Sheepshead (card game) Sheepshead (card game) Sheepshead or Sheephead is a trick-taking card game invented by Julius Meinen. It is the Americanized version of Bavaria's national card game, Schafkopf, albeit the latter is played with Bavarian-pattern cards unlike its American descendant. Sheepshead is most commonly played by five players, but variants exist to allow for two to eight players. There are also many other variants to the game rules, and many slang terms used with the game. Schafkopf literally means "sheep's head" and may refer to the practice going back over a century of recording the score by drawing a stylised head of
Skat (card game) the outset how many rounds/deals they will play for. A central aspect of the game are the three coexisting varieties called "suit", "grand" and "null" games, that differ in suit order, scoring and even overall goal to achieve. Each round of the game starts with a bidding phase to determine declarer and the required minimum game value (explained below). Then, ten tricks are played, allowing players to take trick points. Each card has a face value (except in null games) and is worth that number of points for the player winning the trick. The total face value of all cards