Background

The Fool as used today in the game of Troggu

The original form of the Tarock card game family emerged around 1425 in Northern Italy during the Early Renaissance.^[11] The most important feature of the new game was that 21 permanent trump cards, the trionfi, were added to the existing suits.^[12] Today these trump cards are also called Tarock in German-speaking countries and are usually numbered with Roman numerals.^[12] In addition to the trumps, a valuable card called the "Fool" was added, to which special rules applied.^[13] The Fool is often wrongly regarded as a precursor of the Joker in modern card games.^[14] Called L'Excuse in French, since it was played with a ritualized apology, it was later changed to Sküs in German.^[15]

According to the oldest known French rules of 1637^[16] Tarock (or tarot in French) was a trick-taking card game for three players using 78 cards of designated values, the players vying with each other to score as many points as possible. In its heyday from about 1730 to 1830 Tarock was played with this rule framework across a large part of Europe. In addition, variants were developed for four players with two teams of two – usually similar in principle to the game of Troccas that is still widespread today in Grisons.^[17]

From the middle of the 18th century onwards, especially in the German-speaking world and in the Habsburg monarchy, the Tarock game went through a series of profound reforms:^[18]

• The most important innovation, introduced by the Spanish card game L'Hombre, was the principle of bidding (in most German card games called bieten or reizen, but in Austrian Tarock usually lizitieren). Now players competed in an auction, before the actual game started, in order to be able to play against an alliance of the others, the defenders. From the four-player version of L'Hombre, Quadrille, came the idea of choosing a partner by "calling" for a King (hence König-rufen which literally means "King calling"). Tarock variants such as the German Tarok Quadrille and the Italian Chiamare il re, whose name means the same as "Königrufen", were based on this principle.^[19]
• The 78-card pack was stripped to make it easier to handle by omitting the lowest suit cards. This is how the 54-card pack, now produced almost exclusively in Central Europe, was created. Other Tarock variants also stripped out various (higher or lower) numbers of suit cards.^[20][21]
• The Sküs lost its role as a special card and became the 22nd and highest trump card, while retaining its high value as well as its form and name.^[21]
• A talon was introduced, possibly from other card games, from which the winner of the auction could improve his hand.
• As an additional element, a bonus was introduced when the smallest tarock, the Pagat, won the last trick. In Austria, a rule was added that this could also be announced before the game as "Pagat Ultimo" or "Pagat zum Schluss".^[21]
• The cards also changed in appearance: they used a French pack instead of Latin playing cards. The traditional motifs of the trump cards, known today mainly in the Tarot pack, were replaced by pictures of animals, vedute, social scenes or other images.^[20]

The culmination of this development was the game of Tapp Tarock, once very popular in southern Germany and Austria, and considered a good introduction to Tarock games,^[12] but now only widespread in certain regions. In Tapp Tarock, each of the three players is dealt 16 cards and 6 cards form the talon. Players bid to be able to play against the other two using six, three or none of the cards from the talon.^[12]

Emergence and development

The earliest reference to a four-handed variant of Tapp-Tarock involving the calling of a King occurs in an 1827 book, but by then it had presumably been played for several decades.^[22] Königrufen was devised as a four-player variant of Tapp Tarock with each player being dealt 12 cards instead of 16, but the talon still comprising six cards.^[20] As in the variants mentioned above, the principle for choosing partners in Königrufen was adopted from Quadrille.^[23]

The first description of Königrufen is found in 1827 in an appendix to the second edition of the book Anweisung zur gründlichen Erlernung des beliebten Tarok-Tappen-Spiels sowohl durch genaue Bestimmung aller Regeln und Feinheiten, als auch durch die Beobachtung und Auseinandersetzung mehrerer angeführter, sehr schwieriger Beyspiele ("Instructions for a thorough learning of the popular Tarok Tappen game, both by clear explanation of all rules and details, as well as by the observation and discussion of several accompanying, very challenging examples").^[24] The first edition of 1821 (which contains the first known description of Tapp Tarock) had not mentioned Königrufen,^[25] from which it may be assumed that there had been a rise in the popularity of the game during the 1820s. Until recently, the second edition had been thought to have been lost; it was only made public in 2010, when the Lower Austrian State Library (Niederösterreichische Landesbibliothek) was able to acquire a copy from the Tax and Customs Museum in Rotterdam.^[26]

According to these rules, the 'forehand', i.e. the player who started the auction and led to the first trick, could announce a Tapper if he had a poor hand of cards. This was the lowest ranking contract in Tapp Tarock where the forehand was allowed to pick up all six cards from the talon if no one bid a higher contract. However, because it was all too easy to win, this contract was already obsolete in Tapp Tarock and was not actually played; instead a win was paid out to the player at a low rate; this was also done in Königrufen.^[25]

