Sheepshead Glossary
Every game has its own kitchen-table dialect, and sheepshead has more than most. Here are the terms you will hear at the table and read on the rules and strategy pages, alphabetized and in plain English. Most link to a page with the full story, and every term has its own link: glossary.html#schmear, for example, lands on schmear.
- Blind
- The cards dealt face down to the middle: two at three-, five- and six-handed, four at four-handed. The picker takes them into hand, then buries the same number. In a leaster nobody picks, and the blind goes to whoever takes the last trick. How picking works.
- Blitz
- Showing both black queens (Q♣ and Q♠) to double the stakes. The picker blitzes as they take the blind, from the cards they were dealt; a non-passing partner may blitz after the bury; a non-passing defender may blitz as a crack, at four times. One blitz per player per hand. See also Indian blitz and Johnny blitz. Blitzes.
- Boss
- A card nothing still in play can beat: the highest trump left, or a fail card whose higher cards have all fallen once nobody holds trump. Leading your bosses at the end is how a hand is closed out. The endgame.
- Bury
- The cards the picker lays face down after taking the blind: two, or four at four-handed. Buried points count for the picking side. Good practice: bury fail points and make a void, keep your trump. The rules and the strategy.
- Call a ten
- At call an ace, what a picker holding all three fail aces does instead: names a ten they do not hold, and their own ace of that suit is held back and played under, unable to win, on the first lead of the suit. Calling a ten.
- Called ace
- In a call-an-ace game, the fail ace the picker names to choose a partner. The picker may not hold that ace and must keep a card of its suit; the holder is the secret partner and must play the called ace when its suit is led. Call an ace and which ace to call.
- Card under (the unknown)
- A call-an-ace house rule for a picker who holds the ace of every fail suit they have: they call an ace in a suit they are void in and lay one card face down, which must be played when that suit is led and can never win a trick. Off by default here. Card under.
- Crack
- A non-passing defender’s declaration that the picker will fail, doubling the stakes. A bet on trump strength, not on points. Only a player the blind never reached may crack: anyone who was offered it and passed has had their say. The rules and when to crack.
- Cutthroat
- Three-handed sheepshead, where the picker always plays alone against the other two. Three-handed.
- Dealer stuck
- An all-pass rule: when everyone passes, the dealer must take the blind and play the hand as picker. Also called a forced pick, or screw the dealer. When nobody picks.
- Double on the bump
- A house rule: when the picking side loses, the whole settlement doubles. A bump is a lost pick. Off by default here, and a switch on any private table. House rules.
- Doubler
- An all-pass outcome where the hand is thrown in and the next hand is played at doubled stakes. The club’s default when nobody picks. Several in a row either fold together or queue up one at a time. Doublers.
- Fail
- Any non-trump card. The fail suits are clubs, spades and hearts (their queens and jacks have left for trump), each ranking A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7. Also called “off.” Fail can never beat trump. The trump order.
- Fair-deal hash
- A Sheepshead Club feature: the sha256 commitment of each shuffle’s secret, published before the hand and revealed after, so anyone can verify the deal was not stacked. Provably fair deals.
- Follow suit
- Play a card of the suit that was led. Required whenever you can, and all trump counts as one suit. If you cannot follow you may play anything. Following suit.
- Going alone
- The picker playing with no partner against everyone else, for every defender’s share. At call an ace it is a choice; at jack of diamonds it happens when the picker holds or buries the J♦. Going alone.
- Grandma hand
- A monster of a hand: all four queens, or three queens with a jack or two.
- Gut hand
- A hand strong enough to pick and go alone, no partner needed, trusting your own trump to carry all the way to 61.
- Indian blitz
- Showing both red queens (Q♥ and Q♦) to double the stakes, by the same rules as a blitz. Also called a red blitz. Blitzes.
- Jack of diamonds
- In a J♦ game, the partner-selecting card: whoever holds the jack of diamonds is the picker’s secret partner, revealed only when it is played. If the picker holds or buries it, they are alone. Jack of diamonds.
- Johnny blitz
- Showing three jacks to double the stakes, by the same rules as a blitz. Blitzes.
- Lay ’em down
- Claiming the remaining tricks because every card left in your hand is unbeatable. At Sheepshead Club the claim is checked and your cards are shown, like calling it at a real table. The endgame.
- Lead
- The first card played to a trick, which sets the suit everyone must follow. The player on the dealer’s left leads the first trick; after that, whoever won the last trick leads.
