the remainder. The discarded cards are sometimes called the Legage. The idea of this type of bid derives from a version of L'Hombre, and survives in a few other games, such as Vira.
There are many local variations of Cego; the description on this page is based on games played in Bräunlingen in April 1997, in the Gasthaus zum Löwen and also with young members of the church (the Bräunlingen Ministranten). My thanks to Stephan Ocker for introducing me to the players.
The version played at the Gasthaus zum Löwen is described first, then the version played by the Ministranten. Some other variations, including those mentioned in various published descriptions of Cego, are given at the end.
There are four or three active players. If five people want to play, the dealer sits out of each hand but pays or receives the same as the defenders. The game is played anticlockwise.
The player to the dealer's right, who receives the first cards and speaks first in the bidding, is known as Vorhand.
A special 54 card Cego pack consisting of 22 Trocke, which are permanent trumps, and 8 cards in each of the four suits clubs (kreuz), spades (schippen, schip), hearts (herz) and diamonds (karo, eckstein, eck). There are two different designs in use: in one various anmals are depicted on the Trocke; in the other, the Trocke show domestic scenes. If you have no Cego cards, you could use instead an Austrian Tarock pack, or a French Tarot pack from which the 1-6 in each black suit and the 5-10 in each red suit have been removed.
The Trocke from 1 to 21 are identified by large arabic numbers in the top centre. They rank from 1 (lowest) up to 21 (second highest). The highest trump, which is effectively No. 22, is called der Gstieß (or sometimes der Geiger). It has no number and shows a musician. The lowest trump, Trock 1, is called der kleine Mann.
The cards in the black suits rank (from high to low) king (König), queen (Dame), rider (Reiter), jack (Bube), 10, 9, 8, 7. The cards in the red suits rank king, queen, rider, jack, 1, 2, 3, 4. The picture cards have no corner indices for identification, but the kings wear crowns, the queens are female, the riders have horses and the jacks are the other ones.
Players in North America can obtain Cego cards from TaroBear's Lair.
The object of the game is (usually) to win tricks containing valuable cards. The cards values are:
| Gstieß, Trock 21, Trock 1 and kings | 5 points each |
| queens | 4 points each |
| riders | 3 points each |
| jacks | 2 points each |
| all other cards | 1 point each |
The cards are counted in groups of three, and two points are subtracted from the value of each group of 3 cards. If one or two cards are left over at the end of counting a pile of cards, one point is subtracted from this group. The total value of the cards in the pack is 70 points.
If this method of counting is unfamiliar, see the counting points in Tarot games page for further explanation and examples.
The first dealer is chosen by cutting cards (highest deals); thereafter the turn to deal rotates anticlockwise. The dealer shuffles and the player to dealer's left cuts. The dealer places the top 10 cards of the pack face down in the centre of the table, and then deals a single batch of 11 cards to each player. The cards dealt to the centre of the table are known as das Cego, or sometimes der Tapp.
The game to be played is decided by bidding. In most cases, the player who wins the bidding (i.e. makes the last bid) plays alone against the other three players in partnership (the defenders). The only exception to this is the game Räuber, which is played without partnerships - everyone for themselves.
There are two types of game, which I shall call normal games and special games. In a normal game, the bidder's objective is to take as many card points as possible. When counting the points taken, the cego cards (the 10 cards that are out of play) are added to the tricks won by the bidder, and the cards in the tricks won by the defenders are counted together. The bidder wins by taking more card points than the defenders, that is 36 or more, since there are 70 card points in total.
The possible normal games are as follows:
It is possible for a player who has no empty cards to play Eine Leere. In this case the bidder can keep a picture card in a suit instead, for example a jack, and nominate this as an empty card. Such a card counts as the lowest in its suit, and cannot win a trick. In fact the exposed "empty card" kept by the bidder in Eine Leere can never win a trick. If the bidder chooses to lead a different card of the same suit as the exposed card, the card which was originally exposed automatically loses any trick to which it is played later.