With better cards, the forehand could either call a King, announce a Dreyer (play three cards from the talon against the three other players) or a Solo, which at that time did not mean the same as today's Solo Rufer but a Solo Dreier – where the declarer played alone against the other three without using cards from the talon. The other players could also bid these contracts.^[25]

Until the original source from 1827 had been recovered, the 1829 Neueste Allgemeine Spielbuch ("Latest General Book of Games") was the oldest known source for Königrufen which, as it turned out, contained an edited copy of the 1827 rules under the heading Tappen mit König oder Tarokrufen ("Tappen with King or Tarock Call"). From this, Tarock experts assumed that a King or a high tarock could be 'called' in the original form of the game. This turned out to be wrong with the appearance of the 1827 rules, in which only a King could be called. In the event that the called King was beaten by the opponents (or remained in the talon), a high penalty had to be paid. This was felt to be so harsh by Königrufen players that some of them used to call Tarock XX instead, the loss of which was far less of a worry and, if it were lost, was only of low value anyway. This is what the 1829 rules say:

Section 14. All the prevailing difficulties with Königrufen have led to the practice of calling a high tarock instead of a King, which the player gives up in the order Tarock XX, XIX, XVIII or XVII, and whose loss is not such a risk.^[27]

This created a new line of Tarock games that developed into Zwanzigerrufen, Neunzehnerrufen and Hungarian Tarock. Meanwhile, in Königrufen, "King Capture" (Königfang) was usually scrapped, or if retained, its consequences were largely mitigated.^[28]

Book cover detail of the Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch of 1899

In 1840, the first book that dealt exclusively with Königrufen was published in Vienna:^[29] Thorough and easy-to-understand instructions for learning the popular game of Königrufen Tarock, or the art of learning to play the same in a short time, both theoretically and practically, according based on rules and examples. However, the rules differed considerably – in this description of Königrufen, players could only announce Rufer ("Caller") contracts, namely as a Dreier (with three cards from the talon) or as a Solo without talon. If you wanted to play alone, you could call a King in your own hand.^[30]

Different bidding contracts have survived a long time. In the book Der praktische Tarockspieler ("The Practical Tarock Player") by Moriz Bermann (1894) three different contracts are presented, two of which correspond roughly to the above; in the third, two cards or even just one could be taken from the talon. However, a combination of Rufer and soloist games was to prevail, in each of which three cards from the talon or none (Solo contracts) could be played. In the 2nd edition of Sigmund Ulmann's Illustrirtem Wiener Tarokbuch, only the forehand could play a Rufer with talon and without further announcements. Above this, a Rufer with Pagat and a Solo Rufer without a talon could be played. Even higher in the auction was the Dreier, which had now freed itself meaningfully from the three talon cards and became the name for soloist games against three defenders; and the highest game was therefore the Solo Dreier without talon. By now, this was the basic structure of the game as it is today, with the difference that, today, a Pagat Rufer always ranks higher than a Solo Rufer in the auction.^[31][32]

Transition to modern Königrufen

Today's Königrufen has many more contracts than its predecessor, including those that can be played even with a weak hand of cards. Many of these have been imported from other card games during a long process that went on throughout the 20th century. As Königrufen boomed in the period between 1880 and 1920, it evolved into a form with just four possible bids: two with a partner and two solo. In each case the lower (easier) bid enabled the declarer to expose the talon and choose 3 of the cards; the upper (harder) bid was played without looking at the talon.^[23]

As time went on, more and more contracts were added, many of which were 'negative games' where the aim was not to win tricks or to win just one, such as Piccolo.^[23] Today there are no less than 12 contracts permitted in the Austrian Final which range in game value from 1 to 8 game points. In addition there are 8 special bonuses which include four 'Birds'.^[33]

Development of the birds

The four lowest trumps from an 18th-century animal Tarock pack

Eagle on a modern card by Piatnik, 1890 motif

Rare Double Eagle version, Ludwig Jäger, c. 1880

The (usually four) lowest tarocks are called Birds (Vögel, usually dialectically Vogerln = "little birds"). Their special feature is the bonus to be made from the final tricks of the game, corresponding to their respective number. Thus if Tarock I wins the last trick or Tarock II wins the penultimate trick, etc., the player earns a bonus.^[34] Consequently, there is also a penalty for losing a bird in such an attempt.

