Klaverjas

Klaverjas, usually called Klaverjassen in Dutch, is a trick-taking card game for four players who play in two pairs, with partners sitting opposite each other. It is one of the most popular card games in the Netherlands and has traditionally been played in cafes and social clubs as well as at home. A 32-card pack is used, holding the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight and seven of each suit, and the cards are dealt in groups of three, two and three. The player to the left of the dealer chooses the trump suit, and in a competition set a table plays sixteen hands. The side that chose trumps must collect more than half of the available points, otherwise it scores nothing and the opposing pair receives all of them. Points come from valuable cards won in tricks and from bonuses played for during the hand. The game belongs to the Jass group and has regional variants named after Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, along with a related form known as Kraken or Wilde Boom.