Sheepshead Rules

Sheepshead is an American trick-taking card game for five players, played with 32 cards. It comes from Schafkopf, the national card game of Bavaria, and is sometimes called American Schafkopf. Wisconsin is its home: Milwaukee made it the city’s official card game in 1983. Each hand, one player picks up the two-card blind and plays with a hidden partner against the other three, and the picker’s side needs 61 of the 120 points in the deck to win. This guide covers the Sheepshead rules: the card order, picking and calling a partner, play, scoring, leasters, variations, strategy and odds.

Sheepshead Rules at a Glance

Sheepshead Card Order

The order of the cards is the hardest part for new players. There are 14 trumps, from strongest to weakest:

• Queens: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds
• Jacks: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds
• Diamonds: Ace, 10, King, 9, 8, 7

The other 18 cards are fail: clubs, spades and hearts, each ranking Ace, 10, King, 9, 8, 7. Any trump beats any fail card, and a 10 beats a King. A trump also stops belonging to its printed suit, so the Queen of clubs counts as a trump, not a club.

Card Points

Every suit counts the same, trumps included, so the deck holds 120 points.

How to Play Sheepshead

1. Deal. Deal three cards to each player, put two face down in the middle as the blind, then deal three more each. Everyone has six cards.
2. Pick or pass. Starting to the dealer’s left, each player either picks up the blind or passes. The first player to pick becomes the picker.
3. Bury. The picker adds the blind to their hand and lays two cards face down. These buried cards count for the picker’s side at the end, as long as it wins at least one trick.
4. Call a partner. The picker names the Ace of a fail suit they hold a card of, such as “Ace of hearts”. Whoever has that Ace is the partner, but only the partner knows. The picker can also go alone against all four.
5. Play six tricks. The player to the dealer’s left leads. Everyone must follow suit if they can, and trump counts as a suit. If you can’t follow, play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads next.
6. Count. Each side adds up the card points in its tricks. The picker’s side wins with 61 or more.

Calling rules: the picker must keep a card of the called suit until that suit is led, and the partner must play the called Ace the first time it is. If the picker’s only fail cards are Aces, they can call another Ace and put one card face down “under” to play when that suit is led. With all three fail Aces, the picker can call a fail 10 instead. Many groups use a simpler rule: the Jack of diamonds is always the partner.

If Nobody Picks: Leasters and Doublers

If every player passes, groups play one of two ways. In a leaster, everyone plays for themselves and the player who takes the fewest points wins; the blind usually goes to whoever takes the last trick. In a doubler, the cards are dealt again and the next hand counts double.

Sheepshead Scoring

Scores are kept in game points, and every hand adds up to zero across the table. The picker’s side is scored by the card points it takes:

A picker who goes alone scores double the picker’s figure, paid by all four opponents: +4 for 61 to 90, −4 for 31 to 60.

• Schneider: the score doubles if the losing side fails to reach 31 points (picker’s side) or 30 (defenders).
• Taking every trick triples the score. It counts tricks, not points: a side that wins all 120 points but loses a pointless trick only doubles.
• Double on the bump: many groups, and most tournaments, double what the picker’s side loses, so a losing picker pays 4 and the partner 2. It discourages picking on a weak hand.

Sheepshead Variations

Is Sheepshead the Same as Euchre?

No. Both are trick-taking games with a short deck, but Euchre is played by four players in fixed partnerships with 24 cards (9 to Ace), and its top trumps are the two Jacks of the trump colour. Sheepshead uses 32 cards, five players, partners that change every hand, and it scores by card points rather than tricks.

Sheepshead Strategy

• Pick with four or more trumps, ideally including a Queen. Picking on three is usually a mistake unless they are high trumps.
• Bury to clear a suit. Burying both cards from one fail suit is usually better than keeping one card in each of two suits.
• Picker and partner lead trump to draw the opponents’ trumps and let the Aces win their tricks.
• Opponents lead the called suit. With five players, one opponent is likely to be out of it and can trump the called Ace for 11 points.
• Watch who schmears. A player who throws an Ace or 10 onto a trick the picker is winning is probably the partner.
• Count points and trumps. Knowing when your side has 61 tells you whether to play safe or push for schneider.

Sheepshead Odds

• Trumps dealt: a six-card hand holds 2.6 trumps on average, and 64% of hands have two or three. Only 21% hold four or more, and 2.0% hold none.
• Queens: 58% of hands hold at least one Queen, but both black Queens, the two strongest trumps, come together in only 3.0%.
• The blind: the two blind cards are worth 7.5 points on average. If you hold four trumps, there is a 63% chance the blind gives you at least one more.

All figures are exact, for five players with six cards each, and checked against 400,000 simulated deals.

More Trick-Taking Games

For a game that adds bidding to card points, see Pinochle. For partnership trick-taking, try Spades, or Oh Hell if you’d rather bid on every hand.

Another Midwest classic: Euchre, played to 10 points in teams of two.

Sheepshead: frequently asked questions