The oldest bird is the Tarock I, the Pagat. Its role in the last trick is clearly older than Königrufen itself. It was first attested in Italy during the 16th century.^[35] It has been known as bagatto ultimo in Piedmont since the 18th century. At that time Milan belonged to the Habsburg monarchy, and in this way the bonus and the term came to Austria. There it was further introduced that the Pagat ultimo can also be declared beforehand, very probably taken from a similar announcement in Hundertspiel, an Austrian version of the originally Italian card game, Trappola.^[36] The Pagat ultimo became a characteristic feature of almost all Tarock variants in the Habsburg Empire.^[34]

Although there were already similar bonuses in Hundertspiel,^[37] it was only in the 20th century that the idea arose of extending the bonus of the Pagat ultimo to higher tarocks and earlier tricks, initially to the Eagle Owl (Uhu). In 1937, this name was first used for the Tarock II in Franz Unger's Kleiner Lehrbuch des Tarockes in seinen schönsten Arten ("Little Textbook of Tarock in its Best Ways"); there, however, the bonus was awarded for playing the Owl in the last trick. Later, the penultimate trick became the norm.^[34]

Traditionally, the term 'Eagle Owl' was assumed to be a humorous nickname for the eagle on the card, itself inspired by the Austrian imperial eagle, and analogous to the term 'cuckoo' (Kuckuck) being used for a pledge seal. However, research revealed that the term first appeared in 1902 in Hungary in the card game Alsós, a variant of Jass for three players, which was heavily influenced by Tarock and was also played in Austria under the name Vannakspiel. There, the Deuce of Bells was called the Eagle Owl and a bonus was awarded if it took the penultimate trick. Why it was called an eagle owl is unclear; the same word, Uhu, is used in Hungarian for an eagle owl, but its connexion with playing cards is not clear.^[34]

From the game of Alsós the concept was transferred to Hungarian Tarock and was part of an essential refinement of the game in the 1920s, which led to the variant, Illustrated Hungarian Tarock. Now the Pagát uhu could also be played, i.e. the Pagat in the penultimate trick. The migration of the term to Austria seems to have led to its meaning being transferred to the Tarock II.^[34] Apparently in analogy to the eagle owl, the Pagat was now nicknamed the 'Sparrow', which gave rise to the concept of "Birds". It was now obvious to include higher tarocks as well. This happened several times independently, resulting in several different names for the higher "Birds". Often bird names with the appropriate number of syllables were preferred. Thus the names Cockatoo (Kakadu), Pelican (Pelikan) and Canary (Kanari), among others, were coined for the Tarock III. For the Tarock IIII, names included Marabou (Marabu i.e. the Marabou Stork), Bearded Vulture (Lammergeier), Cock-a-Doodle-Doo (Kikeriki) and Wild Boar (Wildsau); however Quapil, a German family name of Czech origin (from kvapil = "he has hurried") has become generally accepted.^[38] In this case, too, it is unclear how this became the name of the card.

Playing up to the Quapil is the norm today; of the larger player communities only the Raiffeisen Tarock Cup restricts the Birds to the Pagat, Owl and Cockatoo.^[39] But some circles even play the Tarock V or VI as a Bird, the former being referred to as the Dodo (Dronte).^[34]

Tournaments

Only in relatively recent years have tournaments been organised for Königrufen. Since 1995, the Raiffeisen Tarock Cup^[47] has been held annually in Upper Austria (especially in the district of Mühlviertel). In 1997, the Hausruckviertel Tarock Cup^[48] began, which also includes parts of the state of Salzburg. These two cups use largely identical rules and from September to March each year they jointly organize just over 50 tournaments with up to 300 participants each. With the number of competitors in four figures, this makes Upper Austria the stronghold of Austrian Königrufen.

The largest competition outside Upper Austria is the Wiener Zeitung Tarock Cup, founded in 2002,^[49] initially held as the Vienna Tarock Cup (Wiener Tarockcup) with three tournaments and supported by the daily newspaper, Die Presse. Since 2005, it has been sponsored by the Wiener Zeitung and since then also bears their name. It became the umbrella for all public Königrufen tournaments in Vienna and Lower Austria, with occasional tournaments in Carinthia and Hungary. In addition, there is the smaller Tyrolean Tarock Cup (Tiroler Tarockcup) which began in 2008.^[50] In Styria, there has been a Tarot Cup since 2013, which is currently being sponsored by Casino Graz.^[51]

Austria Final

Since 2008, there has been an annual Austria Final (Österreich-Finale) in April in the Casino Linz, in which over 200 of the best players from the various cup competitions compete for the title of Austrian Tarock Champion (Österreichischer Tarockmeister).^[9] The competition uses the rules from the Hausruckviertl Tarock Cup. The top three to date have been:^[52][53]

Tarocks

Of the 22 tarocks, numbers I to XXI are sequentially numbered with Roman numerals; only the highest, the Sküs, is unmarked. They assume the role of permanent trumps or atouts: in almost all games (apart from the Suit contracts) they trump the suit cards.^[64]

Six tarocks play a special role and are thus given names. Cards I to IIII are commonly called Birds (Vogerl or Vögel):^[65][66]

• I – Pagat or Spatz ("Sparrow")
• II – Uhu ("Eagle Owl")
• III – Kakadu ("Cockatoo"), Pelikan ("Pelican") or Kanari ("Canary")
• IIII – Quapil, Marabu ("Marabou"), Kikeriki ("Cock-a-doodle-do"), Lämmergeier ("Vulture") or Wildsau ("Wild Boar")
• XXI – Mond ("Mond")
• Sküs or Gstieß (the Fool) – the unnumbered highest tarock, similar in appearance to the Joker in other card games.

