Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to Sheepshead

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Sheepshead is a card game played mostly in Wisconsin, USA. It has evolved from German Schafkopf the immigrants brought over from the old continent. These days the American game has became quite different from its German roots: the game is usually played with five players instead of original four, for example.

Erica Rosch, a Sheepshead fan for ten years, has written an excellent guide to the game. The book explains the rules and standard conventions of the game in a clear and entertaining way. The standard five-player game gets the most attention, but the book also describes the original four-player Schafkopf (both German and US variations) and Sheepshead for 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 players.

What's even better, the book is not just about the rules. There's plenty of useful strategy, too! For an experienced player, the parts about tournaments and getting a Sheepshead game night going are definitely helpful. A book centered on one game will have limited appeal (especially if the game is not Poker or Bridge), but any true card game aficionados should read this book, particularly if they aren't yet familiar with Sheepshead or Schafkopf.

Two really great ways to prepare for a Sheepshead card game in Wisconsin are to read A Field Guide to Sheepshead by Erica Rosch, and "How to Play Winning 5 Handed Sheepshead, by Robert Strupp. A lot of people tend to grow up with the game in Milwaukee. My own grandparents took old photos of the Wisconsin State Fair, showing the Gettelman Brewery Pavilion, who's Proprietor Adam Gettelman, was a sponsor of many an old Skat/Sheepshead tournament. I donated the photos to the Wisconsin State Fair History Museum, along with a rare photo of it's old Ferris Wheel, for a possible model re-creation.

While Bridge is the enduring hallmark of social card-playing, with pinochle a distant runner-up, sheepshead was the only card game played at the social and family gatherings in the Wisconsin Germanic farming community I grew up in. Known by its authentic name, "SchafsKopt", the book is a well-deserved tribute to its place in the history of card games.

I got what I ordered in a timely manner and for a reasonable place.