Example: The bidder keeps the 
8 but having found the king of clubs in the cego, decides to lead that to the first trick instead. The king of clubs wins, as everyone has a club. Later in the hand, the bidder has managed to draw all the defenders' trumps and none of them has any clubs left. If the bidder leads the 8 now, it does not win the trick even though it is the only club. The second player can play any card, this card determines the suit to be followed, and the highest card of that suit wins the trick.
A player who does not have two numeral cards of the same suit can designate any two cards of the same suit as "empty" and expose them, but as in Eine Leere, these become low cards and can never win tricks.
There are four special games, in which the objective is different from that in the normal games. In all of the special games, the cego is set aside and the players play with the cards they were dealt.
The bidding is in two phases. The purpose of the first phase is to find out if anyone wants to play Solo or Ulti, and in the second phase the other games can be bid.
The bidding begins with Vorhand (the player to dealer's right) and continues anticlockwise until someone says Solo or Ulti; a player who does not want to play either of these games passes by saying "Fort Solo" or just "Fort". A bid of Ulti ends the whole auction - no further bids are possible and the Ulti is played. A bid of Solo ends the first phase of bidding. If no one bids Solo or Ulti the first phase ends when everyone has said "Fort".
If everyone said "Fort", Vorhand must begin the second phase of bidding by saying "Cego" or "Piccolo" or "Bettel". Vorhand is not allowed to pass. If Vorhand says "Cego", any of the other players who wish to play Piccolo or Bettel can say so now, or at any time up to an including their normal turn to bid. A bid of Piccolo or Bettel ends the bidding and is played. In the unlikely event that more than one player wants to play a Piccolo or a Bettel, the player whose turn to bid is earlier (i.e. the nearest player in anticlockwise order from Vorhand) has priority.
When Vorhand has said "Cego", as long as no one interrupts with Piccolo or Bettel, players have the opportunity to bid the other normal games. The ranking of the remaining bids, in ascending order, is Eine, Eine Leere, Zwei Leere, Zwei Verschiedene, der kleine Mann. If two players want to play the same game, the player whose turn to bid was earlier has priority. However, at any stage, each player can only make the lowest possible bid (jump bids are not allowed), and each player only enters the bidding after the bidding between the previous players has been resolved.
So after Vorhand has said "Cego" the player to Vorhand's right has the choice of making the next higher bid, "Eine" or passing, by saying "gut" (good). If this player says gut, the next player in turn has the same options, and so on, round to the dealer. If a player says "Eine", then it is immediately Vorhand's turn to decide whether to equal this bid, by saying "selbst" (myself) or to pass, by saying "gut". If Vorhand says "selbst" then the player who bid Eine must either pass, saying "gut", or continue to the next bid "Eine Leere", in which case Vorhand again has the choice of saying "selbst" or "gut". This competition between the two players continues until one of them says "gut". The survivor will play the last game mentioned unless someone bids higher. The bidding continues with the player to the right of the one who said Eine; this player can either pass or bid the next higher game, in which case the survivor of the previous bidding can say "selbst" or "gut". The bidding continues in this way until everyone has had a chance to speak and all players but one have said "gut". This one surviving bidder plays the last game mentioned.
In the special case when Vorhand bids Cego and everyone else says "gut", Vorhand can choose whether to play Cego or Räuber. This is the only case in which a game of Räuber can be played. The idea of a Räuber is to punish a player who has failed to bid Solo, despite having a good hand; this player is likely to take most points and thus lose.
Examples (A is Vorhand; B, C and D are the other players in antclockwise order; D is dealer).
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Fort | Fort | |
| Cego | Gut | Eine | - | |
| Selbst | - | Eine Leere | - | |
| Gut | - | - | Zwei Leere | |
| - | - | Selbst | Gut | C plays Zwei Leere |
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Fort | Fort | |
| Cego | Eine | - | - | |
| Gut | - | Gut | Gut | B plays Eine |
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Fort | Fort | |
| Cego | Eine | - | Piccolo | D plays Piccolo |
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Fort | Fort | |
| Cego | Gut | Gut | Gut | A has the choice of playing Cego or Räuber |
The bidding procedure after a Solo similar to the procedure when there is no Solo, except that:
So after a Solo bid, the second phase begins with Vorhand, or with the player to the right of Vorhand if it was Vorhand who bid Solo. This player can bid "Gegensolo" or pass by saying "gut". Gegensolo (against the solo) is the same game as Cego, but is worth more (as it is more difficult to win, given that the Solo player has a strong hand). If the first player passes, the next player can bid Gegensolo or pass and so on anticlockwise around the table, but skipping the player who bid Solo.
