Dobbm or Tappen is a

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

played in the Stubai valley in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and is one of a family of games derived from the

Tarot game Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

of Grosstarock by adapting its rules to a regular, shortened pack of 36 cards. The ranking and point value of the cards in Dobbm is typical of the family and, like its other members, one player always plays as a soloist against all the others. It is highly popular in the Stubai valley among card players of all generations, but is unknown in the surrounding regions.

Aim

The aim of the soloist is to score more than 60 card points (''Augen'') in tricks, unless he has announced a higher target. The opposing team only needs to score 60 points to win.

Players

There are 4 active players. Five can play, in which case the dealer takes a holiday (''er feiert'').''Dobbm''
at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 8 Jun 2018.

Cards

Dobbm was originally played with Salzburg pattern cards until the 1960s, but now it played with a deck of 36 cards of the William Tell or Hungarian pattern, the so-called Tell cards.

Trick-taking strength

The cards’ trick-taking power broadly corresponds to their card point value. Thus the Sow (''Sau'') or Deuce (''Daus'') is the highest-ranking card. Then follow the: Ten >

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

> Ober > Unter > Nine > Eight > Seven > Six. This ranking is also valid within the trump suit as well as the plain suits. Hearts are permanent trumps.

Card value

The card values are the same as in

Schafkopf Schafkopf (), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. It is still very popular in Bavaria, where ...

or the related games of

Bauerntarock Bauerntarock ("farmers' tarot") also called Brixentaler Bauerntarock or Brixental Tarock, is a point-trick card game played in the Brixental, Austria. It may have originated in the 19th century either as an adaptation of 54-card Tapp Tarock onto ...

Bavarian Tarock Bavarian Tarock (german: Bayerisches Tarock) or, often, just Tarock, is a card game that was once popular in Bavaria and also played in parts of Austria as well as Berlin. The name is a clue to its origin in the historical German game of ross-ar ...

. The ten, with 10 points, is just below the Sow (11 points) in value, but well above the King (4), Ober (3) and Unter (2). The so-called ''Spatzen'' ("sparrows" i.e. the Nines, Eights, Sevens and Sixes) only play a role during the game based on their trick-taking ability, but do not score points at the end of the hand. There are 120 card points in the deck. The Six of Bells is marked as "

WELI The ''Weli'', formerly ''Welli'', is a playing card used in the Salzburg and William Tell card decks, which are Austrian regional patterns of the German-suited playing cards. It has the value of 6 of Bells and, in the South Tyrol variant of t ...

" but has no significance in this game.

Deal

The first dealer is chosen by lot. The dealer shuffles the cards and the player on the dealer's right cuts. The dealer then deals 2 packets of four cards to each player in clockwise order. The last four cards are placed face down on the table to form the ''Dobb''. The role of dealer does not rotate; instead the last declarer becomes the dealer.

Bidding

Contracts

There are basically two types of contract: * ''Dobbm'': A form of Exchange contract. The soloist takes the talon (called the ''dobb'') and discards four cards of his choice. Because the points of the discarded cards count as part of the declarer's tricks, a Sow (Deuce) may only be discarded if it is accompanied by a trump card. If two Sows are discarded, two trump cards must also be discarded. * ''Solo'': the soloist turns down the option of exchanging cards with the talon. Forehand opens the bidding. Each player has one chance to bid and there is no holding. Players may say "pass" (''weiter''), "Dobbm" or "I'll dobb" (''i dob'' = ''ich tappe'', "I tap") or "Solo". Players may accept a bid by saying "good" (''gut'') or "play on" (''spiel zu''). If all pass, the cards are thrown in and redealt.

Doubling

After exchanging with the ''Dobb'', the declarer says "done" (''ich liege'' or ''i lig''). The defenders may then double the stake (''schießen'' or ''einen Schwachen geben''). This starts with the player to the dealer's left who says "good" or "play on" if happy to continue, or ''"Schwacher"'' (''an Schwachn'') to double the stakes. If he wants to play on, the other defenders in turn may opt to double the stakes. If one of the defenders says ''Schwacher'', the declare may either accept it by saying "good" or double the stake again by saying ''"Retour"''. The defenders may then say ''"Retour"'' in response.

Playing

Tell pattern - Suit of Hearts - IMG 7916

Play is clockwise and the declarer leads to the first trick. Each player must follow suit if possible (''Farbzwang''). If a player is unable to follow suit, he must trump (''Trumpfzwang'', i.e. play a card of the Hearts suit). The winner of the trick leads to the next trick. The defenders keep their tricks in one place.

Scoring

After the last trick has been taken the sides count their card points, the declarer remembering to including the ''dobb''. There are 120 card points ''in toto''. If the winning side takes all tricks it is a ''matsch''. The stake is expressed in terms of the cost of a ''matsch'' (worth 60 points) and is typically a multiple of six e.g. 6 or 12 schillings. The winning side claims the amount of money, chips or game points based on the number of card points above 60 that they have scored e.g. if a ''matsch'' is worth 12 schillings and the declarer scores 71 points, he receives 3 schillings from each defender. If both sides score 60 it is a draw (''eingestellt''). The payments are doubled for a ''Solo'', a ''Schwacher'' and each ''Retour''. Revoking (failing to follow ''Farbzwang'' or ''Trumpfzwang'') is called ''verleugnen'' or ''laungen'' and is penalised with half the value of the game being played.

Ending

A session of Dobbm often ends with a ''Mußrunde'' ("must round"), which is where each player in turn (always being the one to the dealer's left) ''must'' be declarer and choose to play either a ''Dobbm'' or a ''Solo''. It ends when every player has been a declarer.

Related games

Dobbm most strongly resembles the Austrian game of

Brixental Bauerntarock Bauerntarock ("farmers' tarot") also called Brixentaler Bauerntarock or Brixental Tarock, is a point-trick card game played in the Brixental, Austria. It may have originated in the 19th century either as an adaptation of 54-card Tapp Tarock onto ...

in that it is also played by four players, each player is dealt eight cards, four cards go to the talon and Hearts are the permanent

trump suit A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, an entire suit is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''tru ...

. It is also related to a special version of Tarock also played in the Stubai valley and known as Droggn.

Footnotes

References

Literature

Michael Dummett Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett (27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." He w ...

, Sylvia Mann: ''The game of Tarot. From Ferrara to Salt Lake City.'' Duckworth, London 1980, . * McLeod, John and Remigius Geiser (1999). "Stubai Droggn and Dobbm - two living fossils of the Austrian card game landscape" in ''The Playing-Card'', Vol. XXVII, No. 6, May/June 1999 and Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, July/August 1999.

External links

''Dobbm''
at www.pagat.com. More comprehensive rules for Stubaital Dobbm. {{Trick-taking card games Austrian card games William Tell deck card games German Tarok group Four-player card games German deck card games Point-trick games