Schafkopf Lingo
What the cards are called, and how people talk at the table.
At the table no card is called what’s printed on it. The Ass (the ace) is “the Sau”, the Eichel-Ober is “der Oide” (the old one) — and there are a few crude ones you wouldn’t say out loud in the Wirtshaus (the pub). Here you’ll learn the important names.
Open the lesson in the app
Every card has a nickname
The Ober (“der …”, masculine) and the Säue (the aces — “die …”, feminine) have the best-known names — by suit: Eichel = Oide, Gras = Blaue, Herz = Rote, Schellen = Runde. Some are crude — real pub Bavarian, not for polite company.
- Eichel-Ober
- der Oide (der höchste in Bayern, der Josef)
- Gras-Ober
- der Blaue (der Grüne, der Schinder-Hansl)
- Herz-Ober
- der Rote (der Herzer, der Fuchs)
- Schellen-Ober
- der Runde (der Schiache) · der Scheißer crude
- Eichel-Sau
- die Oide (die Waldsau, die Haus-Sau)
- Gras-Sau
- die Blaue (die Gärtnerin)
- Schellen-Sau
- die Kugel (die Bumbs, die Geldsau) · die Hundsgfickte crude
And in general: every Ass (ace) is a “Sau”, every Unter a “Wenz” or “Bauer”, and the empty Siebner, Achter, Neuner (sevens, eights, nines) are “Spatzn” (sparrows).
The key expressions
The words you’ll hear all game long — briefly explained:
- Ausspieln
- to lead — play the first card of a Stich. Whoever does is the Ausspieler (leader); then come Mittelhand and Hinterhand.
- Stechen
- to take a trick with a trump.
- Schmieren
- to pile high Augen (points — Säue, Zehner) onto a trick your partner already wins.
- Abspatzen
- to shed a worthless card (a “Spatz”) when you can’t follow the suit.
- Suchen
- in a Sauspiel, lead the called suit to “search out” and find the Sau.
- Davonlaufen
- as the called partner, lead another card of the Ruffarb (called suit) instead of the Sau (see the Rufsau lesson).
- Trumpf ziehen
- lead trumps so the others have to give up their trumps.
- Bock
- the currently highest card of a suit — nobody can beat it right now.
- Augen
- a card’s point value (= points).
- blank / besetzt
- holding only one card of a suit / at least two cards of a suit.
You’ll also hear Schneider and schwarz (won no trick) a lot — you’ll learn those exactly in the points lesson.