Doppelkopf Rules: Trump Order, Announcements and Scoring

In northern Germany Doppelkopf is the game of the regular weekly card night in the local pub, of students in shared flats and of family gatherings after dinner. It has one feature that sets it apart from almost every other partnership game: partners do not sit opposite each other and are not chosen before the deal. The cards decide the teams, and working out who your partner is (or hiding that you are someone's partner) is half the game.

These Doppelkopf rules follow the Turnierspielregeln (TSR, "tournament rules") of the Deutscher Doppelkopf-Verband, the German Doppelkopf association, which are used for every official tournament in Germany. Unlike Skat, Doppelkopf has no rulebook that everyone accepts: every group has its own habits, and some house rules (piglets, poverty, Bock rounds) are so widespread that many people think they are official. So whenever a rule is not in the TSR, we say so. We keep the German names, because they are what you will hear at the table and see in every app.

What Doppelkopf is and where it comes from

Doppelkopf belongs to the Schafkopf family, a group of German trick-taking games in which the queens and jacks (the Ober and Unter of the German-suited deck) are permanent trumps and the ace and ten carry almost all the points. The association's own rulebook explains the name the same way: every card appears twice, so it is a kind of "double Schafkopf".

The earliest traces are not in the north, where the game is most popular today, but in Saxony, in the late 18th century. In 1811 Paul Hammer's Taschenbuch der Kartenspiele ("pocket book of card games"), published in Leipzig, set down the rules of Schafkopf in writing for the first time in several forms, three of them already played with a double deck: they are the clearest ancestor of modern Doppelkopf. Through the 19th century and much of the 20th the game changed from region to region, until it settled where it is most played today: northern Germany and the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt. So although it is linked with the north, its first written traces are in Leipzig.

The DDV was set up precisely to unify the rules. Its rulebook says so plainly: Doppelkopf has been, and still is, played with very different regional variants, and competition needed a common version. Since 2000 the TSR have been revised at DDV general meetings (most recently in February 2026), but nobody is bound by them in a private game.

The deck: 48 cards, every one doubled

A Doppelkopf deck has 48 cards: four suits (clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds), each with two aces, two 10s, two kings, two queens, two jacks and two 9s. In other words, two 24-card decks shuffled together. Decks sold in Germany come ready-made, but you can build one from two identical poker decks: take out the 2 to 8 from each and put the rest together. If you want to see how it compares with other decks around the world, we cover that in how many cards are in a deck.

48 cards: A, 10, K, D, B and 9 in each suit, all doubled

Many groups play without the 9s, with 40 cards and 10 each. It is not the tournament version, but it is very common because games are quicker and there are proportionally more trumps. We explain it in the section on variants.

In Germany the suits are called Kreuz (clubs), Pik (spades), Herz (hearts) and Karo (diamonds). The queen is the Dame and the jack the Bube, so German French-suited decks carry the indices D and B instead of Q and J: that is how they appear on the cards in this article. It is the deck used in DDV tournaments. If you are curious about why the French suits look the way they do, see the suits of a poker deck.

Card values: 240 points in the deck

As in Skat or belote, two things need to be kept apart: what each card is worth when you count up (Germans call card points Augen, "eyes") and the order in which cards beat each other in a trick.

This is the point scale of the "ace-ten" family, the same as in Skat and in the Spanish game tute: aces and tens make up 168 of the 240 points. That is why the 10 ranks just below the ace and above the king, and why the queens and jacks, which are worth little, can be trumps without upsetting the balance of points. Aces and tens are called Volle ("full ones").

Exactly half is 120. That figure settles ties, and the rule is clear: at 120 to 120 Kontra wins, unless only "Kontra" has been announced.

Doppelkopf trump order: Dullen, queens, jacks, diamonds

In a normal game there are 13 different trumps, each one doubled: 26 of the 48 cards. From highest to lowest:

Within the queens and the jacks the suit order is always the same: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds. Queens and jacks no longer belong to their suit: the queen of spades is a trump, not a spade. If someone leads spades and your only "spade" is the queen of spades, you cannot use it to follow suit; for the game it is just another trump. The same goes for the 10s of hearts and for the whole diamond suit.

The plain suits (Fehlfarben)

Everything outside the trumps belongs to the Fehlfarben (plain suits), 22 cards in all, and they are not all the same length:

• Clubs and spades: 8 cards each (two aces, two 10s, two kings, two 9s), ranking ace, 10, king, 9.
• Hearts: only 6 cards (two aces, two kings, two 9s), because its 10s are the Dullen. Ranking: ace, king, 9.

