1: Take the 2s to 6s out of a regular deck. Five players use the 32 cards left.The 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit. No jokers.
2: Deal six cards each, two or three at a time, and two face down in the middle: the blind.Deal the blind partway through, not as the last two cards.
3: From the dealer's left, each player in turn may pick up the blind or pass.Whoever takes it is the picker, and sets out to win 61 of the 120 card points.
4: The picker adds the blind to their hand, then buries any two cards face down.Card points in the bury count for the picker's side at the end.
5: The picker calls the ace of clubs, spades or hearts. Whoever holds it is the partner.The partner says nothing. The picker must hold a card of that suit, but not its ace.
6: The player on the dealer's left leads the first trick. Follow the suit led if you can.The 14 trumps count as one suit. With no card of the suit led, play any card.
7: The highest trump wins the trick. With no trump, the highest card of the suit led wins.The winner leads the next trick. Six tricks make the hand.
8: Each side adds up the card points in its tricks: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2.Picker and partner need 61 to win. At 60 each, they lose.
9: Write down the score, and the deal passes to the left.A plain win: picker plus 2, partner plus 1, each of the other three minus 1.
1: Take the 2s to 6s out of a regular deck. Five players use the 32 cards left.The 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit. No jokers.
2: Deal six cards each, two or three at a time, and two face down in the middle: the blind.Deal the blind partway through, not as the last two cards.
3: From the dealer's left, each player in turn may pick up the blind or pass.Whoever takes it is the picker, and sets out to win 61 of the 120 card points.
4: The picker adds the blind to their hand, then buries any two cards face down.Card points in the bury count for the picker's side at the end.
5: The picker calls the ace of clubs, spades or hearts. Whoever holds it is the partner.The partner says nothing. The picker must hold a card of that suit, but not its ace.
6: The player on the dealer's left leads the first trick. Follow the suit led if you can.The 14 trumps count as one suit. With no card of the suit led, play any card.
7: The highest trump wins the trick. With no trump, the highest card of the suit led wins.The winner leads the next trick. Six tricks make the hand.
8: Each side adds up the card points in its tricks: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2.Picker and partner need 61 to win. At 60 each, they lose.
9: Write down the score, and the deal passes to the left.A plain win: picker plus 2, partner plus 1, each of the other three minus 1.
Show all 45 rows (36 more)
Card ranks and card points 9
1: Fourteen cards are trump: the four queens, the four jacks and the six other diamonds.They are trump in every hand. Any trump beats any card of the other three suits.
2: The queens are the highest trumps, in the order clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds.The queen of clubs is the top card of the deck.
3: The jacks come next, in the same order: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds.Every jack ranks below the queen of diamonds and above the ace of diamonds.
4: The other diamonds finish the trump suit: ace, 10, king, 9, 8, 7.The 7 of diamonds is the lowest trump.
5: Clubs, spades and hearts are the fail suits. Each ranks ace, 10, king, 9, 8, 7.Six cards a suit. The 10 beats the king. No fail suit outranks another.
6: A queen or a jack does not belong to the suit printed on it.When clubs are led, the queen of clubs cannot follow suit. It is a trump.
7: Card points: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2. The 9, 8 and 7 count nothing.The strongest cards are not the richest: a queen wins tricks and counts 3.
8: The deck holds 120 card points, so 61 is more than half.Aces 44, tens 40, kings 16, queens 12, jacks 8.
9: Schmear: to throw an ace or a 10 onto a trick your own side is winning.It adds 11 or 10 card points to that trick.
Picking, the bury and the partner 9
1: First chance to pick goes to the dealer's left, then around the table. The dealer is last.Once a player picks, nobody after them gets the choice.
2: The blind and the bury stay face down. No other player sees either.The bury may hold cards that came from the blind.
3: The picker must keep a card of the called suit until that suit is first led.At least one such card stays out of the bury and off other tricks.
4: The partner must hold the called ace until its suit is first led, and play it then.That trick shows the table who the partner is.
5: Picker has the ace of every fail suit they hold: call another suit and lay a card face down.That card is the unknown. It is played when the called suit is led and cannot win the trick.
6: Picker holds all three fail aces: call a 10 in place of an ace.The picker keeps that suit's ace and plays it when the suit is first led.
7: Going alone: the picker says so before the first lead and plays one against four.No ace is called.
8: The other common rule: whoever holds the jack of diamonds is the partner.Nothing is called, and the jack may be played whenever a trump is allowed.
9: Jack of diamonds rule, and the picker holds that jack: the picker plays alone.Some tables let the picker call the jack of hearts instead.
Scoring a hand 9
1: Scores are game points, plus and minus. After every hand the table's scores add up to 0.Game points are not card points. Card points only decide who won the hand.
2: Picker's side takes 61 to 90 card points: picker +2, partner +1, each opponent -1.The plain win.
3: Picker's side takes 91 or more: picker +4, partner +2, each opponent -2.The opponents fell short of 30 card points. That mark is called schneider.
4: Picker's side takes every trick: picker +6, partner +3, each opponent -3.Every trick, not only all 120 points: a trick of 7s, 8s and 9s counts nothing.
5: Picker's side takes 31 to 60: it loses. Picker -2, partner -1, each opponent +1.A 60 to 60 tie is a loss for the picker.
