Toepen variants and house rules

No two Toepen tables play exactly alike. At one table you play to 15 marks, at another perhaps to 10, with or without a dead man's round. That is why Toep has fixed rules as its base, plus a handful of rules you choose per table. This page lists them, what they change about the game and why a group might pick them.

Where you choose the rules

• Public table: always the standard rules. You reach a table through the queue, with players around your own level. A table starts with four players, or with three if nobody joins within a minute and the three want to.
• Private table: the host chooses every rule below and shares the code or the link. Two to six players fit, and the host starts as soon as at least two are seated.
• Club table: a club has its own table with the club's house rules, so your regular group always plays by the same rules.
• Against the computer: you choose one to five opponents and one of three levels: easy, normal or hard.

At the table, the rules in force always sit behind the rules button, so nobody gets a surprise halfway through.

The limit

From 5 to 20 marks. Default: 15.

The limit is the number of marks at which you are out. A low limit makes the game shorter and every mark heavier: with a limit of 5, one lost toep is already a hard blow. A high limit gives more rounds and more room to make up for a bad start. With a quarter of an hour, set it lower; an evening at the table can go to 20.

The limit also decides when you are on the edge: always one mark below it.

Who leads after a round

Move on or after the winner. Default: move on.

With "move on", each round starts with the player to the left of whoever started the previous round, so the first turn goes round fairly. With "after the winner", the player to the left of the previous round's winner starts. Within a round the winner of the previous trick always starts, and in a dead man's round the dead man starts; this rule changes neither.

The small players ranking

Off, or on with a threshold of 2 to 5 times. Default: on, after 2.

This rule stops you ducking out forever. Every time you fold after a toep, a counter goes up; at the threshold you must call the next toep. A low threshold makes the game fiercer, because cautious players are soon forced to call. A high threshold, or the rule switched off, leaves more room to fold a bad hand. How the counter works exactly is under the small players ranking.

Vuile was with a 7

Only four low cards, or three low cards and a 7 too. Default: with a 7 too.

A vuile was is always four low cards: jack, queen, king and ace. With this rule, three low cards and a 7 also count as vuile was. That makes a genuine vuile was more common, and it makes checking harder: more hands could be genuine. If you want vuile was to stay rare, switch the 7 off.

A fresh deal after vuile was

After 2 to 5 vuile was calls in a row. Default: after 5.

If one vuile was follows another, at some point the whole round is dealt again, with no marks for anyone. With five or six players at the table that happens more often than with three or four. A lower threshold keeps the pace up; a higher one gives players more chances to swap their hand.

The dead man's round

On or off. Default: on.

The dead man's round is a last chance for whoever is on the edge: the dead man starts, nobody may toep, and the others choose between playing for 2 or sitting out for 1. It is one of the most exciting moments of a game, and it draws the end out a little. With the rule off, a player on the edge simply plays on and the game is decided sooner.

Being on the edge is also called "op skerp staan" or "op pelt staan" in Dutch.

The ending with two players

Ask, normal or super toep. Default: ask.

With two players left, the game can go on until one of them reaches the limit, or be decided in one super toep: a round of eight cards and eight tricks in which the winner of the last trick wins the game. With "ask", both players get the choice, and the super toep only happens if both say yes.

Thinking time

At a private table from 10 to 60 seconds. At a public table: 20 seconds.

Thinking time is the time you have for a card, for calling or folding, and for playing or sitting out. If it runs out, you forfeit the game. With friends who like to think it over, choose a generous time; if you want a fast pace, go to 10 seconds.

Two smaller times go with it:

• Check time, from 3 to 30 seconds, default 10: how long each player has to check or believe a vuile was.
• Break between rounds, from 0 to 10 seconds, default 5: how long the table shows the score of the previous round before the next one starts.

The standard rules at a glance

These are also exactly the rules of every public table.

Playing with your own house rules

At a real table, groups play all kinds of rules of their own that Toep does not know online. That is what the scorekeeper in the app is for: you play with real cards, your own way, and the app keeps the marks and stores earlier games. It works without internet too.

Unsure about a word? Look in the glossary. Want to know how to use a rule to your advantage? Read the strategy.