Skat

Typical Jack trick in Grand Skat, with the highest cards of the game laid out from left to right and front to back.
Origin	Germany
Type	Point-trick
Players	3
Skills	Hand evaluation, counting, cooperation, bidding intelligence
Cards	32
Deck	French, German or Tournament-suited "Skat" pack
Rank (high→low)	(J) A 10 K Q 9 8 7 A K Q J 10 9 8 7 (only for Null-Games)
Play	Clockwise
Playing time	3–5 minutes per hand played
Chance	Low
Related games
Schafkopf • Grosstarock

Skat (German pronunciation: [ˈskaːt]^[a]), historically Scat, is a three-player trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family, devised around 1810 in Altenburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It is the national game of Germany^[1] and, along with Doppelkopf, it is the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia and one of the most popular in the rest of Poland. A variant of 19th-century Skat was once popular in the US. John McLeod considers it one of the best and most interesting card games for three players,^[1][2] and Kelbet described it as "the king of German card games."^[3] The German Skat Association assess that it is played by around 25 million Germans – more than play football.

History

Skat was developed by the members of a local Tarock club, the Brommesche Tarok-Gesellschaft^[4] around 1810–1813 in Altenburg, in what is now the State of Thuringia, Germany.^[b]

Skat is based on the three-player Tarot game of Grosstarock and the four-player game of Schafkopf (forerunner of American Sheepshead).^[6] It has become the most loved and widely played German card game, especially in German-speaking regions.^[7] In the earliest known form of the game, the player in the first seat was dealt twelve cards and the other two players ten each. He then made two discards, constituting the Skat, and announced a contract.^[8] But the main innovation of this new game was that of the bidding process.^[9]

The earliest recorded rules for "Scat" date to 1835, by when it was already popular in the Kingdom of Saxony, especially in the Duchy of Altenburg and the surrounding area. These describe a game for 3 players with German-suited cards who received 10 each in packets of 3, 2, 3 and 2, the two remaining cards being dealt to the table as a talon known as the Scat. There were just two contracts – Frage and Solo – and forehand opened the bidding or passed. A Frage bidder could be overcalled by a Solo and either could be overcalled by the same contract in a higher-ranking suit, the suits ranking in the same order as in the modern game. The declarer needed 61 card points to win and there were bonuses for scoring 90 (Schneider), taking all tricks (Schwarz) and, optionally, for holding or lacking matadors in unbroken sequence from the top. The four Unters were permanent trumps ranking above the trump suit.^[10]

The first book on the rules of Skat, Das Scatspiel: Nebst zwei Liedern, was published in 1848 by one of its inventors, secondary school teacher J. F. L. Hempel.^[11] Nevertheless, the rules continued to differ from one region to another until the first attempt to set them in order was made by a congress of Skat players on 7 August 1886 in Altenburg. These were the first official rules finally published in a book form in 1888 by Theodor Thomas of Leipzig.^[11] The current rules, followed by both the International Skat Players Association, German Skat Federation and British Skat Association, date from Jan. 1, 1999.^[12]

The word Skat is a Tarock term^[13] derived from the Latin word scarto, scartare, which means to discard or reject, and its derivative scatola, a box or a place for safe-keeping.^[14] The word scarto is still used in some other Italian card games to this day. Skat is completely unrelated to an American game called Scat.^[15]

Nowadays, it is very popular to play the Skat game online through internet browsers. ^[16]

Distribution

Skat is particularly popular in Germany. Tournament Skat is regularly held in restaurants. In contrast to most other card games, Skat is organized as a sport, with Skat associations, clubs, ranking lists and even a national league. Most German Skat clubs are affiliated to the German Skat Association (DSkV), which organizes the championships.^[17] In addition, the global organisation, the International Skat Players Association, is primarily responsible for organising the World and European Championships, but its subdivision, ISPA Germany, like the DSkV, organizes its own German individual and team championship and leagues, among other activities.^[18]

Skat is played on a lesser scale in countries bordering Germany including the Netherlands, Danish southern Jutland,^[19] Poland and Austria.^[20]

The member countries of ISPA are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Namibia, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UAE, Uruguay, and the USA.^[21]

Rules

Note: Because of the many variations in the rules of Skat, the rules below are necessarily general, although rules not found in official German tournament play are marked as such.

General principles

Skat is a game for three players, who are known as forehand, middlehand and rearhand, rearhand also being the dealer (see picture). At the beginning of each round, or "deal", one player becomes declarer and the other two players become the defending team. The two defenders are not allowed to communicate in any way except by their choice of cards to play. The game can also be played by four players, in which case, the dealer sits out the round that was dealt, while the player to the right of the dealer will play the role taken by the dealer in the three-player variant. Players may agree at the outset how many rounds/deals they will play for.