6: Picker's side takes 30 or fewer: picker -4, partner -2, each opponent +2.With no trick at all: picker -6, partner -3, each opponent +3.
7: Double on the bump: a losing picker's side loses twice the figures in rows 5 and 6.Pagat scores every loss this way. Wikipedia prints both counts. Agree before the first deal.
8: A picker who went alone takes, or pays, all four opponents' points.A plain win alone is +4, with each of the four at -1.
9: A worked hand (ours): tricks worth 52 and a bury worth 12 make 64, a plain win.Picker +2, partner +1, three opponents at -1 each: the sum is 0.
Nobody picks, and other head counts 9
1: Everyone passes? Pick one house rule before the first deal: row 2, 4 or 5.Both sources give all three.
2: Leaster: play the hand with no picker and no partners. The fewest card points wins.The winner gets 1 game point from each other player. Most tables say the winner must take a trick.
3: The blind in a leaster is left alone, or goes to whoever wins a trick named beforehand.Wikipedia names the last trick. Pagat lets the dealer name the trick before play.
4: Doubler: throw the hand in and deal again. The new hand scores double.Pagat: two doublers in a row double the next two hands, not one hand four times.
5: Forced pick: the dealer, last to speak, has to pick.Some tables drop double on the bump for a forced pick.
6: Three players: ten cards each, two in the blind. The picker plays alone against two.Ten tricks make the hand.
7: Four players: seven cards each, four in the blind.Wikipedia has the picker play alone. Pagat leaves a partner to the table's rule.
8: Six players: five cards each, two in the blind. The jack of diamonds names the partner.Wikipedia plays it two against four. Pagat adds the player on the picker's right as a second partner.
9: Cracking, a house rule: a player who had no chance to pick knocks to double the hand.The picker's partner may not crack.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-14, in our own words. Sheepshead is a traditional American card game that grew out of the German game Schafkopf. It has no governing body, and tables differ. The sheets were checked on 2026-10-14 against English Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Sheepshead (card game): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheepshead_(card_game), and against the card game rules site Pagat, whose page reproduces an older rule page from Milwaukee: https://www.pagat.com/schafkopf/shep.html. Wikipedia's article carries notices asking for more citations, so the standard sheet holds only what both sources give: the 32 cards, the 14 trumps and their order, the fail suits ranked ace, 10, king, 9, 8, 7, the card points and their total of 120, six cards each and a blind of two for five players, picking from the dealer's left, the bury and its points, the called ace with the card the picker must keep and the ace the partner must play, the first lead from the dealer's left, following suit with trump as a suit of its own, 61 points to win and the 60 to 60 tie lost by the picker. Both also give the unknown card, the called 10, going alone, the jack of diamonds partner with the jack of hearts called up, the leaster, the doubler, the forced pick, cracking, and the deals for three, four and six players. As Wikipedia alone gives them: the split of game points between picker, partner and opponents, the figures for a picker alone, the blind not dealt as the last two cards, the meaning of schmear, and the note that taking all 120 points is not the same as taking every trick. As Pagat alone gives them: the blind and the bury kept unseen, the bury that may hold blind cards, going alone announced before the first lead, and two doublers in a row. Pagat doubles every loss by the picker's side; Wikipedia calls that the standard method and prints the plain count as well. Both sources say the game is also played for money; these sheets score game points only. Rows marked ours are this site's own and are not official; sums were worked out from the card points above. Licence: own work
How it works
Sheepshead grew out of the German game Schafkopf and is played mostly in Wisconsin. Five players use 32 cards. The player who picks up two spare cards takes on the table, helped by a partner who stays hidden until one ace is played.
Read the full guide
Sheepshead card game: how to play one trick
Say the 10 of clubs is led and the next player follows with the ace of clubs. The third has no clubs and plays the 7 of diamonds. The fourth follows with the king of clubs, and the fifth, out of clubs and trump, throws the 9 of hearts. The 7 of diamonds is the lowest trump and still wins: 25 card points.
Who is the partner?
With a called ace, only the holder of that ace knows. Picking, the bury and the partner has what the picker and the partner must each keep back, and the jack of diamonds rule some tables use. Nobody picks, and other head counts covers the leaster and tables of three, four and six.
Picker and partner usually lead trump, and the other three lead fail. A player who leads trump early is often the partner.
Questions and answers
How do you play the card game Sheepshead?
Deal six cards each from a 32-card deck, with two in the blind. Whoever picks up the blind buries two cards and calls an ace to name a partner. Those two play six tricks against the other three, and 61 card points wins the hand.
What cards are trump in Sheepshead?
All four queens, all four jacks and the six other diamonds: 14 cards. Queens rank highest, then jacks, each in the order clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds. Then come the ace, 10, king, 9, 8 and 7 of diamonds.
How many points do you need to win a hand of Sheepshead?
The picker's side needs 61 of the 120 card points in the deck, counting the two buried cards. A 60 to 60 tie goes to the other three players.
How many players do you need for Sheepshead?
Five is the usual table. Three play with ten cards each and the picker alone against two. Four play with seven cards each and four in the blind. Wikipedia describes versions for two to eight players.
What happens if nobody picks the blind in Sheepshead?
The table follows a rule agreed on beforehand. In a leaster, everyone plays alone and the fewest card points wins. In a doubler, the hand is dealt again and scores double. Or the dealer is forced to pick.