- Leaster
- An all-pass game where everyone plays for themselves and the fewest points wins. You must take at least one trick, the blind goes to whoever takes the last trick, and a tie for fewest is shared. The rules and leaster strategy.
- Mauer
- A player who sits on a pickable hand and passes anyway, declining a risk the table thinks they should take. Gently pejorative: nobody loves a mauer who never picks. From the German mauern, to wall up. When to pass.
- Non-passing
- A player the blind never reached, because the picker took it first. They never turned it down, so they still have a say in the doubling: a non-passing opponent may crack, and a non-passing partner may blitz or help answer a crack. Anyone sitting earlier was offered the blind and passed. How picking works.
- Partner
- The player secretly allied with the picker, chosen by the jack of diamonds or by a called ace. Together they are the picking side against the defenders. Playing as the partner and who is the partner.
- Pick
- To take the blind and commit to the picking side, promising to gather 61 of the 120 points. There is no auction: each player in turn from the dealer’s left picks or passes, and the first willing player picks. How picking works and when to pick.
- Picker
- The player who takes the blind and leads the picking side. Needs 61 points to win, with or without a partner, and carries two shares of the result with a partner, or all of it alone.
- Recrack
- The picking side’s answer to a crack, doubling the stakes again. The picker or a non-passing partner may take it, whichever the offer reaches first going around from the seat that cracked. Cracking and recracking.
- Renege
- Failing to follow suit when you could have. A penalty at a real table, by house rule; impossible online, where only legal cards can be played. Following suit.
- Schmear
- To throw your fat cards (aces and tens) onto a trick your own side is winning, banking the points where they count. The soul of the game. Schmearing.
- Schneider
- A scoring line that doubles the hand. The picking side wins schneider by taking 91 or more points, holding the defense under 30. The picking side is schneidered itself if it takes 30 or fewer, under 31. Schneider and schwarz.
- Schwanzer
- An all-pass rule in which the hand is not played. Every hand is counted for trump (queens 3, jacks 2, other trump 1) and the biggest holder pays each other player one point. The schwanzer.
- Schwarz
- Taking every single trick. Triples the stakes. To be schwarzed is to take no trick all hand. Schneider and schwarz.
- Sheepshead call
- The boldest declaration: the picker shows all four queens, quadrupling the stakes, but must then take every trick or lose the hand regardless of points. The sheepshead call.
- Sluff (throw off)
- To play a fail card of another suit when you cannot follow the suit led, rather than trumping in. Often the cheapest card you can spare, or a schmear if your side is winning.
- Trick
- One round of play: each player plays one card, and the highest card of the suit led, or the highest trump, wins the pile. The cards and their points go to the winner’s side. A five-handed hand has six tricks.
- Trump
- The fourteen-card super-suit that beats all fail: every queen, every jack and every diamond, ranked Q♣ down to 7♦. All trump counts as one suit for following. The trump order.
- Trump in (ruff)
- To play a trump on a trick when you are void in the suit led, taking a trick you could not win by following. You are never required to. Following suit.
- Void
- Holding no cards of a suit. A void lets you trump in, or sluff, when that suit is led. The picker often buries to create one. What to bury.
Club terms
Two words that only mean something here.
- Ranked vs practice tracks
- At Sheepshead Club, hands at all-human tables count toward the ranked leaderboard; hands that include bots count on a separate practice board. Sharpen up on practice, prove it on ranked. What counts as a ranked hand.
- The Sheet
- The club’s running score tally, shown on the right of every table. The digital version of the scrap of paper every kitchen game keeps. Scoring.
Badges at the table
Little tags ride along next to a player's name. Tap any badge in game for a one-line reminder of what it means. See every badge rendered in its real style on the badges page.
- Momentum (come and go with play)
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- HOT: won the last 5 hands.
- COLD: lost the last 5 hands.
- STEAMROLLER: won the last hand with a schneider, 91 points or more.
- GUTTED: schneidered on the picking side last hand, under 31 points.
- SNAKEBIT: lost the last 3 hands as the partner. Blame the pickers.
- MAUER: 12 hands without picking once. Somebody is mauering.
- Status (earned and kept)
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- 👑 crown: this week's ranked leaderboard #1.
- New / Rookie / Regular / Sharp / Schneider / Legend: experience by lifetime hands played: under 25, 25, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000. So you can read a table at a glance.
- M♣SHA: Missouri Sheepshead Association member.
- FRIEND / PATRON / CHARTER: supporters keeping the lights on.
- ADMIN: site staff.
New to all this? Start with the beginner walkthrough, then read up on strategy.