How to play Klaverjassen: rules of the Dutch card game

Rules in short: four players in two partnerships each get eight cards from a 32-card pack. One player chooses trumps. In trumps the jack is the highest card and the nine comes next. You must follow suit; if you can’t, you must usually trump. The eight tricks hold 162 points, and runs or sets that land in one trick score extra roem. The side that chose trumps must take more than half of all the points, or it goes nat (wet) and the other side scores everything.

The pack Card values The deal Choosing trumps Playing Rotterdam and Amsterdam Roem Scoring and nat Score sheet Example Variations Strategy FAQ

The pack

Klaverjassen uses a 32-card pack: a standard deck with the 2s to 6s taken out. Each suit has seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace.

Card order and values

The cards are worth 152 points in all. Whoever takes the last trick gets 10 more, for 162.

The deal

The dealer gives each player eight cards, in packets of three, two and three, starting with the player on their left. The deal passes to the left after every hand. The player to the dealer’s left always leads the first trick, whoever chose trumps.

Choosing trumps

Tables choose trumps in different ways. Snug Table offers two, picked when you start a game:

• Compulsory (the default): the player to the dealer’s left must choose trumps after looking at their hand. It is the simplest way, often called the “Utrecht” rule.
• Free: starting with the player to the dealer’s left, each player may choose trumps or pass. If all four pass, the player to the dealer’s left must choose.

Whoever chooses trumps “plays” the deal, together with their partner.

Playing the tricks

The leader may play any card. The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit if you can. A trick is won by the highest trump in it, or, with no trumps, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads the next trick.

When trumps are led, everyone who follows must play a higher trump than the highest one already in the trick, if they can, even over their partner. If they can’t, they still play a trump.

Rotterdam and Amsterdam rules

The two rule sets differ in what you must do when you can’t follow suit:

Roem: bonus points

Roem is scored for combinations of cards that land together in one trick. It goes to the side that wins the trick, whoever played the cards. Only the four cards in the trick count, not the cards in anyone’s hand.

Runs follow the order A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in every suit, trumps included. So a run of three with the king and queen of trumps is worth 20 + 20 = 40, and a run of four with them 70. Taking all eight tricks, the pit (or mars), adds 100.

Scoring and going nat

At the end of the deal each side adds up its card points, the 10 for the last trick and its roem. The side that chose trumps must have more than the other side. With no roem anywhere, that means at least 82 of the 162 points; 81 to 81 is not enough.

If it succeeds, both sides score what they took. If it fails, it goes nat (wet, also called beet): it scores nothing, and the other side scores all 162 points plus the roem of both sides.

The score sheet: Wij and Zij

A Dutch klaverjas sheet has two columns, Wij (us) and Zij (them), each with a narrow roem column beside it. Every deal gets one line. A side that went nat gets “nat” instead of a number. After 16 deals, four rounds of the table, the columns are added up and the higher total wins. On Snug Table the Scores button shows the sheet as you go.

An example trick

Hearts are trumps. West leads the 9♠. North, your partner, plays the 10♠, East the J♠, and you, with no spades, must trump: you play the 7♥ and win. The trick holds 0 + 10 + 2 + 0 = 12 points, and the 9, 10 and jack of spades are a run of three: 20 roem for your side.

Variations

• Who chooses trumps: besides the compulsory and free ways, some tables let the dealer choose first, or turn up a card from a second pack to propose a trump suit. Snug Table has compulsory and free.
• Claiming roem: at a real table, roem has to be claimed by the side that wins the trick, and players sometimes keep quiet about it when their side is about to go nat. Snug Table counts all roem automatically.
• Stuk: some tables count the king and queen of trumps only when one player holds both and announces them as the second is played. Snug Table counts them, like all roem, when they land in the same trick.
• Game length: clubs often play three sets of 16 deals with changing partners, and some home games play to 1500 points instead.

Strategy

• Choose trumps with the jack or nine. Those two cards are worth 34 points between them and beat everything. Three or four trumps with one of them is usually enough.
• Draw trumps. If your side chose trumps, lead them early so the opponents can’t trump your aces later.
• Give points to a winning partner. If your partner’s card is sure to win the trick, add your ten or ace of another suit.
• Don’t lead a bare ten. If the ace of that suit is still out, a ten leads straight into it.
• Watch for roem. Playing a king onto the queen and jack of the same suit hands roem to whoever wins the trick. Make sure that is your side.
• Count trumps. There are eight. Once you know where they are, you know which side cards are safe.