The Sküs, Mond and Pagat together form the 'Honours' or Trull.^[64] These three have a much higher card value than the other tarocks (see Card values).^[64] These names were originally derived from the French and Italian: excuse (pronounced "ex-kooz", meaning "excuse [me]"), le monde (the world, corresponding to card XXI in French tarot – wrongly translated into German as der Mond, "the moon") and il bagato (from bagatella, meaning "triviality").^[67]

According to the classification devised by Tarock card game expert, Michael Dummett, Königrufen belongs to the Type 3 Tarock games – i.e. those where the Sküs is not a special card, but simply the highest tarock, effectively the Tarock XXII.^[68]

Suit cards

The 32 suit cards consist of eight cards each in the four French suits of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, all suits being of equal rank.^[64]

Four cards in each suit form are the court cards or "figures" (Figuren). In descending order they are the King (König), Queen (Dame), Cavalier (Cavall) and Jack (Bube). The Cavalier, also called the Knight (Reiter), is unusual for Tarock beginners who are only familiar with games using the standard French pack. It is often confused with the Jack or King. The Cavalier (Italian cavallo) is recognizable by being depicted on horseback, and unlike the King, wears neither a crown nor carries a sceptre.^[64]

The other half of each suit is made up of the four pip cards (variously known in German as the Skartindeln, Skatindeln, Glatzen or Blätter). The difference in rank between the red and black pip cards reminds us that, in earlier Tarock variants, all the cards from Ace to 10 were used. Even then, the ranking in the red suits was different from the black ones. When reducing the hand, the six lowest suit cards were removed: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 for Hearts and Diamonds, and Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 for Spades and Clubs.^[64]

Overview

Königrufen is a game for four players and play is anti-clockwise.^[23] Like all Tarock games, it is a point-trick game where scoring is not primarily based on the number of tricks won, but the number of points within the tricks. Exceptions are the bonus of Valat, where the aim is to take all the tricks, and negative contracts like Bettel and Piccolo, where the aim, respectively, is to take no tricks at all or exactly one trick. There are no 'draws' in Königrufen – if the declarer does not score at least one point more than his opponents, he has lost.^[70] However, the basic contract game and the bonuses won and lost by either side may add up to 0 in a specific game. For example, a Rufer may be won by the caller and his partner (awarding them 1 game point), although the Trull is won by the opponents (so they also earn 1 game point), summing up to 0 points for the game in total.

Each player receives a hand of twelve cards in two packets of six; and two packets of three cards are dealt face down in the middle as the talon. After determining which announcement will be played (and by whom), a specific player (depending on the contract) leads a card to the first trick on the table after possibly drawing from the talon. From now on – as in most similar card games – the winner of the last trick always leads to the next one, until either all twelve tricks have been played or the declarer has clearly failed to achieve his goal.^[23]

Trick rules

Players

The individual players take different roles:

Auction

The auction (Lizitation) is where players bid for contracts ("games"), and it takes place, like the dealing of cards, in an anti-clockwise direction. Forehand usually starts the bidding by announcing "forehand!" Then the players in turn say whether they want to bid for a contract or pass. The player who bids a contract with the highest game value may play it. If a player does not wish to bid, he just says "pass" or "next!" (weiter!) and therefore bows out of the auction. A typical auction could look like this:

• Player 1: "Forehand!" (Vorhand!)
• Player 2: "Pass!" (Weiter!)
• Player 3: "Solo Rufer!" (Solorufer!)
• Player 4: "Bettler" (Bettler!)
• Player 1: "Pass!" (Weiter!)
• Player 2: may no longer bid as he has already passed.
• Player 3: "Threesome!" (Dreier!)
• Player 4: "Pass!"

As a result, Player 3 secures a Dreier contract, and Player 1 (forehand) leads to the first trick.^[80]

Talon and laying off

The six cards that are dealt face down in two groups of three cards each in the middle of the table are called the talon.

