Sheepshead

How to play Sheepshead

Sheepshead is Wisconsin's beloved card game — a five-player point-trick battle handed down from the Bavarian Schafkopf and played in taverns, church halls and kitchens across the upper Midwest. The picker and a secret partner try to take the lion's share of the points while the other three gang up to stop them. You play against four bots — or online with friends in real time.

Play Sheepshead online with friends

Rather have real players at the table? Choose Play online to be matched into a five-player game, or share a private invite link so your whole table plays together in the browser — no account and no app. The server deals every hand and keeps all five players in sync.

The cards

A 32-card pack (7 through Ace). The trumps are all four Queens, all four Jacks, and every Diamond — fourteen in all, ranking Q♣ > Q♠ > Q♥ > Q♦, then J♣ > J♠ > J♥ > J♦, then the Diamonds A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7. The "fail" suits (clubs, spades, hearts) run A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7. Points: Ace 11, 10 is 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2 — 120 in all.

Picking and burying

Each player gets six cards and two are dealt to a face-down blind. Starting at the dealer's left, each player may pick (take the blind) or pass. The first to pick becomes the picker; if everyone passes the dealer is stuck and must pick. The picker takes the two blind cards, then buries any two — those points are saved for the picker's team.

The secret partner

The picker then calls a fail Ace they don't hold. Whoever holds that Ace is the picker's secret partner, revealed only when the called Ace hits the table. The picker may instead go alone against all four. When the called suit is led, the partner must play the called Ace.

Playing the tricks

• You must follow the led suit — remember the Queens, Jacks and Diamonds are trumps, not their printed suit.
• If you are void, play anything. The highest trump wins, else the highest card of the led suit.
• There are six tricks; the player to the dealer's left leads the first.

Scoring

The picker's side needs 61 of the 120 points (their buried cards count). Chips change hands: the picker gets 2, the partner 1 and each defender 1 — or the picker gets 4 going alone. Holding the losers to 30 or fewer is a schneider (double); taking all six tricks triples it. The first player to 10 chips wins the session.

Strategy

The Queens are royalty — Q♣ ("the old lady") beats everything. Count your trumps before you pick; with several, lead them to pull the others'. Bury points in a fail suit you can then trump, and call an Ace in a suit you are short in so you can ruff it. As a defender, hold your trumps for the picker's fat tricks. Tap a card to play it; legal cards are highlighted. N starts a new game.