each containing 6 cards (18 total). A, 10, K, 9, 8, and 7 of ♣, ♠, and ♥ Clubs, spades, and hearts take no precedence over other fail suits, unlike trump, which always take fail. (Notice how both aces and tens outrank kings; arguably the most confusing aspect of card strength). The lead suit must be followed if possible; if not, then any card may be played such as trump (which will take the trick), or a fail card. Playing a fail of a different suit is called "throwing off" and can be a way to clear up another suit. Additionally, throwing off a point card is called "schmearing." Card point values Each card is given a separate point value as follows: Ace — 11 points Ten — 10 points King — 4 points Queen — 3 points Jack — 2 points 9, 8, 7 — 0 points The strongest cards (queens and jacks) are not worth the most points, giving Sheepshead some of its unusual character. There are 120 points total in the deck. The goal of the game is to get half of these (60 or 61); in case of a tie, the player who picked up the blinds loses, and that player's opponents win. (There are variant rules for more peculiar situations, such as the Leaster.) Scoring Score is kept using game points (not to be confused with the point values of the cards) or using money. Points are given/taken on a zero-sum basis. The following chart shows the game points for a five-person game (though other variations, with a different number of players, have different scoring). Game points are awarded based on the point value of cards taken during the hand. When playing for money, each game point generally represents a common money unit. Thirty or thirty-one game points are called schneider -- that is, the picker (and partner, if any) are required to get 31 game points to get schneider, and the opponents are required to get only 30. There are 120 card points in the deck. Since it is possible to take a trick worth zero points, 120 points could be gotten without getting all of the tricks and thus the distinction between "All Tricks" and "120 points" is necessary. Players gain or lose game points such that a net gain of zero occurs. The deal The deck is shuffled and cut. The dealer