Dealing The Cards

• Remove all of the cards from the playing deck except for the 10's, face cards, and Aces. Each player in the game of Schnapsen receives five cards face down to start the game. Each player may view his own face-down cards, but should not reveal them to her opponent or attempt to look at his opponent's cards. The top card is flipped face up to determine the trump suit and the remaining nine cards, referred to as the stock, are placed face down on top of the card sideways or next to it so that card's rank and suit is still visible
  
  

Playing The Hand

• There are two methods of playing the hand during the game of Schnapsen. One is before the stock is closed and the other is after the stock is closed. Closing the stock is done when a player has the lead and flips the face up trump card from the deal face down on top of the stock pile.
  
  Before the stock is closed, a player can play any card she wishes. He does not have to follow suit, and does not have to attempt to defeat his opponent's card. After the stock is closed though, the second player to play to a trick must follow suit and attempt to defeat the card that was led, if she does not have a card in the suit that was led, she must play a trump. If he has no card of the suit led and does not have a card in the trump suit she can play any card.
  
  Play of the hand must follow these rules with the player winning the trick receiving both cards face down in his scoring pile. She can not look at those cards in her scoring pile after placing them in that pile. After each trick the winner of the trick draws the top card of the stock pile and the loser draws the next card off the stock pile. Before leading to the next trick, the player with the lead may claim the face up trump card if he wishes if he has the jack of trump.
  
  

Closing The Stock

• Play continues as in section two until all of the cards from the stock have been claimed, or a player decides to close the stock before leading to a trick. The same rules for play apply after all of the stock cards have been drawn as when the stock is closed.
  
  

Scoring

• Winning different cards in the game of Schnapsen in a trick are worth different points. The Ace is worth the most which is 11 points, with the ten being second worth 10 points. The king is worth four points, queen worth three points, and jack worth two points. The rank of the cards follows the point value with ranks from highest to lowest being A, 10, K, Q, J.
  
  Bonus points can be scored when leading. If a player has a marriage in his hand, which is the king and queen of the same suit, he can lead one of those cards and show the other one and then return the second card to her hand. This is called melding a marriage and is worth 40 points if the marriage is in the trump suit and 20 points if in any other suit. These points only count if that player manages to take at least one trick during the hand. Winning the last trick awards ten points, only if all of the cards from the stock were drawn instead of the stock being closed.
  
  

Winning in Schnapsen

• Writing down the score is not permitted in Schnapsen. Instead players must keep score in their heads. When a player thinks he has at least 66 points he can claim it at any time. If she is correct, she wins one point if her opponent has more than 33 points, two points if her opponent has less than 33 points, and three points if her opponent has zero points. If the player claiming has less than 66 points, his opponent receives three points if he took zero tricks, and two points if he took at least one trick. A new hand is dealt and play continues until one player has seven points or more, with that player being the winner.