Sheepshead for 2007

I have had a series of post on the card game Sheepshead. As you now know we play the game at work because of the interesting play of power vs. points.

So we were trying to come up with a way to make the game easier for begginners to understand, and allow advanced players a way to keep the game fresh.

So here is the SpiderLogic take on Sheepshead 2007.

• Specialized Sheepshead Cards
• We want a way to quickly understand what the cards mean in the game. So, we want specialized Sheepshead cards. Instead of the pictures of royalty and number patterns on the cards we want In the middle of the card, just a big picture of the suit, for example, a big heart for hearts, a big Club for clubs, a big spade for spades, and a big T for trump. This would cut down on confusion on if the Jack of clubs is trump or not. Along the top the cards print the point value (11, 10, 4, 3, 2, 0) and down the side you can put the trump order. Each card would also have a unique bar code on them. Why a bar code, see 2, 3, and 4.
• Computerized Help
  
• Each player has a card scanner that after dealing the player could scan his/her cards. Then during each trick, the player would scan the card being tossed, and a computer could beep a warning if the player was not going to follow suit and make a misplay. I guess you could program it for other things like optimal play so if you are a beginner it could help you play better.
• Computerized Point Totaling
  
• This same system then would also be able to know who partners are and be able to total points for the hand. This would save time allowing for more hands played during a lunch period. I know what you are saying good Sheepshead players should already know the point count, well true, but you still need to do a confirming count at the end of the game.
• Stats Keeping
  
• I am talking the mother of all stats keeping. Not just basic things like how many times I pick and win. I am talking like how often does called suit walk, how many times did I pick and who was my partner, do I have a better win percentage in three handed. Does one player tend to pick and pull down others. Of course all this would be displayed on the web for all to see. This can easily be done, using the scanning machine again and a nice website. You can tell the computer who picked, the called suit, or if playing Jack of diamonds it already knows the partner. Then off the play of scanned cards it would be able to automatically be able to keep these stats fresh in real time. Talk about bragging rights.
  
• Online Play
  
• Improved online play. I have tried to play Sheepshead online and really it is not that fun. First it is really hard to get a table going if you are not a rated player. I have been playing Sheepshead for13 years but because I never played online I have no rating and people wont let you on their tables. Then if you are lucky enough to get on a table be sure you can trust people, because I was at a table and all they did was pass so they could double points. they would do this for like 20 deals in a row just so the point totals would be big. If you picked to soon, even if you had the boss queens, two jacks, and a couple small trump they would get mad.
  

So there is the wish list. Some items could be changed to make things easier for example. I guess you could use rf technology instead of bar codes.

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Sheepshead

At work during lunch we have been playing Sheepshead. It is an interesting card game that most of us learned while growing up playing with out parents and grandparents.

Sheepshead is a trick taking game, played with a 32 card Deck. The cards are all suits 7 through Ace. Although there are many variations to the game the most common way to play is five handed with Jack of diamonds as the pickers partner.

What makes Sheepshead so fun is the game strategy. Know what cards to play and when to play them. In most trick games, the idae is to take tricks, but in Sheepshead the idea is to get points. To win a hand the picker and partner needs 61 points out of 120 total points. Points are won by winning tricks with the following cards:
Aces = 11
tens = 10
Kings = 4
queens = 3
Jacks = 2
every other card = 0.
What makes this more complex is cards that tend to have power to take tricks, usually are lower in points. for example, the most powerful card in the game is the Queen of Clubs, but it is worth only three points.
there are 4 suits in the game, Trump, Clubs, Spades, and Hearts.
There are 14 trump cards, and 6 cards of the other suits. The power cards are the trump cards and suits are all about the same. So the rankings are as follows:
QC, QS, QH, QD, JC, JS, JH, JD, AD, 10D, KD, 9D, 8D, 7D
For all other suits it goes...
A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7
Fail cards rank in power by type only, suit does not play a part in fail card rankings.

So the play goes as follows, each player is dealt 6 cards, with 2 cards going in the blind. The cards can be dealt anyway the dealer chooses as long as the bottom cards are not dealt to the blind. Usually cards are dealt two, or three at a time. Once the deal is complete, the person on to the left of the dealer gets first choice at the blind. If that person does not pick the next person has the chance. This goes on until the cards are picked or the dealer passes the pick. If this happens them commonly a leaster is played. I will not discuss leasters in this post. So once the cards are picked, the person who picks must now win 61 points to win the hand. Also the player holding the Jack of Diamonds is the pickers partner. At the start of the game no one knows who the picker's partner is. Once this is done the player to the left of the dealer leads. Everyone else must follow suit unless they don't hold that suit. The player who wins the trick always leads the next trick. The game is played until all tricks are won. Then the points of tricks are added up to determine if the picker won.

If the picker and partner got 61+ points the picker is awarded 2 point to his score, and the partner is awarded 1 point. All the other players will be minus 1 point. If the picker and partner does not get 61 points then the picker is minus 2 points, the partner is minus 1 point and all other players are plus one point.

If the picker and partner get 91+ points then they schneidered the opposition. If this happens all points won and lost are doubled. If the picker and partner no trick the opposition then points won and lost are tripled. This work in reverse also, so if the picker and partner does not get 30+ points then they lose double, and if no tricked they lose triple.

So as I said the game is easy it is the strategy that is tough. I will from time to time discuss hand strategy that comes up while playing at sheepshed.

Sheepshead

At works some of us have started playing Sheepshead for fun. We have a good mix of new players and old players. The new players have caught on to the game and really are playing pretty well. I have been playing off and on with my family for about 10 years.

So the real reason I am posting this is I have been asked to run a series of Sheepshead games at place called Papas Social Club. It is a really nice bar that actually is set up nicely to accommodate five handed play. The only problem is I am not sure what type of commitment we could get since the thought would be to run the league over 16 weeks. I think if we could get 3+ games going at a time that would be great.

The other thing I am not sure about is how to play. I don't mean I don't know the rules, I just know how my family plays. I know some people enjoy playing Call an Ace, while others like Jack of Diamonds. Both games are fun and bring about different play. At the same time I am worried that novices would not want to play for fear of doing wrong. I want to run a game that is really more social than cut throat. I really would like to put the game on display and get some people my age more interested in Sheepshead.

So if anyone out there as any ideas or comments on how to make this work let me know.