| <<<<< Return to Main Page |
|
Basic Shmear Rules |
||
 |
|
|
| Shmear is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, with
the cards ranking from A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The trump suit out ranks all other suits. Trump is determined by
the highest bidder who must lead a trump card after winning the bid.
|
| The object of each hand/round is to earn more points
than you bid (if you are the highest bidder) or to stop the high
bidder from "making their bid" if you are not the high
bidder.
There are 4 points per hand:
|
| Before the round begins each player is dealt 6
cards. Then each player bids in turn beginning with the player
to the dealer's left. Each bid is a number, representing the
number of points that player or team will try to take. The minimum bid
is 2; the highest bid is 4. Each player can pass or bid a number
of points higher than the previous bid if any. The person winning the
bid names the trump suit.
If no player bids at least 2; the last bidder must choose to try to make 2 points or to pass and forfeit 2 points from their score. A player with at least 1 point may also "Shoot the moon." If the player shoots the moon and wins all 4 points that player or team wins the game. If the player does not make all 4 points, that player or team will lose all score points.
|
| The winner of the bid leads the play of each round. Each
player must follow suit until he has no more cards of that suit
remaining. Note, a player may play a trump card at any time. If the bidding player or team takes at least as many points as they bid, they score all the points they made (which may be more than the bid). If the bidding side take fewer points than they bid, they lose the amount of their bid, scores may not drop below zero. However, one "smuck" is earned for each time a player or team does not make their bid. The winners are the first team to reach 11 or more points. If a player or team should reach 11 or more points during the same round as another player or team; the team that bid wins the game regardless of which team has the higher final score.
|
In this Shmear game:
In the real world:
|
| Additional information regarding the rules of Shmear may
be found at the following web-site: http://www.pagat.com/allfours/schmier.html#software |
| These are the rules described above. |
| Regular Shmear is played to 11 points. |
| This is a variation of Regular Shmear, where the player who has the HIGH trump and the LOW trump at the end of each round are partners. These two players put their GAME points together to try for the game point. You will note however that the GAME point will show up under the player who has HIGH. |
| Each partner scores the same amount of points if the partners make at least the amount of points that the high bidder declared. Each player loses the amount of points that the high bidder declared if the partners do not make their bid. |
| Be warned that you may not always know who your partner will be until the last trick in a round is played. |
| Regular Shmear is played to 15 points. |
| This is the a variation of Regular Shmear where the partners sit across from each other. Partners work together as a team trying to win each of the 4 points in each round. |
| Note that only one person on each team will show points in this game and that GAME points are totaled together at the end of each round of play. |
| Partner Shmear is played to 15 points. |
| This version of Regular Shmear has a 3 card kitty that is given to the highest bidder in each round. That player adds the 3 cards to their hand, decides which 6 of the 9 cards he wants to keep and then discards the 3 cards they don't want. |
| Shmear with a Kitty is played to 15 points. |
