How to Play Sixty-Six

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Sixty-Six is a fast, sharp trick-taking game for two players, played with a stripped deck of 24 cards. It rewards card memory, timing, and knowing when to close the stock, making it more tactical than its small size suggests. A single hand plays in minutes, but matches run to seven game points, giving it a satisfying back-and-forth arc.

The game is particularly popular in Central Europe, especially Austria, Germany, and Hungary, where it is a staple of cafe and kitchen-table play. Its compact format and low equipment requirement mean it travels well and fits equally into a quiet evening at home or a competitive club setting.

A little history

Sixty-Six is traditionally associated with Germany and Austria, and its origins are unclear beyond broad agreement that it was well established in German-speaking regions by the late seventeenth century. It is closely related to a family of marriage games, including Schnapsen, and the two are sometimes treated as variants of the same root game. The name refers to the winning points threshold that defines the game. Documented references to it appear consistently in Central European card-game literature from the eighteenth century onward, and it remains an officially recognised competitive game in Austria today.

Setting up

1. Remove all cards below 9 from a standard deck, leaving 24 cards: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, and 9 in each suit.
2. Establish the card ranking and point values: Ace (11 pts), 10 (10 pts), King (4 pts), Queen (3 pts), Jack (2 pts), 9 (0 pts). Trick rank from high to low: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9.
3. Decide the dealer by any agreed method. The dealer shuffles and the non-dealer cuts.
4. Deal six cards to each player in two batches of three, face down.
5. Turn the thirteenth card face up and place it beside the remaining stock. The suit of this card is trump for the hand.
6. Place the remaining stock face down on top of the face-up trump card, partially covering it so the trump suit remains visible.
7. The non-dealer leads the first trick.

How to play

1. The non-dealer leads any card face up to start the first trick.
2. While the stock has cards remaining, there is no obligation to follow suit. The second player may play any card. The trick is won by the higher trump if a trump is played, or by the higher card in the led suit if no trump is played. The winner of the trick leads the next.
3. After each trick, both players draw one card from the stock, winner first, until the stock is exhausted. Players always hold six cards while the stock lasts.
4. A player who holds the 9 of trumps may exchange it for the face-up trump card at the start of their turn, before leading or playing. The 9 must be shown and the swap is declared openly.
5. A player who holds both the King and Queen of the same suit may declare a marriage at the start of their turn, before leading. Show both cards and lead one of them. A royal marriage (K+Q of trumps) scores 40 points; a common marriage (K+Q of any other suit) scores 20 points. Marriage points count only if the declaring player has already won at least one trick.
6. A player may close the stock at the start of their turn, before leading. Turn the face-up trump card face down to signal this. Once closed, no more cards are drawn. Both players must now follow suit if able, and must trump if unable to follow suit but hold a trump. The player who closed must reach 66 points or face a penalty.
7. Once the stock is exhausted naturally, the same rules of compulsory suit-following and compulsory trumping apply for the remaining tricks.
8. After all twelve tricks are played, or after a player declares their score has reached 66, each player totals the card points in their won tricks plus any declared marriages.
9. A player who believes their running total has reached 66 may declare this at any point during their turn, before leading. Play stops and scores are checked. If correct, they win the hand. If incorrect, the opponent wins two game points automatically.
10. Award game points for the hand: the player who reaches 66 first scores 1 game point if the opponent has 33 or more card points, 2 game points if the opponent has between 0 and 32 card points (schneider), or 3 game points if the opponent has won no tricks at all (schwarz). If neither player reaches 66 and neither declares, the winner of the last trick scores 1 game point.
11. The first player to accumulate 7 game points wins the match. Deal alternates each hand.

Winning and scoring

A player wins a hand by being the first to accumulate 66 or more card points (from tricks won plus declared marriages) and either declaring it correctly or being ahead when play ends naturally. Game points are awarded as follows: 1 game point if the opponent has 33 or more card points, 2 game points (schneider) if the opponent has 1 to 32 card points, and 3 game points (schwarz) if the opponent took no tricks. A player who closes the stock and fails to reach 66 concedes 2 game points; if they close and win but the opponent has zero tricks, the closer scores 3 game points. The match is won by the first player to reach 7 game points.

The fine points

The most common dispute involves closing the stock. Once a player closes, they are fully committed: they must reach 66 with the cards already in their hands, and the normal rules of compulsory suit-following and trumping immediately apply to both players. If the closer fails to reach 66, the opponent scores 2 game points regardless of the actual card-point totals. A second common point of confusion is the 9-of-trumps swap: it is only legal at the start of the holder's turn, before any lead, and only while the stock is open. If a player forgets to swap and leads instead, the right is forfeited for that hand.

Marriage declarations are valid only if the declaring player has already won at least one trick before or during that hand. A player who has taken no tricks cannot claim marriage points, though they may still show the pair and lead from it. Points for a declared marriage are added to the player's running total immediately, not at the end of the hand. If both players reach or pass 66 in the same trick, the player who won that trick is credited with reaching 66 first.

How to win more often

• Count card points as you play. Knowing whether you have 40 or 50 points in hand determines whether you should close the stock or wait for one more trick.
• Hold your 10s back. The 10 is worth 10 points but loses to the Ace; playing it into an Ace early is a significant loss. Lead it only when you are confident the Ace is gone.
• Consider closing the stock aggressively when you have a strong trump holding. Closing forces your opponent to follow suit, which can turn a marginal lead into a guaranteed win.
• Use marriages to time your declarations strategically. Declaring a 40-point royal marriage early can let you close the stock immediately if you are already close to 66, denying your opponent any further draws.
• Track which Aces and 10s have fallen. Once both Aces of a suit are played, your 10 of that suit becomes the master card and is safe to lead.

Variations

Schnapsen

Schnapsen is the Austrian relative of Sixty-Six and is widely considered the more demanding of the two. It uses only 20 cards (Ace down to 10 in each suit, with no 9s), each player receives five cards, and there is no option to play carelessly while the stock is open: the rules of following suit and trumping apply throughout. The winning threshold is still 66 points, but because the deck is smaller and every card counts, the margin for error is considerably tighter. Schnapsen is an officially recognised competitive sport in Austria.

Sixty-Six for Three Players

A three-player adaptation deals seven cards to each player from the 24-card deck, with the three remaining cards set aside as a dead hand. The player who wins the most tricks collects those aside cards at the end and adds their point values to their total. Each player scores independently, and the first to 66 claims a game point from each of the other two. This version is less standard than the two-player game and rules vary by region.

Double Deck Sixty-Six

Some players use two identical stripped decks shuffled together, producing a 48-card game. The additional cards extend play time considerably and change the odds of drawing key cards, making the game feel looser and more luck-dependent. This version suits players who find the standard game resolves too quickly and prefer a longer hand. Stock-closing strategy is less powerful here due to the larger remaining draw pool.

Mariage (French variant)

Mariage is a French and Belgian variant of the same marriage-and-trick family. It uses a 32-card piquet deck (Ace down to 7), deals eight cards each, and scores marriages similarly, but the winning threshold and game-point structure differ from standard Sixty-Six. The trump-changing mechanic is absent in most Mariage versions, and compulsory following applies throughout the hand. It is worth knowing if you encounter the game in French-speaking regions, as players may assume familiarity with the shared concepts.

Sixty-Six: frequently asked questions