Beer's eKeg Games: Schmear

The rules for Schmear

A four player game usually found in a tournament setting.

AKA Smear, Shmear, or Schmier

For: 4 people
Needs: One deck of cards with Jokers removed.

The object of this game is for you and your partner to have the highest score. There are different versions of this game. I will discuss some of these versions at the end of this page.

The game is played to a predetermined score. It is usually 15 or 21. Obviously, if you choose 21, it will be a longer game.

Each round has four possible points to be won. It's possible that not all four will be awarded. This will become more apparent as I explain more.

Choose a dealer however you see fit. The dealer deals six cards to every player. The remainder of the deck is set aside.

The player to the left of the dealer has first option to bid or pass. The player is bidding on the number of points they think they can win (with the help of their partner across the table, of course). No matter who calls it, the first bid must be at least two. The next player to the left can bid higher or pass. Everyone has only one chance to bid, and if everyone passes, the deal is passed to the left and the hand is redealt.

The highest bidder leads. The card that the winning bidder plays first becomes the trump suite. There are four points to be won in each round.

The highest trump card played: The highest trump card point is awarded to whoever PLAYS the highest trump card. This point is awarded in every hand.
The lowest trump card played: The lowest trump card point is also awarded to whoever PLAYS the lowest trump card, not necessarily who wins it. This point is awarded in every hand.
Whoever wins the Jack of Trump Suite: This point is awarded to whichever team WINS the Trump Jack. This point may not be awarded. The Jack may not be dealt in a hand, therefore it cannot be won.
Game Point: This point is awarded to whichever team has the most points once the round is over. The points come from the cards that have been won regardless of trump. Aces are worth four points. Kings are worth three. Queens are worth two. Jacks (including the trump Jack) are worth one. Tens are worth ten points! All other cards have no value in this calculation. As you can tell, tens are worth a lot in this game. This point is awarded in every hand.

As I said before, the first card that is played by the winning bidder becomes trump suit. YOU MUST FOLLOW SUIT, EXCEPT ON ONE CONDITION. If someone throws a non-trump card, you are allowed, but not required, to throw a trump card even if you have the non-trump suit in your hand.

In a standard game, there are a couple things to keep in mind. Tens are important for the Game Point. The lowest trump card is a point, so if you have the two of the trump suit, you automatically have a point. However, if you have the three of trump suit, you possibly have the lowest trump point, since the two may not have been dealt. The same applies to the King of trump suit. It may be the highest trump since the Ace may not have been dealt.

When you score, add up your team points. The team that bid MUST get at least the number of points they bid. If they don't, they get their bid in negative points. For example if Player A on Team 1 bid two and then Player B on Team 2 bid three so they could set trump, and Team 2 failed to get three points, they earn negative three points for the hand. The non-bidding team always receives the points they earned in a round. So, in the same situation given above, if Team 1 received two of the points, they get two points for the hand.

Use this Scoresheet to help keep score.

The rules of this game are easier to explain than the strategy behind them. Once you've learned the rules, you can play for awhile and practice for mastery.

Options for Different Games

Game End: You can also remove the point restriction of 15 or 21 ending the game and settle on a set number of rounds to play. In my experience, I've never seen it higher than 10 rounds. You can still use this Scoresheet to score a 10 round game.
Five Point Game: An extra point is added to the game, called the Jick. The Jick is the Jack of same color but opposite suite as trump. For example, if Hearts is trump, the Jick would be the Jack of Diamonds.
The Jick may become a trump card as well. It would be placed just below the Jack of trump suite and above the 10 of trump suite in importance. However, the Jick can simply be the Jack of opposite color. It doesn't have to be trump.
In any case, just like the Jack of trump suite, whoever wins the Jick earns the point. The winning bidder cannot lead with the Jick, for obvious reasons.
Use this Scoresheet for scoring a Five Point Game.
Six Point Game: Include Jokers in your game. Each Joker counts as another point, and they are considered trump, falling between the Jack and 10. If two Jokers are played in the same throw, the first Joker thrown wins.
Jokers typically count as one point for the purposes of the "game" score, although they don't have to. You should agree before beginning what the Jokers will be worth in the game totals.
The winning bidder cannot lead with a Joker. A Joker obviously does not designate a suit.
Use this Scoresheet for scoring a Six Point Game.
Seven Point Game: Include the Jick and Jokers in your game, following the above rules. If you play the Jick as trump, the Jick will beat Jokers when played against each other. Since there are so many points available at each round, you may want to consider adopting some of the changes in the ten point game, like upping the winning amount and/or the minimum bid.
Use this Scoresheet for scoring a Seven Point Game.
Ten Point Game: Includes the Jick and Jokers as described above with the addition of the 3 of trump, which counts for 3 points, awarded (like the Jack, Jick and Jokers) to the team that rakes the 3. Suggested variants to make the Ten Point Game more competitive:
• Minimum bid upped to 4.
• All players dealt 10 cards. Winning bidder calls trump and picks up the leftover 14 cards, and discards 18. All other players discard 4 cards so the game begins with 6 cards in each hand. (Trump cards may NOT be discarded unless the player has more than six trump before discarding.) This rule guarantees all 10 points will be in play virtually every hand.
• Game is played to 52 points. First team at or over 52 wins. If more than one team exceeds 52, highest score wins. In case of a tie, the bidding team wins.
Use this Scoresheet for scoring a Ten Point Game.
The Blind: The Blind is a pile of three cards that are dealt into the middle of the table as the dealer deals to players. The purpose of the Blind is incentive to bid higher. The winning bidder is allowed to pick up the Blind and then discard (upside down) any three of their nine cards before they lead off.
Nine Card Muck Deals: Players are dealt nine cards instead of six. The winning bidder must CALL trump (as opposed to leading it) and each player may then discard three cards (no trump may be discarded unless the player has more than six trumps).
Win on Bid Only: A team may not win the game unless they bid the previous hand. If this rule is followed, a team's score cannot go above the target score unless they bid the hand. For example, (in a 15 point game) a team with 14 points does not win the bid, but earns 2 points in the hand. They do not win the game, and their scores rises only to 15.
Strict Suit Following: This is rather rare, but you can play that you must always follow suit. That means that you cannot throw trump if you have a card of the suit that was lead.
Strict Trump Following: I have seen this played, and it is a frustrating rule. That is what makes it so entertaining! The situation is someone leads with a non-trump card, and you don't have any of that suit in your hand, but you do have trump. The rule requires you to throw the trump card. So if you cannot follow suit, you must trump if you can.
Others?: There are other variations I've heard of but have never played. If you know of any, please e-mail me them by clicking on "The Sign" at the bottom of this webpage. Please describe your variation in detail.

You can combine any or all of these options, but I suggest before you do that you learn the basic gist of Schmear. Once you get the idea, it will be easier to change the rules a bit.

Enjoy, and have tons of fun!

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