GamesSnug Table

Games of the World › Netherlands

Play the games of the Netherlands

The rules of dammen

1. The board is 10×10 and only the 50 dark squares are used. Each player has 20 pieces on the four rows nearest them.
2. Men move one square diagonally forward. They capture by jumping forward or backward.
3. If you can capture, you must. If there’s more than one way, you must take the route that captures the most pieces. A king counts the same as a man.
4. Captured pieces come off only when the whole move is finished, and no piece can be jumped twice.
5. A man that stops on the far row becomes a king. If it only passes through that row during a capture, it stays a man.
6. Kings move any distance along a diagonal, capture from a distance, and choose where to land.
7. You lose when you have no pieces or no legal move.
8. It’s a draw with one king each, when the same position comes up three times, after 25 moves each of only kings moving without a capture, or after 16 moves each when one player has a lone king against at most three pieces including a king.

The rules of klaverjassen

1. Four players, two partnerships, 32 cards (seven to ace). Everyone gets eight cards.
2. One player chooses trumps. In trumps the order is jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven; in the other suits ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven.
3. Follow suit if you can. If you can’t, you must trump; under Amsterdam rules only when an opponent is winning the trick. Whenever trumps are in the trick, beat the highest one if you can.
4. The cards are worth 152 points and the last trick 10 more. Runs and sets that land in one trick add roem: 20 for three in a row, 50 for four, 20 for king and queen of trumps, 100 for four of a kind, 200 for four jacks.
5. The side that chose trumps must end with more points than the other side. If it doesn’t, it goes nat and the other side scores everything. Taking all eight tricks, the pit, is worth 100 extra.

The full Klaverjassen rules cover the score sheet, the variations and some strategy.

Dutch words at the table

Dammen

The Dutch word for playing draughts.

Schijf (man)

An ordinary piece, literally a disc.

Dam (king)

A man that has reached the far row.

Slaan (capture)

To jump and take a piece. Literally, to hit.

Troef (trumps)

The trump suit in klaverjassen.

Roem (bonus)

Extra points for runs and sets in one trick. Literally, glory.

Nat (wet)

When the side that chose trumps fails, it goes nat and scores nothing.

Wij en Zij (us and them)

The two columns of every klaverjas score sheet.

Questions