Most game announcements result in the player exposing the talon visibly to all players and selecting one of its two halves for his hand. He picks them up and places three cards face down, which belong to his tricks. This is called 'discarding' (verlegen).^[81]

Only suit cards ranking below a King may be laid. Only if a player has fewer than three such cards in his hand, may he lay a tarock – but then it has to be face up. Kings and Trull cards may not be laid off. The remaining half of the talon becomes one of the opponents' tricks.^[81]

However, other things can also happen with the talon:

• The talon stays hidden and counts at the end with the opponents' tricks (Solo contracts).^[23]
• The player takes all six cards and discards six cards (Sechserdreier).^[23]
• The talon plays no part in the game (Negative contracts, including Trischaken).
• In Trischaken, the six cards of the talon are played individually to the first six tricks (Vienna Tarock Cup, Styrian Cup) or go to the player who wins the last trick (Raiffeisen Cup and Hausruck Cup).^[82]

Calling a king

Unlike many other card games, there are no fixed partners in Königrufen. The cards and the bid-for contract decide who plays with whom.

If, during the auction, a Rufer contract is called, which is one of the "positive contracts", has won the auction, the successful declarer announces a King of his choice. The player who has the King of the chosen suit in his hand becomes the player's partner, the other two players play as the opposing team or "defenders". If the player has three Kings, he can call "the fourth" without naming its suit. If the player has all the Kings, some rules allow him to 'call a Queen' (Vienna Cup, Styrian Cup), while others forbid a Rufer to be played in such circumstances (Raiffeisen Cup, Hausruck Cup).^[83]

If the called King is in the talon, the player can give up and pay the game to everyone. Alternatively, he can play the game against all three or, depending on the house rules, the defenders can double the stakes by calling Kontra (see below), or the game may be turned into a Dreier. Some house rules prohibit the Kontra in this case in order to reduce the number of abandoned games.

Kontra

If an opponent does not believe that the declare contract ("game") or bonus will be won, he can say "Kontra!". This doubles the value of the game or bonus. Games and bonuses can be kontra'd independently of one another. If the player thinks he can still win, he can double the value again with a "Rekontra!" (Re, Reh or Retour). Depending on the rules agreed, the opponent can counter with a "Subcontra!" (Sub, Superkontra or Hirsch^[84]), which now increases the value eightfold. Some rounds play with even more levels, such as Mordkontra which is worth x 16.^[85]

In positive matches, one Kontra always counts for the whole team, but in negative matches everyone can Kontra individually (contra ad personam). In Trischaken, because everyone plays against everyone, there is no Kontra.^[85]

Game bonuses

Material Bonuses

Ordinary positive games

Positive games or positive contracts (Positivspiele) is the collective term for those games in which the aim (possibly among others) is to win a majority of points. The positive games are the various types of Rufer and Dreier, including their Solo contracts.^[23]

Suit games

Suit games (Farbenspiele) are a special form of positive contract with several special rules:^[23]

• The trick-taking power of the tarocks over the suit cards is nullified (they must however be played if the player is not able to follow suit).
• Tarocks may not be played as long as the player still has suit cards.
• In Suit Dreier there are special rules about what may be laid off. Usually tarocks must be laid off, but sometimes tarocks and suit cards may be played at will.

The Solo Suit Dreier is also called Suit Solo (Farbensolo) for short. Occasionally a Suit Rufer (Farbenrufer) is played (possibly only as a Forehand contract), in which a partner is called as with the normal Rufer contract.

Negative contracts

Negative contracts or negative games (Negativspiele) are games in which the normal aim of winning the majority of points is no longer valid. Instead there is an alternative goal where the player has do the minimum – either to score the fewest points, or to take a specified, low number of tricks. Several special rules apply:^[83]

There are the following negative contracts:^[83]

• Trischaken – Forehand contracts.
• Bettler – the player takes no tricks.
• Piccolo – the player takes exactly one trick.
• Zwiccolo – two tricks.
• Triccolo – three tricks.
• Bettler, Piccolo, Zwiccolo and Triccolo Ouvert (open): here all the players lay their hands open on the table. In tournaments it is allowed for the player's opponents to discuss the strategy; in many private games this is not permitted.^[82]

There are also semi-ouvert (half-open) variations where only the player or only the opponents place their hands on the table. In any case, it is not permitted to discuss the strategy in half-open negative games.

In contrast to the positive games, negative games are subject to Stichzwang i.e. the players must win the trick if possible and the declarer of a negative game may play (instead of forehand). All negative games except Trischaken and (half-)open games can be played "with" (Bei- or Mit-), i.e. several (possibly all) players may play a negative game in parallel. This is not permitted in tournaments.^[82]

Forehand contracts

Forehand games (Vorhandspiele) are contracts that only forehand may announce, if all other players have said "pass!" ("Weiter!"). An exception is Sechserdreier mentioned below where it has become generally accepted that forehand must announce it immediately and that it may then be overbid by a higher-value contract.^[86]

