Following suit is compulsory, but when a player's hand is void in the suit led, any card may be played. The four jacks are always trump. Before beginning play, Loner names trump. In the first four options, the cards of the named suit are trump and follow the jacks in order. In Grand the trump suit consists of solely the four jacks.
Trump outranks the other suits.
The other suits are of equal rank. These are discussed under Scoring. Loner's fundamental task in a trump game is to win cards by taking tricks such that the point value of those cards and those in the skat total 61 or more. Thus it is not the number of tricks taken, but the points amassed that determine success in the game. There are no trump cards.