A central aspect of the game is the three coexisting varieties called "suit", "grand" and "null" games, that differ in suit order, scoring and even overall goal to achieve.

Each round of the game starts with a bidding phase to determine the declarer and the required minimum game value (explained below). Then, ten tricks are played, allowing players to take trick points. Each card has a card value (except in null games) and is worth that number of points for the player winning the trick. The total value of all cards is 120 points. The declarer's goal is to take at least 61 points in tricks in order to win that round of the game. Otherwise, the defending team wins the round. Points from tricks are not directly added to the players' overall score, they are used only to determine the outcome of the game (win or loss for declarer), although winning by certain margins may increase the score for that round.

After each round a score is awarded in accordance with the game value. If the declarer wins they are awarded a positive score, if they lose the score is doubled and subtracted from the declarer's tally (i.e. a negative score). In tournaments a winning declarer gets an additional 50 points if they win, if the defending team wins however they receive 40 points each in addition to the declarer losing twice the game's value in points.

Cards

The pack consists of 32 cards. Many modern packs use the French pack consisting of an ace (Ass), king (König), queen (Dame), jack (Bube), 10, 9, 8 and 7 in all four suits (clubs ♣, spades ♠, hearts ♥ and diamonds ♦). Some players in Eastern and Southern Germany and Austria prefer traditional German packs with suits of acorns , leaves , hearts and bells , and card values of deuce (Daus), king (König), Ober, Unter, 10, 9, 8, and 7 in all four suits.^[22] Until recently in Saxony and Thuringia, for example, German-suited packs were used almost exclusively. By contrast, regions of the former West Germany had adopted a French-suited pack.

Since German reunification, a compromise Turnierbild ("Tournament Style") pack is used in tournaments that uses the shapes of the French suits but with corresponding German suit colors, green spades ♠ imitating leaves and gold diamonds ♦ imitating bells.^[23] The choice of pack does not affect the rules.

Dealing

At the beginning of each round each player is dealt ten cards, with the two remaining cards (the so-called Skat) being put face down in the middle of the table. Dealing follows this pattern: deal three cards each, then deal the Skat, then four cards each, then three cards again ("three–Skat–four–three"). In four-player rounds, the dealer does not receive any cards and skips actual play of the round. He or she may peek into the hand of one other player (if allowed to do so) but never into the Skat.

Dealing rotates clockwise around the table, so that the player sitting to the left of the dealer will be dealer for the next round.

Bidding

After the cards have been dealt, and before the deal is played out, a bidding or auction (German: Reizen) is held to decide:

• Who will be declarer for the round, and thus eligible for picking up the Skat and choosing whether to have trumps and what the trump suit is
• The minimum game value needed for declarer to win

The goal for each player during the bidding is to bid a game value as high as their card holding would allow, but never higher than necessary to win the bidding. How the actual game value is determined is explained in detail below and is necessary to understand in order to know how high one can safely bid.

It is possible for a player to overbid, which leads to an automatic loss of the game in question. Often this does not become obvious before the player picks up the Skat, or even not before the end of the game in question (in case of a hand game, when the Skat is not picked up). Players have therefore to exercise careful scrutiny during bidding, as not to incur an unnecessary loss.

The bidding may also give away some information about what cards a player may or may not hold. Experienced players will be able to use this to their advantage.

Game value

The game value (also called hand value, German: Spielwert) is what the game will be worth after all tricks have been played. It is determined not only by the 10 cards held, but also by the two-card Skat. The Skat always belongs to the declarer, and if it contains certain high cards this may change the game value. It is therefore not possible in general to determine the exact game value before knowing the Skat.

The game value is determined by the type of the game and the game level as explained below for the suit, grand and null games.

Suit game

In a suit game (German: Farbspiel), one of the four suits is the trump suit.

Each suit has a base value (German: Grundwert), as follows:

suit (French pack)	suit (German pack)	base value
Clubs (German: Kreuz) (♣)	Acorns (German: Eichel) ()	12
Spades (German: Pik) (♠)	Leaves (German: Blatt / Grün) ()	11
Hearts (German: Herz) (♥)	Hearts (German: Herz / Rot) ()	10
Diamonds (German: Karo) (♦)	Bells (German: Schellen) ()	9

This base value is then multiplied by the multiplier game level (German: Spielstufe or Gewinngrad) to determine the game value, so:

game value = base value × game level.

A game level of 1 for becoming declarer is always assumed. It is then increased by one for each of the following:

1. For every matador i.e. trump (German: Spitzen) in unbroken sequence counting from the J♣ downwards. Example:
   • Having all the jacks and the ace but not the 10 of the suit counts as "with 5"
2. For every missing matador, if the J♣ is not held, in unbroken sequence from the top. Example:
   • Having the J♦ but no higher jack counts as "without 3"
3. Playing a Hand game, i.e. without picking up the skat
4. Winning schneider, i.e. taking 90 or more card points
5. Winning schwarz, i.e. taking all tricks.