• Common Rufer (Gewöhnlicher Rufer): forehand calls a partner and takes 3 cards from the talon.
• Trischaken (or Fahren, Abfahrt): each player plays against the rest and tries to take as few points in the tricks as possible. Players must follow suit (Farbzwang) or trump (Tarockzwang) and must take the trick if they are able (Stichzwang). The scoring in Trischaken has almost as great a variation as all the other variants put together. The rules are:^[86]
  • The player with the most points loses and must pay all the rest e.g. 10 cents.
  • If forehand loses, he pays double
  • If the loser has scored 36 or more points (35 points and 2 Blatts), he is Bürgermeister or Großbauer and pays double
  • If two or more players lose with the same number of points, they pay the winner(s) 10 cents
  • If a player has no tricks (Jungfrau or Engerl), he gets 30 cents from the loser(s); the rest get nothing
  • If two players have no tricks, they get 30 cents from the loser(s).
  • The Bürgermeister pays a Jungfrau 60 cents or 30 cents to each Jungfrau if there are two.

• Sechserdreier (Sechser): like a normal Dreier, except that forehand may pick up all 6 cards from the talon, reveal them and discard 6 cards. The loss of this game is usually counted higher than the win (usually double).^[90]

Rounded-up card values

• 5 points: the Trull cards and the Kings
• 4 points: the Queens
• 3 points: the Cavaliers
• 2 points: the Jacks
• 1 point: all other cards (= the remaining tarocks and the pip cards)

To simplify the calculation of scores the cards are grouped in threes, their rounded-up values above are totalled and 2 points deducted. So a King, Jack and pip card are thus worth (5 + 2 + 1) – 2 = 6 points. If a single card is left over, 2/3 points are deducted from its rounded-up value; if two cards are left, 1 1/3 points are deducted. If one wishes to keep score during the game one has to subtract as one goes along: for example, the Pagat, a King, a Cavalier and a Jack are worth (5 + 5 + 3) − 2 + 2 − 2/3 = 12 1/3.^[91]

Rounded-down card values

• 4 points: the Trull cards and the Kings
• 3 points: the Queens
• 2 points: the Cavaliers
• 1 point: the Jacks
• 0 points: all other cards (= the remaining tarocks and the pip cards)

Now take the value of three cards and add 1. As in the example above, a King, Jack and pip card are worth (4 + 1 + 0) + 1 = 6 points. If you want to count during the game, you add the 4 cards in the tricks together and add 1 1/3. So for example the Pagat, a King, a Cavalier and a Jack are worth (4 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1) + 1 1/3 = 12 1/3.^[91]

Scoring in the Austrian Final

As an example, the rules of the Hausruckviertl Tarock Cup are given here, which are also used for the Austrian Final.^[33]

A Sechserdreier must be announced by the forehand, i.e. before the other players bid. In Trischaken, the player who wins the last trick receives the talon.^[33]

Payments are based on game points multiplied by an amount of money (usually 10 cents per point).^[33]

Contracts

• Bei-Spiele: two or more negative contracts are played simultaneously, e. g. a Piccolo and a Piccolo Bei for another player
• Farbensechser: forehand Suit Dreier with all six talon cards^[94]
• Half-Open Negative Contracts: only the auction winners or only the defenders turn their cards up.
• Higher Negative Contracts:
  • Triccolo – three tricks
  • Quadruccolo – four tricks (very rare) in the Salzkammergut (Austria) also called Wildsau ("Wild Boar")
• Variations of Trischaken:
  • Kontra with various meanings
  • Trischaken "from above" (von oben), i. e. the player leading to the trick must play his highest card
  • Trischaken with different trick-taking power, roughly meaning the tarocks are inverted
  • Trischaken without Stichzwang (compulsion to win the trick)
  • Announcement of Jungfrau
• Supra: Rufer, in which the declarer has to score an Absolute, i.e. 45/2.
• Besserdreier: Dreier with Bird as an auction contract
• Oberer, Unterer: Like a Dreier, but the player must choose 'blind' whether to pick up the upper (Obere) or lower (Untere) half of the talon. The chosen half is not shown to the opponents, the remaining half is revealed at the end of the game and its points count towards the defenders total. This variant is well known in three-player Tarock (Tarock zu dritt or Tapp Tarock).

Bonuses

• Hand Bonuses

• Rostopschin: an old bonus – to take two successive tricks with XVII and XVI.
• Also V and VI are played as Birds.

Three- and two-player variants

Königrufen can be adapted for two or three players by the introduction of dummies (Strohmandeln). ^[95][96]

The rules for three players are the same as those for four, with the following changes.

