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Printable Sheepshead score sheet

Sheepshead scoring is a payout table pretending to be arithmetic — picker doubles, schneider doubles again, and somebody always mis-remembers whether 90 is enough. Wisconsin-standard scoring for the five-handed game, printed on the pad.

Pinochle score sheet → Prints on one page — US Letter or A4. Save as PDF from the print dialog.

Sheepshead

Five-handed, called-ace partner · A=11 · 10=10 · K=4 · Q=3 · J=2 — 120 in the deck
Picker’s side needs 61 · defenders win at 60
Hands — write each player’s + / − for the hand and keep running totals. Mark the picker with a ○ and the partner with a •.
HandPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5
handtotalhandtotalhandtotalhandtotalhandtotal
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Wisconsin payouts (base — multiply as it worsens)

  • Normal win (picker’s side 61–90): picker +2 · partner +1 · each defender −1
  • Schneider — picker’s side takes 91+, or is held to 30 or fewer: everything doubles
  • Schwarz — the losing side takes no trick at all: everything triples
  • Picker’s side loses: the mirror image, and the picker pays double (picker −2 · partner −1 base)
  • Exactly 90 or exactly 30 is only a normal win — schneider needs 91+ / ≤30
  • Leaster (all pass — agree to play them first): fewest points taken wins the hand
Sheepshead — Wisconsin’s unofficial state card game — is a public-domain descendant of Schafkopf; this sheet follows the standard five-handed called-ace scoring as documented by the Sheepshead community. Three- and four-handed tables and doublers are house territory: the grid works, bring your own multipliers.
Limestone Games Sheepshead score sheet · free printable · limestonegames.com/printables/

How Sheepshead scoring actually works

Every hand is the picker's side against the field. The deck holds 120 points — aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3, jacks 2 — and the picker's side must capture 61 of them; the defenders keep their money with 60. The queens and jacks are permanent trump above the diamonds, which is why the point-heavy aces and tens ride on tricks won by cards worth almost nothing themselves.

The payout ladder

Base result: picker ±2, partner ±1, defenders ∓1 — the sheet's key prints it with the multipliers, because the ladder is where tables argue. Schneider (91+, or holding the losers to 30) doubles every number; schwarz — the losing side never takes a trick — triples it. A picker who loses pays double going the other way, which is what makes picking a decision and not a reflex.

Keeping the grid honest

Mark the picker ○ and partner • each hand — payouts depend on the roles, and the marks settle "who picked hand six" instantly. Every hand's five entries should sum to zero; if a line doesn't, someone's arithmetic (or memory of schneider) slipped, and the running totals catch it one hand later instead of at settle-up.

Frequently asked

Do you play with 32 cards? Yes — the 7s through aces of each suit. Five-handed, each player gets six cards and two go to the blind; the picker takes the blind and buries two. The scoring above doesn’t change either way.

What about doublers? Common house escalation — certain hands (after a leaster, say) score double. The grid doesn’t care; write bigger numbers.

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