Köpknack () is an old Swedish card game which is a development of

Knack Knack or The Knack may refer to: Music and entertainment * The Knack, an American pop-rock band famous for their hit "My Sharona" * The Knack (1960s US band), an American garage rock band active in the 1960s * The Knack (UK band), a British freakb ...

and, like the latter, is mainly played for stakes. The game is also known as

Trekort Trekort, Tre-Kort or, in Swedish, also Trikort, is an old card game of Danish origin for four or five players that was usually played for money. It was also known in Sweden, where it developed into the variant of Knack. The name Trekort is also ...

which, however, usually refers to a simpler version of Danish origin that may have been its progenitor.

Cards

A normal

French-suited pack French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...

with 52 cards is used, normally of the Modern Swedish pattern.''PDF-kompendium över kortspel''
at bredband.net. Retrieved 16 July 2020.

Deal

Players draw lots for seating and first dealer. Deal and play are clockwise. The dealer antes the agreed stake—which must be divisible by three—to the pot, shuffles the cards and offers them to his right for cutting. Three cards are

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to each player in packets of 2 and 1; then the next card is turned to determine

trumps 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 ...

, and the remaining cards stacked face down form the

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Bidding

Players now bid in clockwise order beginning with

forehand The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racket across one's body with the hand moving palm-first. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volley ...

and may either 'knock' (by tapping the table) to indicate they will play, or throw their hand face down to the dealer to indicate they will fold. If all bar the dealer fold, the dealer sweeps the pot and the deal passes to the left. Likewise if one knocks and the rest fold, the knocker sweeps the pot. The players now have the opportunity, in turn beginning with forehand, to exchange cards with the talon. Players may stick with the hand they were dealt or exchange one, two or three cards. A player who wants to exchange gives his discards to the dealer who replaces them from the stock. There are two rounds of exchanges, so players may exchange a second time. Once the talon is exhausted, no more cards may be exchanged.

Play

The active players (those who did not fold) now play out the deal. Forehand leads to the first trick with any card. Suit must always be followed. In addition: * First trick: Subject to the requirement to follow suit, a player who can head the trick with a trump must do so. * Second trick: The winner of the first trick must lead a trump if possible, otherwise may play any card. A player unable to follow suit, must trump if possible. Subject to the requirement to follow suit, a player who can head the trick with a trump must do so. The trick is won by the highest trump or the highest card of the led suit if no trumps are played. Any active player who fails to take a trick must pay a double stake to the pot. Each trick taken earns a third of the pot's contents.

References

Literature

* _ (2006)
''PDF-kompendium över kortspel''
* * * * {{trick-taking games Swedish card games Multi-player card games French deck card games Rams group