• The missing fourth player is replaced by a dummy that is dealt twelve cards face down like everyone else. The dummy sits to the left of the dealer and therefore moves around for each hand (flying dummy). The dummy can neither be the dealer nor the forehand, and cannot bid for a game. After the auction, the dummy's hand is revealed and remains face up for the rest of the game.
• The player who controls the dummy is known as the guardian.
  • In a Rufer contract where the called king is held by the dummy, the guardian is the declarer.
  • In a Trischaken contract, the guardian for a given trick is the player on lead.
  • In all other cases, the guardian is the opponent whose turn comes first in the first trick of the hand.
• Only the guardian may play from the dummy's hand. Jointly with their own bonus announcements, the guardian may additionally announce bonuses on the dummy's behalf. No additional Kontra is allowed for the dummy in negative contracts.
• In a Trischaken contract, the two players with the most points pay the two players with the least (since the dummy will often be the loser).
• The dummy scores like any other player. At the end of play, its profits or losses are divided evenly amongst the other players. Any remainders will go to the top scoring player if the dummy's score positive, or to the lowest scoring player if the dummy's scorer is negative.

For the two-player variant, an additional dummy is introduced. In Rufer and Trischaken contracts, each player controls a dummy. In a Rufer contract, should one of the human players call the other, a new hand is dealt.

The game proceeds as follows:

1. Auction.
2. Calling a king, where applicable.
3. Exchange with the talon.
4. The dummy (or dummies) are revealed.
5. Announcements.

Other variants

• Zusammenhaun ("Throw together"): if a player has neither a tarock nor a King, he can/must throw his cards in and they are re-dealt. This rule also has variations, for example if someone has a trull card but no other tarocks the hands may also be thrown in.
• Piccolo with Sküs is banned, or must be specially announced.
• Besserrufer with a table King can be turned into a Dreier.
• A six-player variant exists where two kings are called.^[97]

Slovenia

Slovenian Tarock^[99][100] is played in three- and a four-player variants. The former is basically similar to Tapp Tarock, the latter to Königrufen. However, while in Austria today these are clearly two different games (and overlaps among players are rare), in Slovenia both variants are seen as part of the same game. While McLeod classifies it as "less baroque and much more competitive" than Königrufen,^[99] Robert Sedlaczek judges it as much more conservative, since card games were unpopular under Communism and therefore could not develop strongly.^[100]

In contrast to Austrian Königrufen, one or two cards may be picked up from the talon during the auction. There is no Solo Rufer with a hidden talon – after Rufer with a card from the talon, the next higher contract is the game alone against the others with three talon cards. The term Solo stands here for games played as a soloist against the others, thus corresponds to the Dreier in Königrufen. The Bettler has a very high game value (70 points), between that of Solo One (60) and Solo Without (80); Open Bettler has an even higher game value of 90 points.^[100]

Slovenian Tarock keeps the excess points as in Tappen, something rarely seen in modern Königrufen.^[100]

Romania and Ukraine

Bukovina (orange)

Romanian Tarock^[101] is played in the Bukovina, once the easternmost part of Cisleithania, today divided between Romania and Ukraine. The rules in the two countries differ only slightly.

The players after the forehand are only allowed to bid for Dreier contracts, i.e. those in which one player plays against the other three. In contrast to Austria and Slovenia, the option of picking up all three cards from the talon has been scrapped; the player may only take two, one or none at all. It kept the rule from Tapp Tarock of revealing the talon in stages.^[101]

If none of the players announces such a game, however, forehand "must" call a King. If he wants to play alone, he can call a King in from his hand. Players may declare a high number of Tarocks in their hand (eight, nine, or at least ten).^[101]

Romanian Tarock also has a three-player version, which is only played with 42 cards.^[101]

Poland

Galicia with today's limits

In Poland south of the Vistula – former Austrian Galicia – Tarock is played, the most popular game being Neunzehnerrufen, which as Taroky is also the national Tarock variant of Czech Republic and Slovakia. However, regionally, especially in Kozy, Poland's largest village, a type of Königrufen has survived, although the large differences in rules make a direct connection between the two games seem unlikely despite their geographical proximity. A distinction between Königrufen and Neunzehnerrufen is not usually made in Polish – they just play Taroki. If clarification is needed they speak of Taroki z królami ("Tarock with Kings") or Taroki z dziewiętnaską ("Tarock with Nineteen").^[102][103]

Polish Königrufen involves four possible bids: Jeden (one talon card), Dwa (two), Trzy (three) or Cztery (four). The highest bidder becomes the declarer. Declarer then calls a King and then announcements of King Ultimo and Kontra are made. Following talon exchange, further announcements may be made for Trul, Pagat ultymo and for holding various card combinations, e.g. 0–2 and 10–12 tarocks in the hand or Four Kings. To win the 35 1/3 points are enough.^[102]

United States

Petrtyl's deck with Indian and American motifs

Since Tarock never reached the British Isles and Iberian Peninsula in Europe, America has also been largely unaffected by the game. It was only later immigrants who brought the game to the USA. In Texas, for example, Czech immigrants introduced Neunzehnerrufen, which is quite closely related to Königrufen, as well as a version of Zwanzigerrufen with a 54-card pack. Apparently some players there had the idea to call a King instead of a high tarock. In the small town of Taylor in Williamson County, this Königrufen variant is also played in tournaments.^[104]