This difference has practical consequences. With 6 hearts spread over four players, it is very likely that someone runs out of hearts quickly and can trump. So hearts rarely go round twice without someone ruffing, and a player holding an ace of hearts usually wants to play it as early as possible.

Players, deal and teams

The game is for four players. With five, the dealer sits out that hand, and the rules allow tables of six or seven using the same rotation. The dealer shuffles, the player to the dealer's right cuts (leaving at least three cards in each part), and everyone receives four rounds of three cards, starting on the left. Each player ends up with 12 cards, and 12 tricks are played.

Re and Kontra: the queens of clubs make the teams

In a normal game, whoever holds the two queens of clubs forms the Re team; the other two form the Kontra team. At the start, each player knows only which team they are on. The partnerships come to light during play in three ways:

• when someone plays a queen of clubs;
• when someone announces "Re" or "Kontra";
• by deduction: if someone fails to follow a trump lead, they cannot have a queen of clubs.

The rulebook treats this as the core appeal of the game and protects it: signalling by gesture or remark whether you are playing "with" or "without" a queen of clubs is forbidden. What is allowed are Spieltaktiken (playing tactics), plays that good players use to show their team, because they can also be used to deceive. If you are curious how other partnership games handle this, compare it with the signals in Spanish mus, which are made openly and are part of the rules.

The Vorbehalt round: "gesund" or "Vorbehalt"

Before the first trick, starting with the player to the dealer's left, everyone is asked whether they want to play anything other than a normal game. Each player answers:

• "Gesund" ("healthy"): I have nothing special, we can play a normal game.
• "Vorbehalt" ("reservation"): I want to play a solo or I have a marriage (Hochzeit).

If everyone says "gesund", a normal game is played and the player to the dealer's left leads. If there is a single reservation, that player names it. If there are several, they are settled in this order of priority: Pflichtsolo (compulsory solo), then Lustsolo (voluntary solo) and finally Hochzeit; between two of the same kind, the player earlier in the playing order wins. With more than one reservation at the table, a marriage is never played.

How a hand is played

The trick rules are those of a classic trick-taking game:

• You must follow suit: if a suit is led, you must play a card of that suit; if trumps are led, you must play a trump. Remember that queens, jacks, Dullen and diamonds count as trumps, not as their suit.
• If you cannot follow, you may play any card: a trump to ruff or a card from another suit. There is no obligation to trump or to overtrump.
• The trick is won by the highest trump or, if there are no trumps, by the highest card of the suit led. Between two identical cards, the first one played wins.
• Whoever wins the trick leads to the next one.

At the end, each team adds up the card points in its tricks. Without announcements, Re wins with 121 or more and Kontra wins with 120 or more. That small edge for Kontra makes up for the fact that Re starts with two of the highest trumps in the deck, the queens of clubs.

The Hochzeit (marriage): one player holds both queens of clubs

Sometimes one player is dealt both queens of clubs. Then there is no ready-made Re team, and that player has three options:

In an announced marriage nobody may announce anything until the Klärungsstich is over, and the announcement deadlines are pushed back: if the partnership is settled in the second trick, every deadline is reduced by one card; if it is settled in the third, by two. If it is settled in the first trick, the normal deadlines apply.

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Doppelkopf solos: one against three

In a solo, one player plays against the other three. The soloist forms the Re team and the others are Kontra; the queens of clubs no longer decide anything. The soloist chooses which cards are trumps, and that completely changes the ranking of the deck. The TSR allow four kinds of solo:

Many groups add other solos, such as a king solo, a combined queen-and-jack solo or the so-called Köhler, but they are not part of the tournament rules.

Pflichtsolo and Lustsolo

In tournaments every player must play one solo per round. That is the Pflichtsolo (compulsory solo). Any solos played after that, by choice, are Lustsoli ("solos for fun"). The difference is more than a name:

Leading first is a huge advantage in a solo, which is why the Pflichtsolo gets it. If the round is coming to an end and someone has not played their solo, they are "vorgeführt" (literally "paraded out"): when there are as many hands left as solos still owed, the first player missing a solo, counting from the dealer's left, must play one with whatever cards they are dealt. Nobody asks them anything; they only say which solo they choose. In tournaments this also happens when the time for the round runs out.

