Wallachen

For trick-taking the cards rank as follows (from highest to lowest): Sow (Sau) (Deuce, marked "A") > King > Ober > Unter > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7.

Card values within the four suits
Acorns	Leaves	Hearts	Bells
A K O U 10 9 8 7	A K O U 10 9 8 7	A K O U 10 9 8 7	A K O U 10 9 8 7

In the normal game, the card led to the first trick determines the trump suit for the hand. Within the trump suit cards rank as shown above and all trumps outrank other suit cards. There are no trumps in Bettel and Mord.[1]

Dealer shuffles the pack, offers it to middlehand to cut and then deals ten cards each, either in two packets of 5 or in two packets of 4 and one of 2 or in three packets of 3, 4 and 3 cards respectively. Two cards are then dealt to a start. Each player has a doubling token such as a coin or matchbox in front of them. After the first 3 cards have been dealt to each player, the deal is paused while players look at these cards, and any player may 'double' (doppeln) the stake by pushing their token forwards. For example if all three players do this the stake is multiplied by 8 for this deal.[1][5]

The player to the left of the dealer, forehand, begins the auction by announcing whether to will "play" (ich spiele) or "pass" (weiter). If forehand plays and the other two players agree and forehand does not raise the bid, forehand becomes the declarer and has to take six tricks to win. If, however, the next player in clockwise order, middlehand, also wants to play, he has to outbid forehand by announcing "Seven" (Sieben), which commits him to taking at least seven tricks. Forehand may respond by equalling middlehand's bid with "me too" or "hold" (Selber or ich halte). Forehand and middlehand continue to bid until one gives up by saying "pass". Next, the dealer has the opportunity to outbid the highest bid so far. The highest bidder becomes the declarer and plays against the other two 'defenders'.[1]

Once the bidding reaches the point where two players both bid ten tricks, the next highest bid is a Bettel. Bettel in turn can be outbid by Mord, the highest contract.[1]

Once the declarer (or soloist) has been determined, he may pick up the two cards from the start, choose the most favourable hand and discard two cards, face down, back to the start. The start plays no further part in the game.[1]

It is possible that the two cards from the start change the soloist's tactics or even undermine them. On the one hand, he may decide to stick with the number of tricks he first announced. On the other hand, he may increase the number of tricks bid, or change his contract to Bettel or Mord (the latter is called Kini in some regions). In Bettel, the player must not take a single trick, in Mord he must take all of them. So Bettel corresponds to Bettel in Schafkopf or to Null in Skat; Mord corresponds to the Tout from Schafkopf.[1]

Bid summary

From lowest to highest the possible bids are: Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Bettel, Mord.[6]

Before the end of the first round, players may raise the game value by announcing Kontra or Re. Each Kontra or Re doubles the stakes. For Bettel and Mord there is a higher pre-agreed tariff.[1]

Once the declarer has decided whether to play the announced game or switch to Bettel or Mord, he discards two unwanted cards to the start and leads to the first trick. The soloist always leads, regardless of his position with respect to the dealer. The led card determines the trump suit. The two defenders must play a trump if they have one. Generally Farbzwang applies, i.e. the led suit must be followed. In addition, players must try to win the trick if possible, either with a trump or with a suit card; this is called Stichzwang. Whoever wins the trick leads to the next trick. Players may ask to see the last trick taken by their opponent(s).[1]

In some places, the defenders may indicate a blank card by tapping clearly audibly on the table when discarding the only or last remaining card of a suit.[7]

After all the cards have been played, the tricks are counted. The soloist must take at least as many tricks as announced in order to win. If he wins, he receives the pre-agreed stake from each of the defenders for each trick taken. If the soloist loses, he has to pay the stake for the announced number of tricks to each defender. The game score is calculated as follows: payment = the agreed stake per trick x number of tricks. This game value may, however, be doubled before the game starts through the announcements of "Kontra" and "Re" and/or the Doppeln.[1]

If no player wants to 'play', forehand becomes the soloist. Alternatively, each player may pay an additional stake into the 'pot' for the winner of the next game.[1]