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The trick-taking game for the couch: call how many tricks you'll take – and hit it exactly. Trump wins, otherwise the rank – red beats black only at the same rank, equal cards may share the trick.
How the host explains it
One after the other, everyone calls how many tricks they'll take – exactly that many, not one more. The turned-up card is trump, whoever holds trump must play it; otherwise the rank counts, red beats black only at the same rank. Too many called: the first of equal cards wins. Too few called: tricks are shared – every top card gets a whole trick. The cards go up and down like an elevator, and I love riding along when you crash.
Points
🏆 Spot on: 100 bonus plus 10 per trick (return trip 20). Off: minus 10 per trick off (return trip doubled).
At a glance
👨👩👧 Family🍸 PartyAges 6+⏱️ about 1800 s per roundkartentaktikfamilyparty
📖 All the rules
🃏 A real card game
- Fahrstuhl (German for „lift“) is a card game people really play at the kitchen table – here everyone holds their cards on the phone, the TV is the table.
- Every round the cards are dealt. Then one more card is turned up and laid in the middle: the trump card.
⭐ What is trump?
- The suit of the card in the middle (♥, ♦, ♠ or ♣) is trump for the whole round. Every trump card beats every card of another suit – even the smallest trump beats an ace of another suit.
- The card in the middle only shows the trump – nobody plays it.
📶 Which card is higher
- Rank, high to low: ace, 10, king ♚︎, queen ♛︎, jack ♞︎, 9, 8, 7.
- Hearts ♥ and diamonds ♦ are red, spades ♠ and clubs ♣ black. Without trump the rank decides first – only at the same rank red beats black: red ace > black ace > red 10 > black 10 > red king > …
- Examples: a black ace beats a red 10 · a black king beats a red queen · a red 10 beats a black 10.
- Only the highest cards of two decks are in the game – as many as it needs, so a card can come twice. Which card is the lowest of this game is shown during the game (⬇️).
🂠 What is a trick?
- Everyone plays one card, one after the other, clockwise. These cards together are a trick. Whoever played the highest card takes the trick – and leads the next one.
- A round has as many tricks as everyone holds cards: with 5 cards in your hand, 5 tricks are played.
🎯 The goal: call your tricks
- Before the cards are played, everyone calls how many tricks they will take – once, clockwise. Everyone sees the calls; they can't be changed.
- Hit your call exactly – not one more, not one less. That's what scores.
☝️ Trump first!
- As long as you hold trump, you must play trump – also when you lead. Only without trump may you play any card (no duty to follow suit).
- Example: you hold the trump ace. In a shared round (see below) it always takes a trick – nothing can beat it.
- Example: you hold no trump at all. Then in the first round you can even „throw away“ an ace of another suit: someone else almost surely holds trump – and must play it – so your ace is gone without a trick.
- Why „almost surely“? In the first round of the hourglass nearly all cards are dealt (at most three stay in the box) – so nearly every trump card is in someone's hand.
🛗 The lift: the rounds
- Hourglass: in the first round everyone gets the most cards (7–10, as set). Every round one card less, until everyone gets just one card. The one-card round is played twice – then it goes back up, one card more each round. First half outbound, second half return trip.
- Or set by the host: up only – or just one round with the chosen number of cards.
- 🃏 One player deals (one seat further every round). 🎬 The player after the dealer calls first and leads the first trick. ▶️ After that, whoever takes a trick leads the next.
🤝 Shared or not
- Two cards can be equally strong (the same rank and colour, e.g. ♥ ace and ♦ ace). Who gets the trick then is decided after the last call:
- More called than there are tricks, or exactly as many → not shared: the first of the equally strong cards wins.
- Fewer called → shared: everyone with an equally strong top card gets a whole trick.
➕ Points
- Spot on: 100 bonus (or what the host set) plus 10 per trick – return trip 20 per trick.
- Off: minus 10 per trick off – return trip doubled.
⏱️ Good to know
- Whoever opens the rules during a game pauses it for everyone – the game waits until they're done reading.
- 45 seconds per move – then the game moves for you.
- Missing players are filled up with bots (up to 5). They only count in Fahrstuhl's own scores, not in the overall ranking.