Players
Two partnerships, with partners seated opposite one another.
The story in the name
The game behind Klawerjas.
The farm takes its name from Klawerjas: four players, two partnerships and a small deck capable of filling a long evening.
Learn the first handFrom the Netherlands to the Cape
A social game with a South African life.
Klawerjas is the South African spelling of the Dutch partnership game klaverjas. The name joins klaver—clubs or clover—with jas, an old name for the Jack that becomes the most powerful card when its suit is trump.
The game travelled far beyond Dutch tables. In the Western and Eastern Cape it became a living social tradition, passed between generations and organised into clubs, unions and competitions. Around South African tables it also developed its own vocabulary: Boer, Manel, Roemte, Sturk, Twintig and Boom.
That mixture of heritage, partnership and good argument around a table is where the Klawerjas name begins.
The deal in four numbers
Small deck. Serious game.
Cards
Seven through Ace in clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades.
Cards each
The whole pack is dealt, leaving no draw pile and no hidden reserve.
Tricks
Each hand ends after every player has contributed one card to every trick.
The first surprise
Trump changes the order.
Ordinary suits favour the Ace and Ten. In trump, the Jack—known locally as the Boer—leaps to the top, followed by the Nine or Manel.
TrumpBoer leads
J20
914
A11
1010
K3
Q2
80
70
Other suitsAce leads
A11
1010
K3
Q2
J1
90
80
70
The small number is the card's point value, not its position in a normal deck.
Your first hand
Deal it. Call it. Play it.
- 01
Make two teams
Four players sit around the table. Partners face one another, so every trick is played with—and against—someone you can see.
- 02
Deal anticlockwise
Use only the 7 to the Ace of each suit. The dealer works anticlockwise in packets of three, two and three—or two-three-three, or three-three-two—until everyone holds eight.
- 03
Turn up trump
The last card dealt is turned face up, and its suit is trump for the hand. Nobody chooses it: the deal decides.
- 04
Call your Roemte
Holding a run or the King and Queen of trumps? Call it from your hand during the first round of play, so look closely before the first card goes down.
- 05
Follow, or trump
The player on the dealer's right leads. Follow the suit led if you can. A trump beats any other card, and only a higher trump beats it. Never play a lower trump than one already on the trick, unless trumps are all you hold.
- 06
Take the trick
The highest trump wins; with no trump, the highest card in the suit led. The winner leads the next trick, and the last trick of the hand is worth 5.
Strokes and the Boom
The number to remember is 100.
Every hand is worth 146 points: 141 in the cards and 5 for the last trick, with Roemte on top. The first side to reach 100 goes on one stroke, or two if the other side is still under 50. If nobody gets there, play an ou jol: a second hand, dealt by the side that took the last trick. First to five strokes wins the Boom.
141+5=146
Roemte · called from the hand
- 20
- Sturk: King and Queen of trumps
- 20
- Twintig: three in sequence in one suit
- 50
- Vyftig: four in sequence in one suit
- 100
- Five in sequence, or four of a kind
A 100 also earns two strokes.
Heard around a Cape table
Learn the language with the cards.
- Boer
- The Jack of trump—and the strongest card in the hand.
- Manel
- The Nine of trump, second only to the Boer.
- Roemte
- Bonus points for recognised combinations, called from your hand during the first round of play.
- Sturk
- The King and Queen of trump together.
- Twintig
- A three-card sequence worth twenty bonus points.
- Vyftig
- A four-card sequence worth fifty bonus points.
- Boom
- A full set of five strokes, won by the first side to take five.
- Af
- The call you make when penalising an opponent.
- Ou jol
- A second hand, played when nobody reaches 100. The side that took the last trick keeps the deck and deals.
Now you know the name
Four chairs. One small deck. No quiet opinions.
Klawerjas rewards memory, partnership and the ability to read a table. The rules become clearer after one hand; the arguments about the right card may take rather longer.
Further reading
This is a welcoming first-hand guide, not a competition rulebook. Regional and house rules differ.