Announcements: Re, Kontra and the Absagen

Announcements turn Doppelkopf into a game of betting on your own hand. There are two kinds:

• Ansage: saying "Re" (if you are on the team of the queens of clubs or are the soloist) or "Kontra" (if you are on the other team). It means "my team will win", raises the value of the hand by 2 points and, along the way, reveals your team.
• Absage: once your team has said Re or Kontra, betting that the opponents will not reach a certain score: "keine 90" (no 90, they will not reach 90 points), "keine 60" (no 60), "keine 30" (no 30) or "schwarz" (black: they will not take a single trick).

When you can announce

Each announcement has a deadline, measured by the number of cards still in the announcing player's hand:

A few more rules complete the system:

• A card counts as played once it touches the table face up. You may announce even when it is not your turn.
• You can skip steps: with 10 cards in hand you can say "Re, keine 90" straight away, and both count. What you cannot do is go back to an announcement you let pass.
• A reply gets one extra card of leeway: if one team announces, the other may answer with "Kontra" or "Re" while holding one card fewer than it would have needed to announce first. If a Re player says "Re", a Kontra player can still say "Kontra" with 10 cards in hand.
• Both teams can make Absagen, even at the same time ("keine 90" on both sides).

What announcing changes

Announcements do more than raise the value of the hand: they change what each team needs to win. Whoever says "keine 90" commits to keeping the opponents below 90, which means taking 151 points or more themselves. If they fail, they lose the hand even with more than 120.

The table works the same way in reverse when Kontra makes the Absagen. If both teams have made Absagen and neither fulfils theirs, nobody wins: only the points for what was actually achieved and the extra points are scored.

Doppelkopf scoring

Tournament Doppelkopf is scored in plus and minus: each player on the winning team adds the value of the hand and each player on the losing team subtracts it, so the table always adds up to zero. The value of the hand is built up like this:

The points for announcements always go to the winners, whoever made them. That is why a failed "Re" is expensive: the Re team not only loses but hands Kontra 2 extra points.

Extra points: Fuchs, Doppelkopf and Karlchen

In normal games (including a marriage with a partner) there are also extra points (Sonderpunkte). They are first offset against each other, and the balance is added to or subtracted from the score of the hand:

There are no extra points in solos: no Fuchs, no Doppelkopf, no Karlchen and no "gegen die Alten". The same applies to the silent marriage and to a marriage that ends up as a diamond solo.

How a solo is scored

In a solo the value of the hand is worked out as in a normal game, without extra points. Then:

• the soloist scores that figure multiplied by three (plus if they win, minus if they lose);
• each of the three opponents scores the single figure with the opposite sign.

That way the table still adds up to zero: if the soloist wins 3 points, they score +9 and each opponent −3.

Scoring examples

The fourth example is the one beginners find hardest: Re has taken 145 points, far more than Kontra, and still loses, because it committed to keeping Kontra below 90. And it pays for everything that was at stake, including its own "Re".

A tournament round

DDV tournaments are played only at tables of four, in rounds of 24 hands with a playing time of 100 minutes. In each round all four players must play their Pflichtsolo. When time runs out, any normal games left are struck off, but missing compulsory solos are still played. At tables of five a round has 30 hands and lasts 125 minutes, and the dealer sits out and neither gains nor loses.

The rules are strict about table conduct too: counting trumps or points out loud is forbidden, and any gesture or remark that gives away information about the cards is penalised. Disputes are settled by a referee, and penalties take the form of penalty points.

The most common house rules

This is where groups differ most. None of these rules is in the TSR, except the Pflichtsolo, which is compulsory in tournaments. It makes sense to agree on them before the first hand is dealt.

Basic Doppelkopf strategy

Doppelkopf is learned mostly by reading the table: who has led what, who has failed to follow, who stayed quiet when they could have announced. These are the ideas any regular group teaches first.

On the lead

• Cash short-suit aces early. A lone ace of clubs or spades should be played the first time the suit goes round: the second time, someone will be out of it and will trump it. With hearts, which have only 6 cards, it is even more urgent.
• Re leads trumps, Kontra leads suits. The Re team usually holds the highest trumps and wants to draw the opponents' trumps. Kontra, on the other hand, leads plain suits to force Re to spend trumps ruffing. Once your Kontra partner has said "Kontra", leading trumps makes sense again.
• Ruff with something that holds. If you are trumping a suit and an opponent still has to play after you, use at least a jack: anyone can overtrump a low diamond with the Fuchs or a 10 of diamonds, and you hand them points as well.

