How to play Sixty-Six

Sixty-Six is a classic two-player card game from Germany and Austria, played for more than two centuries and loved across Central and Eastern Europe. With only 24 cards it moves fast, but every hand is full of decisions: when to take a trick, when to save your aces and tens, when to declare a marriage, and the boldest move of all, closing the talon to finish the hand on your own terms. The goal is simple: be the first to collect 66 points from tricks and marriages. On skill.games you can also play Schnapsen, the sharp 20-card Austrian version.

How to play on skill.games

When you open the game, the settings appear. Choose a difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard or Crazy) and the game: Sixty-Six (the default) or Schnapsen. Then press PLAY.

• The table: you sit at the bottom and the computer player, Ivan, at the top. The talon lies left of the middle with the trump card turned across under it; a small badge counts the cards still to draw. A "D" marks the dealer.
• The top band: the status line says whose turn it is. Below it, one chip shows the match score in game points (first to 7) and another the trump suit with the state of the talon: how many cards are left, "Closed" or "Talon out".
• Your points: the badge on your name shows the points you have taken so far. A marriage you declared before winning a trick shows in brackets until it counts.
• Playing: tap a card or drag it onto the table. While the talon is open every card is allowed. Once it is closed or empty, playable cards are lifted, and a card that isn't allowed shakes while the status line explains why.
• Marriages: when you lead, a king or queen whose partner is also in your hand glows. Lead it and the marriage is declared automatically: 20, or 40 in trumps.
• Swap and close: when you are on lead, buttons appear above your hand: SWAP exchanges your trump nine (in Schnapsen the trump jack) for the turned trump card, and CLOSE closes the talon.
• Going out: as soon as you reach 66 the hand ends in your favour; you don't need to announce it.

After each hand a sheet shows card points, marriages, the last trick, tricks taken, how the hand ended and the game points it gave; press NEXT HAND to continue. The menu button in the top-left corner pauses, starts a new match or turns the sound off, and the "?" opens this guide. The match is saved as you play, so you can press CONTINUE later.

Rules

The cards. Sixty-Six uses 24 cards, the nine to the ace of each suit. Within a suit they rank ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine; the ten beats the king. Card points: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, nine 0, which makes 120 in the pack.

The deal. Each player gets six cards, three and three. The next card is turned face up as trump and the other eleven are laid across it as the talon. The non-dealer leads first.

Tricks while the talon is open. You may play any card: there is no duty to follow suit or to win. A trump beats any card of another suit; otherwise the higher card of the suit led wins, and a card of a different suit loses. The winner of the trick draws the top card of the talon, then the other player draws, and the winner leads the next trick. The last face-down card goes to the winner of the sixth trick and the turned trump to the loser.

Strict play. Once the talon is empty or closed, you must follow suit and win the trick if you can with a higher card of that suit. If you have no card of the suit led you must trump, and only with no trump either may you play anything.

Marriages. A king and queen of the same suit in your hand form a marriage, worth 20, or 40 in the trump suit. You declare it when you lead by playing one of the two cards. Its points count only once you have won a trick, so a marriage declared on the very first lead waits until you take one. In Sixty-Six marriages may be declared only while the talon is open (also on the lead on which you close it); in Schnapsen they may be declared at any time.

The trump nine. If you hold the nine of trumps, after you have won a trick you may swap it for the turned trump card when you are on lead, as long as at least one card is still face down in the talon. In Schnapsen the jack of trumps is swapped, at any lead while the talon is open.

Closing the talon. On your lead, with cards still in the talon, you may close it: the trump card is turned face down and nobody draws again, so strict play starts at once. By closing you promise to reach 66 with the cards in hand. In Schnapsen you can close only after the first trick.

Winning a hand. The first player to reach 66 points wins the hand, scoring game points by how the other player did: - 1 game point if the loser took 33 points or more; - 2 game points if the loser took fewer than 33 (schneider); - 3 game points if the loser took no trick at all (schwarz).

If you closed and reach 66, you score the same way. If you closed and fail, your opponent scores 2 game points, or 3 if they had not won a trick when you closed. In Schnapsen a successful close is scored on the loser's points and tricks at the moment of closing.

When nobody goes out. If every card is played and nobody reached 66, the winner of the last trick adds 10 points in Sixty-Six (so the pack holds 130 points), and the higher total wins the hand; at 65 to 65 nobody scores and the same dealer deals again. In Schnapsen the winner of the last trick wins the hand for 1 game point.

The match. The first player to 7 game points wins. In Sixty-Six the winner of a hand deals the next one; in Schnapsen the deal alternates.

Strategy tips

• Count the points. Keep track of what you and your opponent have taken: going out at 66 the moment you can is the whole game.
• Save your aces and tens. While the talon is open, lead low cards and keep your big cards to take your opponent's tens and aces.
• Trump the big cards. A low trump on a led ten or ace gains you 10 or 11 points at little cost.
• Keep marriages together. Don't throw away a king or queen whose partner is still in play; 20 or 40 points can decide a hand.
• Swap the nine early. The turned trump card is usually much stronger than the nine.
• Close when you can count to 66. With your points taken plus sure tricks (high trumps, aces) reaching 66, closing stops your opponent from drawing help.
• Remember the cards. Once the talon is empty, every card left is in the two hands: you can work out exactly what your opponent holds.

Difficulty levels

• Easy: plays sensible cards but often slips, forgets which cards have gone and never closes the talon.
• Normal: counts the cards played, trumps aces and tens, keeps its marriages and closes when it can see 66.
• Hard: before every card it imagines many possible deals of your hand and the talon and plays each option out, choosing the one that scores best, including when to close and swap.
• Crazy: imagines more deals and, once play is strict, calculates the rest of the hand exactly; when the talon runs out it plays perfectly.

Game options

• Sixty-Six: the classic 24-card game described above, with the nine swap, marriages while the talon lasts and 10 points for the last trick.
• Schnapsen: the Austrian 20-card game without nines. Each player has five cards, the jack of trumps is swapped, marriages may be declared at any time, closing is scored on the moment you close, and if nobody reaches 66 the last trick wins.

Statistics are kept for each difficulty and each game.