If all three opponents of the Solo bidder say "gut" the Solo is played. If someone bids Gegensolo the Solo bidder can either equal this bid, saying "selbst" or pass by saying "gut". If the Solo bidder says "selbst", the Gegensolo bidder can raise the bid to Eine, and so on just as in the bidding when there is no Solo. When one of these players says "gut", it is the turn of the player to the right of the Gegensolo bidder (or if that is the Solo bidder, the player to the Solo bidder's right) to make the next higher bid or pass, and so on.
Examples (A is Vorhand; B, C and D are the other players in antclockwise order; D is dealer).
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Solo | - | |
| Gut | Gut | - | Gut | C plays Solo |
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Solo | - | - | |
| Gut | - | Gegensolo | - | |
| - | Gut | - | Gut | C plays Cego |
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Solo | - | |
| Gegensolo | - | Selbst | - | |
| Gut | Gut | - | Eine | (A rather unlikely bidding sequence) |
| - | - | Selbst | Gut | C plays Eine |
The bidder leads to the first trick. The other players must follow suit if they can. A player who cannot follow suit must play a Trock if possible. If a Trock is led, the other players must follow with Trocks if they can. A player who has no card of the suit led and no Trocks is free to play any card.
A trick is won by the highest Trock in it, or if no Trocks are played, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next.
In games in which the bidder's original hand was discarded, the bidder is allowed to look at the discarded cards (the Legage) at any time until the end of the first trick, but not thereafter. In Solo, Ulti, Piccolo, Bettel and Räuber, no one is allowed to look at the cego cards until the end of the play.
In the games Zwei Leere and Zwei Verschiedene, the bidder leads to the first two tricks. The two cards kept from the bidder's original hand (which in the case of Zwei Leere may be replaced by other cards of the same suit found in the cego) are placed face up on the table to begin the tricks, and each defender in turn plays to both tricks. If the first two tricks are won by different players, the player who won with the higher card leads to the third trick. In the case of Zwei Verschiedene it is possible that two different defenders could win the tricks with equally high cards (for example two kings); in that case the player who played the king of the higher suit leads to the third trick, the suits ranking in the order: clubs (highest), spades, hearts, diamonds (lowest).
In a normal game, provided that the bidder wins at least one trick, the bidder counts the card points in won tricks plus the cego (the ten cards which are out of play), while the defenders count the points in the tricks they have won. There are 70 card points altogether; to win, the bidder needs more than half of these points - that is at least 36.
If the bidder loses every trick, the cego counts for the opponents - so the payments are calculated on the basis that the bidder has taken 0 points and the opponents have 70. Thus it is possible for the bidder to lose even after discarding a Legage of 36 points - the bidder also needs to win at least one trick to avoid defeat.
The amount the bidder wins or loses is the difference between 35 and the number of card points taken, multiplied by a factor which depends on the game which was played. The result is rounded up to the next multiple of 5, and this is the amount (in Pfennig) which the bidder receives from or pays to each opponent.
The factor for a Solo is 2 if the bidder wins, but just 1 if the bidder loses. The factors for the other possible normal games depend on whether they were bid against a Solo, as follows:
| Game | Factor if Solo was not bid | Factor if bid over a Solo |
|---|---|---|
| Cego | 1 | 2 (Gegensolo) |
| Eine | 2 | 3 |
| Eine Leere | 3 | 4 |
| Zwei Leere | 4 | 5 |
| Zwei Verschiedene | 5 | 6 |
| Der kleine Mann | 6 | 7 |
The case when the bidders and the defenders take 35 points each is called Bürgermeister, and the bidder pays 5 Pfennig to each defender.
