Schikanöschen ([ˌʃikanˈøzχɛn]) is a game played by 2 opposing players.
The goal of the game is to get rid of all cards on your side, and have all your cards in the middle turned face-up.
The game is played with Patience cards, i.e. two full card decks (52 cards + 3 jokers). The two decks should be distinguishable by their backs, and are ideally half-sized bridge or poker cards.
Two players sit on opposite ends of a table, facing each other.
To start, shuffle both decks thouroughly (one shuffled by each player), have each player cut the deck of their opponent and then take their deck in their hands.
Both player then deal 13 cards face-down on a stack, this stack is placed on their side towards the right (the side stack; stack C).
Using the remaining cards, the players then deal four cards seperately, vertically, in the middle towards the right (stacks E-H). A face-up card is placed on the top-most stack (stack E), and one face-down card each on the other three. Now a face-up card is placed on the next stack (stack F) and a face-down card each on the other two. This process is repeated until each stack has a face-up card and one to four face-down cards (see illustration). These stacks are arranged such that all cards are permanently visible, all other stacks are neatly squared such that only the top card is visible.
Stacks E-H of both sides are considered the board, stacks D are the →final stacks, stacks A-C are considered stacks of the player sitting in front of them.
The remaining cards become the main stack (stack A), between the main stack and the side stack, leave a space for another stack, the discard stack (stack B). The top card on the side stack is then turned around and the player with the higher card begins. An ace is considered higher than other normal cards, a joker is higher than an ace. If the two values are the same, then clubs is better than spades is better than hearts is better than diamonds.
If the two cards are identical, the cards on stack E decide, and if those are identical two, stack F, G, and H, in that order. If all open cards are exactly the same, start over with shuffling.
The player that starts the game starts as the active player, the other one as the passive player. At all times, one of the players is active, the other one passive.
When active, a player can perform sequences of the following actions:
- Moving a card from the side stack, discard stack or a stack of the board to a stack of the board, a →final stack, or the side stack or discard stack of the other player.
- Turning over a card from the main stack (if necessary, by turning around the discard stack first, without shuffling) and putting it on a stack of the board, a final stack, or the discard or side stack of the other player.
- Taking a joker out of the game from a board stack, or their own main, side or discard stacks.
- Turning over a face-down card on the (relative) right side of the board, if it's the top card.
- Turning over a card from the main stack (if necessary, by turning around the discard stack first) and putting it on the discard stack. This makes the active player the passive one and the previously passive one the active one.
No other things are actions, only (attempted) actions are knockable.
The active player can never take cards from the private stacks of the passive player.
On the board, cards can be put on empty slots, or on a face-down card. A card can also be placed on a face-up stack card if the following three conditions apply:
- The card being placed is of a different color (red vs. black) than the stack card
- The card has a value one lower than the stack card (e.g. two of diamonds on a 3 of spades)
- There is either no face-down card in the stack, or the amount of face-up cards is no more than four after the card would have been placed down.
Cards can be moved on opponent stacks (side and discard stack) if the stack card is one lower or one higher than the card that is being placed, and they have the same suit.
Whenever a player moves the last face-up card from her side stack, the top card has to be turned face-up. This turning of the top card of the side stack is a non-action and can be done at any time legally (i.e. the passive player can never →knock because of it).
The stacks in the middle are called "final stacks", because any card that has been placed there will stay there indefinitely. Whenever an ace can be moved, it has to be moved to one of the (empty) final stacks. When the next-highest card is movable (the corresponding two), it has to be moved on the final stack, and so on. Whenever a card can be moved to a final stack, it has to be done, and no other actions may be done.
Cards from the board have priority over player stacks, i.e. if there are two cards that have to be moved to a final stack, one on the board, and one on the discard or side stack of a player, the one on the board has to be moved (first).
The passive player can choose to knock on the table in one of three cases:
- an active player would have to move a card to a final stack, but attempts another move (by merely touching another card)
- an active player would have to move a card to a final stack, but attempts to place it somewhere else (by placing it and ceasing to touch the card)
- an active player tries to place a card from her side or discard stack to a final stack, but a card from the board could be moved to a final stack (by merely touching her card)
- an active player puts a card on a stack on which it cannot be (for example 8 of Clubs on 9 of Clubs)
- the passive player turns over her discard stack
- the active player turns over more than one card (for example from the main stack)
- the active player turns over a hidden card in the board of the passive player
The passive player can knock or choose not to knock. In the first case, the passive player can also wait until the active player has made the (wrong) move and then immediately knock. In that case and in the second case, the knocking player can choose whether or whether not to revert the move.
The right to knock expires after another (legal) action has been done, even if that action is the correction of the illegitimacy of the previous move.
If the passive player knocks, she immediately becomes the active player and the previous active player the passive one.
Should the passive player knock even though the active player did nothing wrong, a single warning is issued against the passive player. Should they knock incorrectly again, they lose the game.
The game ends when a player has all board cards on her right side face-up, and she has no cards in her stacks. That player is the winning player.
It can happen that a game becomes stuck and no more progress is made. A player can offer the other one a remis, if the other player accepts the game ends in a draw.
If a state is repeated more than once across turns, any player can immediately force a remis. The state of a game is the entirety of the positions and orientations of all cards.
Since turning around the discard stack and subsequently taking a card from the main stack is considered a single action, merely turning around the discard stack is knockable. It usually is anyways because touching the discard stack is knockable unless the required action is moving a card from the stack to a final stack.
Even an action that would normally end the game is knockable, if it would be knockable under normal conditions, too. In that case, the action is undone, if applicable, and it is the knocking player's turn.
If there are no cards in the side stack left, no cards can be put on it anymore.
If there are no cards in the main+side stacks anymore, a player signals the end of their move by knocking on the table. This can't be mistaken for a regular knock, since they are an active player.
Schikanöschen can be played with a chess clock, then the following rules are added:
- In the beginning of the game the chess clock is set to agreed-upon times, but not startet yet. Once the initial state has been dealt out, and it is therefore clear who will start the game, the passive player starts the game by starting the chess clock.
- When the turn of a player is over, that player switches the chess clock to the opposing side.
- Whose turn it is is decided not by the chess clock, i.e. if someone forgets to switch the chess clock, they can't complain
- If A knocks during the turn of B (and the knocking is legitimate), it's the job of B to switch the chess clock. The turn of A immediately starts.
- If the time runs out on a player, that player lost the game.
- If during 5 seconds the chess clock is switched more than five times, any player can immediately force a remis.