Chratze is a trick taking card game, mainly played in the German-speaking part of Switzerland as well as in Bavaria. It is one of the over 70 variants of to the Jass and played with a deck of 36 cards, either a Swiss-German or French one. It appears to be related to the Austrian game, Kratzen. Theoretically it can be played by 2-7 people, however most common and joyful are 4-5 players. 4 cards are dealt, therefore there is a total of 4 tricks to be taken.
Basics
Unlike other Jass games, there is no importance to the cards, only the trick itself counts. There are three possible roles to take:
Chratze : the player having to do 2 tricks at least
Metcho : players having to do 1 trick at least
Weg : players not taking part in the game, waiting for the next round to come
Gameplay
Dealing
Before dealing starts every player pays his basic contribution, placed into the middle of the table, usually 20 cents. The dealer is elected by the players present and will shuffle the cards and the player on the chair to his left cuts. The dealer distributes 4 cards, dealt in batches of 2 counter-clockwise. After having distributed the 1st of two batches, the dealer flips one card and puts it into the middle face up. This card announces the trump suit. He then deals the 2nd batch.
Opening the game
The dealer asks each player counter-clockwise if he would want to open the game. As soon as a player does so, all other players are asked again counter-clockwise from the opening player on if they would like to join in or stay out and wait for the next round. Chratze can only be done by one player, therefore, as soon as the first player announces "chratze", this opportunity ceases to exist for everyone else. If there is nobody wanting to play the game, the cards are shuffled and dealt again by the same dealer. After 3 times of dealing, the dealer passes on counter-clockwise.
Exchanging cards
Each player having announced to join the game can exchange cards from the remaining deck. The first one with the possibility to exchange is the Chratzer, afterwards counter-clockwise on. The dealer asks each player in sequence how many cards he would like to exchange. The asked player lays down the cards he would like to exchange and gets the same number of cards out of the deck from the dealer. Then the next player lays down the cards to exchange and so on. If a player lays down all 4 cards he gets 5 cards in return, but subsequently has to drop one to have a deck of 4 before the game starts. There is only one round of exchanging cards. The cards exchanged or dropped are not to be displayed. If a player holds the trump 6 he can swap it with the trump displayed on the table before the first card is played.
Playing
The Chratzer will open the game, playing his first card. All other players, which are still in the game, have to play the suit led. If a player is unable to follow suit, a trump card has to be played. Unlike in the Jass, players have to play trump even though their trump might be lower than any other played. If a player is unable to follow the suit and has no trump, one is free to play any other suit. The winner of the trick plays first in the next trick. If trump is played by the opening player or the winner of the last trick, trump has to be followed if possible, else any other suit can be played. The player with the highest-ranking card wins the trick; all the trump suit cards are higher than any card of a plain suit, with the trump and plain suits ranking from ace to 6. In Chratze, there is no such concept of Jack and Nine as in standard Jass where these two trump cards are the highest-ranking cards even higher than ace, king or queen. At the end of 4 tricks, the player having announced "Chratze" has to have 2 tricks or more to win a share of the pot; everyone having announced "metcho" has to have at least 1 trick to win a share of the pot.
The Pot
Usually Chratze is played for money and for a pot which is displayed openly on the table as for everyone to know the risk and chances taken by the decision to join the game or even to announce "chratze". Commonly only cash is accepted.
Contribution to the pot
The pot is mainly filled with the basic contribution made before the cards are dealt, somewhat comparable to the forced ante bet in poker games. Besides that, every player not having reached the announced number of tricks has to contribute to the pot after it has been distributed to the winners:
Chratzer: pays in double the amount which was in the pot when he announced to chratze
Other players having joined: pays in the same amount which was in the pot when they announced to join
Distribution of the pot
The Chratzer achieves 2 or more tricks and at least one of the players who joined reaches 1 trick or more:
Chratzer: 2/3rd of the pot
All other players having reached 1 trick or more share the remaining 1/3rd
Special cases:
The Chratzer does all 4 tricks: He receives the whole amount
The Chratzer does not achieve 2 or more tricks: The whole amount is divided evenly be the joining players having made 1 trick or more.
A game is won without playing a card due to a missing joiner: The Chratzer receives the whole pot.
Example
5 players having paid their basic contribution, the pot consists of 1 dollar. The Chratzer makes only 1 trick and 3 joined, 2 of them make 1 or more than 1 trick, one fails to make his trick.
2 of the joiners evenly share the 1 dollar in the pot
The Chratzer pays in 2 dollars plus the basic contribution of 20 cents
The joiner without winning any tricks pays in 1 dollar plus the basic contribution of 20 cents
Everyone else pays his basic contribution of 20 cents.
Advanced
Blind-chratze
The term blind refers to the fact that a dealer announces to Chratze without knowing his deck and the trump suit or without knowing his deck. In the case of any "Blind", the trump displayed can not be exchanged by any other player with the trump 6. Blind: While having dealt the 1st batch of the deck and displayed the trump, the dealer can then choose to make 2 tricks or more without knowing his deck, but receiving the trump card displayed, so basically knowing 1 of his cards. He will then deal the 2nd batch of 2 cards, thus having 5 cards in his hand and having to decide which card he drops to reach the allowed deck of 4 cards. Exchanging of the cards still being possible. Double blind: Before dealing cards or at least before displaying the trump on the table, the dealer can decide to make a double blind, he will receive the trump card and an additional 3rd card in the 2nd batch. He therefore holds 6 cards and had to drop 2 to reach the allowed deck of 4. Exchanging of the cards still being possible. For a single blind there are usually logical reasons such as a displaced ace trump, which assures the dealer at least 1 safe trick. For double blinds, there are no logical reasons.
"Susi"-rule
This rule tries to prevent that a Chratzer can win the pot without playing a single card since nobody else challenges him by joining in. It is not really a rule, more to be considered as a guideline that the last person who could join in actually needs to join if nobody else does. If the last person asked does not challenge the Chratzer and therefore the pot is fightlessly lost, the others may call him names for the rest of the evening.
