Deal and card order
Use 32 cards: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of every suit. Deal four to each player. From high to low, cards rank 10, 9, 8, 7, Ace, King, Queen, Jack. There are no trumps.
Last-trick · Bluffing · 2–8 players
Toepen.
Also known as Poeken · Snoepen · Toeven · Droefen · Proeven
Four cards. Four tricks. Only the last one wins the round. Knock to raise the risk and see who stays in.
Your turn
Y
You
01 How to play
Save your strength
for the last trick.
Toepen is a Dutch trick-taking game. The online table has one human and three bots. A physical game usually has four players, but two to eight can play.
Play four tricks
The player to the dealer's left leads. Play continues clockwise. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest card of the led suit takes the trick and leads the next one. Winning tricks one, two or three does not score: the winner of trick four wins the round.
Penalty points
A round starts at one penalty point. The fourth-trick winner scores zero; every other player still in the round adds the current stake to their score. A player reaching 15 points is out. Play continues until one player remains.
Knock and answer
On your turn you may knock, increasing the stake by one point. Every other player, starting to your left, chooses to stay or fold. Staying risks the new stake if you lose the round. Folding ends your part in the round and immediately costs the stake from before the knock. If everyone folds, the knocker wins.
Knocking limits
You cannot knock twice in succession; another player must knock in between. You cannot fold on your own knock or knock if losing the raised stake would take you above 15. This online table offers the knock button on your turn, including partway through a trick. A folded player's card already on the table cannot win that trick.
What this version leaves out
Some groups allow a hand containing only Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks to be exchanged before play, with a challenge. Others use special rules for players one point from elimination or announce hands with three tens or Jacks. Those optional rules are described below but are not part of this playable version.
02 History & variants
A Dutch game
with many house rules.
The Dutch table
Toepen is associated with the Netherlands and is often played socially. Its unusual rank order makes a Ten the strongest card and a Jack the weakest. Because only the fourth trick matters, keeping a strong card for the end may be more useful than winning early.
The knock adds a bluffing decision to this last-trick game. A player with a strong final card can raise the penalty; another can knock without certainty and hope everyone folds. Penalty points are the standard scoring form used here.
Names and local variations
Poeken, Snoepen, Toeven, Droefen and Proeven are Dutch names recorded for the game. Related games in northwestern Germany include Tuppen and Siwweschrööm. Those related forms can use different target scores and local conventions.
Optional Dutch rules include “white laundry”, an exchange of four Aces, Kings, Queens or Jacks before the first lead; “dirty laundry”, an exchange of three such cards and a Seven; and “poverty”, a special start for someone close to the penalty limit. Groups may also decide whether a card played before its owner folds can still win a trick. Agree on those choices before a physical game.