Examples:
The special games have fixed scores as follows:
| Game | Score |
|---|---|
| Ulti | 80 |
| Piccolo | 30 |
| Bettel | 30 |
| Räuber | 30 |
If the game is Ulti, Piccolo or Bettel, each defender pays the appropriate amount to the bidder if the bidder wins; otherwise the bidder pays each defender.
In a Räuber, all players count the points in their own tricks. The cego is not counted. The player who has most points loses. If Vorhand loses, the payment to the other players is doubled (60 instead of 30). If there is a tie for most points, and Vorhand is involved in the tie, then Vorhand loses. If there is a tie in which Vorhand is not involved, then all the players who tie for most points have to pay 30 to each other player.
A player who wishes to end the session says "der Gstieß gibt ab". On the following deal it is noted who holds the Gstieß, play then continues until that player's next turn to deal, and that player deals the last hand of the session.
When there are only three players, three cards - the 7, 
7 and 
4 - are removed from the pack, leaving 51 cards (there are 8 cards in the hearts suit but only 7 in the other suits). The deal is 12 cards to the Cego and 13 to each player.
The games Piccolo, Bettel and Räuber are not allowed; otherwise the games and bidding procedure are the same as in the four player game.
In place of Räuber, there is a different method of penalising a player who fails to bid Solo with a strong hand. For this purpose a strong hand is defined as follows:
A player whose hand satisfies either of the above criteria is said to "have a Solo". Passing (saying "fort Solo") in the first phase of the bidding when you have such a hand is called "skinning" a solo (soloschinden).
If everyone says "fort Solo", the eventual highest bidder can, after looking at the Cego cards, claim that someone has skinned a Solo. In this case all three players expose their cards, and if it turns out that one of the players has indeed skinned a Solo, that player loses as though they had played in the game of the final bid and lost every trick. If it turns out, on the other hand, that no one has skinned a Solo, the bidder who made the accusation loses as though having lost every trick. Note that if, as the bidder, you find that your own hand plus the Cego contains fewer than five Trocke in total, you are safe in claiming that someone has skinned a Solo.
There are many local variations of Cego, and even within the relatively small town of Bräunlingen several different versions are played. Here are a few variations that I have so far collected from players and from some of the published rule books. If any Cego players reading this would like to let us know about other versions and where they are played, I would be happy to add this information to the page.
This is a local variation from the Gasthaus zum Löwen in Bräunlingen, where they play four-handed Cego every Wednesday evening. At 23:00 there is a round of compulsory Räuber - one deal by each player. During this round no other bidding is allowed; a Räuber is played on every deal.
In Pflicht-Räuber the loser pays 30 to each other player. There is no special penalty if Vorhand loses, but if one player takes no tricks the loser must pay 60. If two players take no tricks the loser must pay 120 to each other player. If three players take no tricks, the player who took all the tricks wins (rather than loses) 240 from each other player.
After the Pflicht-Räuber round, normal Cego is played again, but for 10 times the normal stake - that is 10 Pfennig per point rather than 1; so Ramsch, Piccolo and Bettel cost DM 3.00, Ulti costs DM 8.00, and so on.
These rules are based on games played in the Pfarrenhaus at Bräunlingen with some of the Ministranten: Christoph, Stephan, Georg and Richard. I shall just give the differences from the Gasthaus zum Löwen rules set out above. The usual game is for four players.
When everyone passes Vorhand's Cego bid, there are some additional alternatives:
As usual, the first phase is begun by Vorhand and the possible bids are Ulti and Solo; a player who does not want to bid either says Fort. A bid of Ulti ends the auction; a bid of Solo immediately starts the second phase.
If everyone said Fort in the first phase, Vorhand must begin the second phase by bidding Cego, and the bidding continues anticlockwise. The possible bids for the next player are Eine, Piccolo and Bettel; alternatively the second player can pass by saying "gut", and the next player has the same possibilities. A bid of Piccolo or Bettel ends the auction - otherwise the bidding continues anticlockwise. A bid of Eine can be overcalled by Eine Leere, which can be overcalled by Zwei Leere and so on through the normal games (no jump bids are allowed). Piccolo and Bettel cannot be bid over Eine or higher normal bids. When the bidding comes back to Vorhand, one of the other players having bid a higher normal game, Vorhand can bid the same game by saying "selbst". A player who has passed cannot bid in a later round.
