HAE Jass
Make your bid, play your card, and fight for every trick in this summit duel. Sometimes you'll need courage, sometimes you'll have to hold back—but always: avoid the silly jokes! Every round brings new twists, laughs, and rivalries. So: shuffle the cards, draw lines, and let's go.
HAE JASS – Rules of the game
Number of players and material
- Number of players: From two players
- Cards: 54 cards (52 standard cards + 2 jokers with Blacknose Sheep)
- Direction of play: counterclockwise
- Additional materials required: Paper/pen or cell phone to record trick announcements and Härpfl per player. It's Balo Wiesse.
Goal of the game
The goal isn't to win as many tricks as possible, but rather to have as few Härpfl (penalty points) as possible at the end. Before each round, you announce how many tricks you will take in that round . If the result deviates from your announcement, you receive 1 Härpfl for each deviation . Whoever has the fewest Härpfl after the last round wins.
Cards and scoring
- Suits don’t matter – only the card value counts : Ace = highest, 2 = lowest card.
- Jokers can represent any card.
Card distribution and number of rounds
At the beginning, 10 cards are dealt to each player. If there are more than five players, only 9 cards are dealt, and so on. The number of cards per person in the first round depends on the number of players:
| player | Cards in Round 1 | Number of laps |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 10 | 10 |
| 5 | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | 9 | 9 |
After each round, one fewer card is dealt. The game ends after the last round with one card per player.
Round sequence
- Trick bidding: Each player announces how many tricks they want to take. The person to the right of the dealer begins, and the dealer makes the last guess. The sum of all bids may not exactly equal the number of possible tricks—except in the final round.
- Trick-taking game: The person to the right of the dealer begins. Each player places a card face up in the middle. The highest card wins the trick. In the event of a tie, a summit duel occurs.
- Summit Duel (also called "Chüekampf" in Valais): Only the participating players remain in the duel. All other players place any card face up in the middle – this card is "burned." The duelists play a new card in the same order. The highest card wins all cards in the middle (original trick + duel cards) . If there is a tie again, the duel continues (for 3 tricks, 4 tricks, etc.). Those who do not participate in the summit duel receive nothing.
- Joker: Can represent any card; it is announced when played. Jokers can be played at any time, even in the Summit Duel. A player may also have both jokers in their hand.
- Identical last cards: If two or more people play identical highest cards at the end of a round with only one card left in their hand and therefore no subsequent summit duel is possible, the last card wins the trick.
Example summit duel (Chüekampf)
Player A and Player B both place a king → Summit Duel.
The others each reveal one card (burned) and do not take part in the summit duel and go away empty-handed.
A places 10, B places Ace → B wins.
B receives the cards from the first round + the cards from the second round → 2 stitches.
Another tie? → Another duel, this time for 3 tricks, then for 4, etc.
Points awarded – Härpfl
Difference between bid and tricks won = number of Härpfl. So:
- Bidding: 5, Tricks: 3 → 2 Härpfl
- Bid: 2, Tricks: 4 → 2 Härpfl
- Bid: 4, Tricks: 4 → 0 Härpfl
Last round – forehead card
- Each person gets 1 card.
- This is stuck to the forehead by back and get the map slaps on the forehead .
- You do not see your own card; the value of the card is only visible to everyone else.
- Each person announces in the usual order whether they want to take the trick might or not .
- In this round the sum of the bids may exactly equal the number of possible tricks (the “do not add up” rule does not apply).
- Everyone reveals their card at the same time.
- The highest card wins the trick.
- In case of a tie, the last card played (Order counts here too).
- Härpfl awarded as usual after deviation from the announcement.
- Special case: Joker card in the last round: The joker always wins the trick in the last round. If two joker cards are played in the last round, the latter wins the trick.
End of game
After the last round, all the Härpfl are counted. The winner is the one with the fewest Härpfl.