With your partner

• Load points when the trick is your team's. If your partner is winning the trick with a high trump, throw an ace or a 10 of a suit you cannot follow. That is how a Doppelkopf is made.
• The "Wippe" (seesaw). Many partnerships take turns: one leads a low trump so the other can win with a high one, and the other way round. It works if both have high and low trumps, and it depends on where each one is sitting.
• Protect the Fuchs and save the Karlchen. Play the ace of diamonds when your partner already has the trick or when you are leading and nobody can safely beat it. If you hold the jack of clubs, think from the start about whether you can reach the last trick with it.

When announcing

• Every Absage puts the whole hand at risk. "Keine 90" looks like a small bet, but if the opponents reach 90 you lose everything, including your 2 points for "Re". Only announce when the hand is settled.
• An early announcement says a lot. Whoever says "Re" or "Kontra" in the first trick usually holds high trumps, and their partner knows it. Use it to coordinate.
• The marriage is almost always announced. Playing it silently means playing a diamond solo without the advantage of the opening lead. Against a marriage, it pays to lead a Dulle to win the first trick or a short-suit ace so that the player you want wins it.

In solos

• The opening lead is worth a lot. In a Pflichtsolo you lead; in a Lustsolo you do not. A solo that would work with the lead can be lost if the opponents start by hunting your aces.
• The Fleischloser needs long suits. Without trumps, tricks are only won with high cards or with the last cards of a long suit. A suit of five cards or more headed by both aces and a 10 is the bare minimum.
• Count the trumps. In a queen or jack solo there are only 8; in a suit solo, 26 (24 in hearts). Knowing how many are still out tells you when to stop drawing trumps and start cashing aces.

Doppelkopf and Skat: how they compare

Both games come from the Schafkopf family and share the ace-ten point scale and the idea that certain court cards are permanent trumps whatever their suit. The differences are in the structure:

If you come from Skat, the card values and the duty to follow suit will feel familiar; the hard part is not knowing who your partner is. We cover the other game in our Skat rules. And if you are looking for other trick-taking games for four, our card games for four or more players include belote and sueca, two partnership games from the same ace-ten family.

How much does a deck of cards cost?

From €5 to over €100. The 52 cards and the rules stay the same; this is what changes.

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Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in a Doppelkopf deck?

48: two aces, two 10s, two kings, two queens, two jacks and two 9s in each suit. Many groups play without the 9s, with 40 cards. You can make one from two identical poker decks by removing the 2 to 8.

What is the trump order in Doppelkopf?

From highest to lowest: 10 of hearts (Dulle), the queens of clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, the jacks of clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, and then the ace, 10, king and 9 of diamonds. That is 13 trumps, each doubled, 26 cards in total.

How many points do you need to win?

There are 240 card points in the deck. Without announcements, Re needs 121 and Kontra 120. After Absagen, the team that made them needs more: 151 with "keine 90", 181 with "keine 60", 211 with "keine 30" and every trick with "schwarz".

What happens at 120 to 120?

Kontra wins, since it only needs 120. The exception is when only "Kontra" has been announced: then Kontra needs 121 and Re wins at 120. In many groups a 120 to 120 tie also triggers a Bock round, but that is a house rule.

What is a marriage (Hochzeit) in Doppelkopf?

It is when one player holds both queens of clubs. If they announce it, their partner is the first player to win one of the first three tricks. If they win the first three themselves, they play a diamond solo alone. If they do not announce it, they play a silent marriage, which is scored as a solo.

What are the fox, Doppelkopf and Charlie worth?

One point each, and only in normal games. The Fuchs (fox) is capturing an opponent's ace of diamonds; a Doppelkopf is winning a trick of 40 points or more; the Karlchen (Charlie) is winning the last trick with the jack of clubs.

Why does the soloist score triple?

Because they play against three. Each opponent pays or receives the single score, and the soloist records the total of all three, so the table still adds up to zero.

Are piglets and poverty official rules?

No. The DDV tournament rules do not include Schweinchen (piglets), Armut (poverty), Schmeißen or Bock rounds, and they state that when both Dullen fall in the same trick the first one wins. They are widespread customs in private games that are worth agreeing on before you start.

You do not need a special deck to play Doppelkopf: two poker decks with the same back, minus the 2 to 8, give you the 48 cards of the game. In our playing cards section you will find 52-card decks that can take many rounds, and if you are worried that two decks will start to look different with wear, how to care for playing cards explains how to make them last. If you are after more games from this family, they are all listed in our complete list of card games.

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Keep exploring

• Skat rules: cards, bidding, game values and scoring
• Belote rules: cards, bidding, points and variants
• Card games for four or more players
• Card games: complete list by type and number of players
• Types of playing card decks

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