Wendish Schafkopf is absent from the nine different versions of Schaafkopf published in 1811 in Hammer's compendium Die deutsche Kartenspiele and subsequent editions up to 1817, suggesting it is of later provenance.
Von Alvensleben's account is unclear on the rules of play and aspects of the scoring.
[3] In 1861, a more detailed description is given by Hirzel, who also mentions a six-hand version of the game in which two side suit 8s are removed and each player receives 5 cards.
Pohlens (1882) recalls that "the civil servant, landowner, teacher and clergyman are busy all day long, everyone on their feet and in his sphere of activity, but after work, the long pipe was lit and people gathered once or twice a week, once at councillor’s, at other times at the pastor's or cantor's, in the garden in the summer, in the living room in the winter with simple beer and bread and butter with a Wendish Schafkopf and a dozen counters worth three pfennigs each.
Once a week the whole company came together in the Kretscham, the game tables were already set up in the separate room - the fat landlady had put on a clean bonnet and an extra happy face - and after a few comfortable hours of very simple pleasures, everyone left happy and satisfied and headed home.
[8] Otherwise the rules of the four-hand game, which are still regularly published, have changed little since, except that French-suited cards are now described instead of German-suited ones.
The aim of the game is for each partnership of two to score at least 61 card points by taking tricks.
[9] Each suit consists of 6 (24-card game) or 8 cards (32-card game) whose ranking in terms of trick-taking power (beginning with the highest) is: Ace (Ass) > Ten (Zehner) > King (König) > Nine (Neuner) > Eight (Achter) > Seven (Siebener).
The Queens (Damen) or Obers and Jacks (Buben) or Unters do not count as part of their suits, but act as permanent trumps (see below).
If playing with a French-suited pack, the highest trumps are the Queens in the sequence Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds.
If a player with both Old Ones thinks his hand is strong enough to contest the game alone, he doesn't say anything (like the "Quiet Wedding", stille Hochzeit in Doppelkopf) and plays a Quiet Solo (stilles Solo) against the other players.
In the Lust Solo contract, a player announces immediately after the cards are dealt, that he will play on his own.
There is no compulsion to win the trick (Stichzwang) nor does a player have to play a trump card (Trumpfzwang) if he isn't able to follow suit.
It is customary to play from a kitty into which each player deposits a certain amount of coins or counters before the start of the game.
Also called Officers' Schafkopf, this game requires the full deck of 32 cards.