Joffre Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Deck
• Rules of the Game

Deck

The deck consists of 32 cards, divided into 4 sets of 8 cards each. Each set is a different colour and represents 4 nations: England (red), France (blue), Russia (green) and Germany (brown).

Each nation has 8 cards, 7 of which are numbered from 1 to 7:

1. Corporal
2. Sergeant
3. Lieutenant
4. Captain
5. Major
6. Colonel
7. General

The 8th card of each set unnumbered and of least value for tricks. For France this card represents Maréchal JOFFRE, for Germany KAISER Wilhelm II; for England and Russia, the cards are unnamed.

The goal of the game is to get the JOFFRE and get rid of the KAISER.

Rules of the Game

• The number of players is usually four. The game can be played with two teams; when playing with three, do not use the two unnamed cards (England and Russia), so there are only 30 cards, or 10 to each player.
• The dealer distributes all the cards one at a time, starting with the first player to his left.
• The player to the dealer's left calls the first bid; a bid corresponds to the number of tricks the player believes he will take this round. Then the player to his left can pass or make a higher bid, and so on until back to the dealer.
• The player with the highest bid starts the game by putting a card of the colour of his choice on the table. This colour becomes TRUMP for the round. Each player to his left must follow suit; if he can not follow suit, he can then play a trump card, if he wishes and win the trick, or he can play a card from another suit.
• The highest card in a round wins the trick, but a trump card, though lower, will outweigh any other suit card.
• Each trick is worth 1 point for the player who wins it.
• The JOFFRE card is worth 5 points, in addition to the point gained for the trick; if a player wins 4 tricks among which is the Joffre card, he gains 9 points.
• The KAISER card is worth -3 points; if a player wins 4 tricks among which is the Kaiser card, he only gains 1 point.
• If a player wins a trick with the Kaiser card in which the Joffre was also played, the person who played the Joffre card loses 5 points; the one who won with the Kaiser card must then subtract 3 points, then add 5 points for gaining the Joffre, before counting trick points.
• If a player fails to make the number of tricks he called, he will make zero points and deduce the number of points corresponding to his bid; for example, if a player bid 6 but only succeeds in taking 5 tricks or less, he will have to reduce 6 points of his sum total.
• Additionally, when the bid winner calls 6 or 7 points and but does meet his bid, he deduces 6 or 7 points as appropriate; moreover, if his Joffre is taken by the Kaiser, he loses 5 points in addition to the points lost for failing his bid and his tricks do not count.
• The game ends when a player reaches 40 points. The first who reaches 40 points wins the game.