As far as the other rules are concerned, however, this game remained closer to Neunzehnerrufen. Thus, in Dreier it retained the uncovering of the talon as per Tapp Tarock: the player first opens one half of the talon and decides whether to accept it; if he opens the other half instead, the game counts twice for him in case of loss. In the Rufer contracts, however, the talon is not opened, but the player picks up the top four cards face down, while the two remaining cards are dealt counterclockwise to two players. The Hand bonuses, which have largely disappeared in Königrufen, have also been retained here – players can announce card combinations that they hold in their hand, such as at least 10 tarocks or four kings.^[104]

In 1922, the illustrator, August Petrtyl, who had immigrated from Bohemia to Chicago, attempted to establish a variant of Königrufen in the USA whose cards and names were based on American themes (pictured right). The Sküs was called Uncle Sam, the Pagat, Papoose, and the Kings, Chiefs. A five-player version of this game was also described, in which each player was dealt ten cards and four formed the talon. However, there is no evidence that it was played.^[104]

Early sources

• _ (1827). "Tarok-Tappen mit Königrufen" in Theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zur gründlichen Erlernung des beliebten Tarok-Tappen-Spiels, sowohl durch genaue Bestimmung aller Regeln und Feinheiten, als auch durch die Beobachtung und Auseinandersetzung mehrerer angeführter, sehr schwieriger Beyspiele. Vienna: Carl Haas. pp. 155–207. Earliest known rules.
• _ (1829). "Tappen mit König oder Tarokrufen" in Neuestes Allgemeines Spielbuch. C. Haas, Vienna. pp. 89–94.

Books about Königrufen

• Vácha, Martin. Handbuch Tarock. Die Kunst des Königrufens. Kral Verlag, Berndorf, 2015, ISBN 978-3-99024-323-7.
• Vácha, Martin. Tarock – Lehrbuch des Königrufens. Ein Weg zum strategischen Denken. Edition Volkshochschule, Vienna, 2007, ISBN 978-3-900799-74-8.
• Flendrovsky, Friedrich. Tarock. Ein Wegweiser durch das königliche Spiel. Self-publication, 2nd improved and expanded edition, 1997, ISBN 3-85028-221-X.
• Hackl, Siegfried. Das Tarock-Spiel. Tarock für jedermann. Sailers Taschenreihe No. 34, Vienna, 1950.

Königrufen in books on Tarock

• Bamberger, Johannes. Tarock: Die schönsten Varianten. 22nd edition. Vienna: Perlen-Reihe (2011). ISBN 978-3-99006-000-1
• Beck, Fritz. Tarock Komplett: Alle Spiele. 12th edition. Perlen-Reihe Vol 640. Vienna: Perlen-Reihe (1983).
• Dummett, Michael. The Game of Tarot. From Ferrara to Salt Lake City. Duckworth, London, 1980, ISBN 0-7156-1014-7, pp. 502–525.
• Dummett, Michael. Twelve Tarot Games. London: Duckworth (1980), pp. 147–172. ISBN 0 7156 1488 6.
• Dummett, Michael and John McLeod. A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack. The Game of Triumphs. 2 volumes. Mellen Press, Lewiston, NY, 2004, pp. 575–692. ISBN 0-7734-6447-6 and Supplement (pdf; 3.81 MB), pp. S 32 – S 43.
• Mayr, Wolfgang and Robert Sedlaczek. Das Große Tarockbuch. Verlag Perlen-Reihe, Vienna etc., 2001, ISBN 3-85223-462-X (Perlen-Reihe 642), pp. 26–32, 119–152 etc.
• Mayr, Wolfgang; Sedlaczek, Robert (2016). Die Strategie des Tarockspiels. Königrufen, Zwanzigerrufen, Neunzehnerrufen, Dreiertarock, Strohmanntarock (5th expanded ed.). Vienna: Atelier. ISBN 978-3-902498-22-9.
• Ulmann, S. (1900) Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch Archived 21 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. 2nd revised and improved edn. Hartleben, Vienna, Pest, Leipzig.

Königrufen in books on card games

• Kastner, Hugo and Gerald Kador Folkvord, Die große Humboldt-enzyklopädie der Kartenspiele. Humboldt (2005). ISBN 3-89994-058-X.
• Parlett, David. A History of Card Games. Oxford: OUP (1991). ISBN 0-19-282905-X.
• Parlett, David. Dictionary of Card Games. Oxford: OUP (1996) ISBN 0-19-869173-4
• Parlett, David. The Penguin Book of Card Games. London: Penguin (2008) pp. 353, 367–368. ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5