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
Bezique by playing a higher card or by ruffing. Bezique is not generally perceived to be a difficult game, though remembering the possible meld combinations and scoring can be confusing for the complete novice. There are also a number of small rules, such as the high ranking of cards with a face value of ten, the ability to swap sevens with the trump card and so on, that beginners should keep in mind. Once the general pattern of playing a trick, declaring a meld (if any) and then drawing a new card from the talon is established in the mind, the