In case of a Hand game, the following special cases are allowed. Each one increases the game level by another point:

1. Schneider is announced by declarer after the bidding
2. Schwarz is announced by declarer after the bidding
3. Ouvert, where the declarer plays with open cards and takes all tricks; that is Schwarz has to be announced in order to declare Ouvert in a suit game

To summarize in tabular form:

	Ordinary Skat game	Hand game
Matador's jack straight (with or without)	1 each	1 each
Game (for becoming declarer)	1	1
Hand (the Skat is not picked up)	—	1
Schneider (win with 90 or more points)	1	1
Schneider announced	—	1
Schwarz (win all tricks)	1	1
Schwarz announced	—	1
Ouvert (declarer plays with open hand)	—	1

Cards in the trump suit are ordered as follows (this is important to know when counting the length of the matador's jack straight):

1. Jack of clubs, J♣ or B♣ or U (German pack: Unter of acorns/Acorn Unter)
2. Jack of spades, J♠ or B♠ or U (German pack: Unter of leaves/Green Unter)
3. Jack of hearts, J♥ or B♥ or U (German pack: Unter of hearts/Red Unter)
4. Jack of diamonds, J♦ or B♦ or U (German pack: Unter of bells/Bell Unter)
5. Ace of trumps
6. 10 of trumps
7. King of trumps
8. Queen of trumps (German pack: Ober)
9. 9 of trumps
10. 8 of trumps
11. 7 of trumps

J♣ is the highest-ranking card in a suit game and is called in German der Alte ("the old man").

The non-trump suit cards are ranked A-10-K-Q-9-8-7 (or A-10-K-O-9-8-7 for the German pack respectively).

As mentioned above, the cards in the Skat are to be included when determining the multiplier game level (also in case of the Hand game, where the Skat is unknown until after the deal has been played out). During bidding, each player therefore has incomplete information regarding the true game value. The final game value is calculated by multiplying the base value for the suit by the multiplier game level:

Grand game

Grand game is a special case of suit game, in which only the Jacks are trumps in the same order as in the suit game:

1. Jack of clubs, J♣ or B♣ or U
2. Jack of spades, J♠ or B♠ or U
3. Jack of hearts, J♥ or B♥ or U
4. Jack of diamonds, J♦ or B♦ or U

All other cards are ranked the same as in a suit game: A-10-K-Q-9-8-7.

The base value for the grand game is 24 in the official rules. It used to be 20 until 1932, and many hobbyists continued to use 20 well into the postwar era.

All other rules for determining game value are as in a suit game, that is, the base value of 24 is multiplied by the multiplier game level.

Null game

In the null game, declarer promises not to take any tricks at all. There is no trump suit, 10s are sorted directly above 9s, and jacks are treated as normal suit cards sorted between 10 and queen. Thus the cards are ordered: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7. The game values of null games are fixed, as follows:

• 23 for a simple null game
• 35 for a Null Hand game (the Skat is not picked up by declarer)
• 46 for a Null Ouvert game (declarer plays with open cards)
• 59 for a Null Ouvert Hand game (combination of the above two)

Examples

The following examples give a player's holding and the contents of the Skat (which will be unknown to all players during the bidding) and explain how to derive the game value.

Example 1

Holding: J♣ J♦ A♥ 10♥ K♥ 8♥ 7♥ 9♦ 8♦ 7♦

Skat: A♠ Q♠

The length of matador's jack straight will be 1 (J♣ is present, J♠ is missing). The multiplier game level will be 2 (1 for matador's jack straight plus 1 for becoming declarer).

The possible game value now depends on which game is declared, for example:

• With hearts as trumps (base value is 10), the game value is 20 (10 × 2).
  • If the Skat is not picked up, the game value is 30 (the multiplier game level increases from 2 to 3 for declaring Hand).
  • If declarer manages to win with at least 90 trick points, the game value will be 30 as well (the multiplier game level increases from 2 to 3 for achieving Schneider).
• In the grand game (base value is 24), the game value will be 48 (24 × 2).

Of course, many other possibilities exist.

Note that game value is dependent not only on the cards held (including the Skat) but also on which game is being declared and the outcome of the play. Each holding can thus be evaluated differently by different players. A risk-taking player might be willing to declare Hand on a holding on which another player might not—these two players will therefore give different valuations to the same holding. However, after all tricks have been played, it is always possible to determine the exact game value by combining the actual holding with the type of game and outcome of the play. Only then does it becomes apparent if declarer has won or lost (if the declarer overbid).

Example 2 Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Skat_(card_game)
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