If after Vorhand has bid Cego everyone says "gut", Vorhand has a choice between playing Cego, Piccolo, Bettel, Geregelter Räuber, Wilder Räuber or Dresch. Example:
| A | B | C | D | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Fort | Fort | Fort | |
| Cego | Gut | Eine | Eine Leere | |
| selbst | - | Zwei Leere | Gut | |
| Gut | - | - | - | C plays Zwei Leere |
If the first phase is ended by someone saying Solo, the second phase is begun by the player on the right of the one who said Solo and continues clockwise. The Solo player cannot bid again. If all the other players say "gut", the Solo is played. The only possible bid over a Solo is Gegensolo (which is a Cego against the Solo). If someone bids Gegensolo, this ends the auction and the player who bid Gegensolo plays a Cego.
Generally this is the same as in the same as in the Gasthaus zum Löwen version. In a game in which the Cego has been used, the bidder can look at the Cego until the end of the third trick.
There are difference in the games Eine Leere, Zwei Leere and Zwei Verschiedene:
The scores are written down rather than paid out in money after each hand. Nevertheless, the normal stake is 1 Pfennig per point. So if a player wins 30 in a four player game, 90 is added to that player's cumulative score and each of the other players loses 30 from their cumulative score.
In a normal game, the cards are counted in threes as usual, and the score is based on the difference of the card points taken from 35. This is multiplied by the factor for the game being played, and then rounded to the nearest 5 points, with a minimum score of 5 points won or lost.
The factors are the same as the Gasthaus zum Löwen version, except that a Gegensolo has a factor of 4 if won, 2 if lost.
In case of a Bürgermeister (a hand in which the points divide 35-35), the bidder loses the minimum of 5 points, but in addition must buy a round of Schnaps for the players.
The scores for the special games are somewhat different:
| Game | Score |
|---|---|
| Ulti | 70 |
| Piccolo | 40 |
| Bettel | 50 |
| Räuber | 30 |
| Dresch | 70 |
If the loser of a Räuber took more than 30 card points, the payment is the number of card points taken, rounded to the nearest five. If Vorhand loses a Räuber, the loss is 60 points, or twice the number of card points taken rounded to the nearest five if this is greater.
In some circles, Piccolo is played as worth 35, rather than 40.
This is the equivalent game, without Räuber or Dresch, but with the possibility of challenging a player who you think has skinned a Solo. The three cards removed were 
4, 4 and 7, leaving clubs rather than hearts as the long suit.
The standard penalty for breaking the rules is that the offender pays 70 points to each other player. These penalties were enthusiastically enforced by the players, especially in the following cases:
Stephan Ocker gave me a rule sheet for a Cego tournament which had recently been held in Bräunlingen. Although incomplete, this sheet indicates yet another version of the rules. The main distinguishing features are as follows:
This was reported by Michael Dummett in his book "The Game of Tarot" (Duckworth 1980), on the basis of games he played there in 1974. The prinicpal game there is the three player version. The main differences from the three player game at Bräunlingen will be listed.
| A | B | C | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Solo | Solo | Gegensolo | |
| Eine | - | selbst | |
| gut | - | - | C plays Eine Leere |
| Points won by bidder | Points won by opponents | Base value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| bidder wins |
70 | 0 | 8 |
| 65 - 69 | 1 - 5 | 7 | |
| 60 - 64 | 6 - 10 | 6 | |
| 55 - 59 | 11 - 15 | 5 | |
| 50 - 54 | 16 - 20 | 4 | |
| 45 - 49 | 21 - 25 | 3 | |
| 40 - 44 | 26 - 30 | 2 | |
| 36 - 39 | 31 - 34 | 1 | |
| bidder loses |
31 - 35 | 35 - 39 | 1 |
| 26 - 30 | 40 - 44 | 2 | |
| 21 - 25 | 45 - 49 | 3 | |
| 16 - 20 | 50 - 54 | 4 | |
| 11 - 15 | 59 - 59 | 5 | |
| 6 - 10 | 60 - 64 | 6 | |
| 1 - 5 | 65 - 69 | 7 | |
| 0 | 70 | 8 |
The four player game at Oberwolfach follows similar principles. There is still no Ulti game, but Bettel, Piccolo and Räuber are possible. There is no possibility for a player with seven empty cards to throw in the hand.
In the second bidding phase after all players have said "Fort Solo", Bettel and Piccolo can be bid, as well as the normal games. Bettel can overcall Piccolo, and both outrank the normal games. If Vorhand bids Cego and the other three pass, Vorhand has the option of playing Cego or Räuber. The scores for the special games are 5 for Räuber, 10 for Piccolo and 15 for Bettel. These are in proportion to the lower scores for the normal games, which are generally about one fifth of the Bräunlingen scores.
In the four player game, a player who has 8 or more Trocke (here called Trucks), or 7 of which at least two are higher than 17 and at least two voids, is said to have a Solo. If everyone says "Fort Solo" in the first phase of bidding, the eventual bidder of a normal game, having looked at the cego cards (here called the Blinde) can claim that someone has skinned a Solo, with the same effects as in the three player game.
Peter Müller reports that there is an annual Cego tournament on 6th January ("Heilige Drei König" - epiphany) in the Gasthaus "Hechten" in Ichenheim with around 60 to 100 players. The three-player game is played, in two sessions of 24 deals. If the number of entrants is not divisible by three, there are some 4-player tables, but at these the 3-player game is still played with the dealer sitting out and winning or losing the same as the defenders.
In Eine, Eine Leere, Zwei Leere and Zwei Verschiedene, the cards laid out have to be Brettli (pip cards) - it is not possible to substitute a picture card.
Two special games are allowed - these must be bid in the first phase:
There is a tradition that if the bidder loses every trick ("er geht durch"), his opponents sing a short version of the German folk song "Im Wald, da sind die Räuber".
When the bidder is "Bürgermeister" (loses by taking 35 card points), he has to buy a round of Schnaps for the table.
The Cego cards made by F.X.Schmidt come with a leaflet giving rules of the game. These include several small variations and mostly agree with the Oberwolfach version. Some differences are:
Some published descriptions of Cego, notably those by Claus D Grupp, say that the cards are counted in twos rather than in threes. The players at Bräunlingen confirmed that this method is used in villages a few kilometers to the west of there.
In this method of counting, the cards are grouped into twos, the values of each pair of cards are added and one point subtracted from the sum. (See the counting points in Tarot games page for a general discussion of counting). This gives a higher total of 79 points in the pack, and because the total is odd, no Bürgermeister (tie) is possible.
The side which has 40 or more points wins. The base value of the game is given by the table below. This is multiplied by the factor for the game being played to obtain the score.
| Points won by bidder | Points won by opponents | Base value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| bidder wins |
75 - 79 | 0 - 4 | 8 |
| 70 - 74 | 5 - 9 | 7 | |
| 65 - 69 | 10 - 14 | 6 | |
| 60 - 64 | 15 - 19 | 5 | |
| 55 - 59 | 20 - 24 | 4 | |
| 50 - 54 | 25 - 29 | 3 | |
| 45 - 49 | 30 - 34 | 2 | |
| 40 - 44 | 35 - 39 | 1 | |
| bidder loses |
35 - 39 | 40 - 44 | 1 |
| 30 - 34 | 45 - 49 | 2 | |
| 25 - 29 | 50 - 54 | 3 | |
| 20 - 24 | 59 - 59 | 4 | |
| 15 - 19 | 60 - 64 | 5 | |
| 10 - 14 | 65 - 69 | 6 | |
| 5 - 9 | 70 - 74 | 7 | |
| 0 - 4 | 75 - 79 | 8 |
Jürgen Weißauer's eBook, which includes rules (in German) for a version of Cego, is available from his Spiele Okular website.