How to Play Skat

Skat was born in the town of Altenburg in eastern Germany around 1810, and it has been Germany's favorite card game ever since. German immigrants brought it to Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Skat clubs still meet in church halls and Legion posts. It is a game for three: in every hand one player, the declarer, plays alone against the other two, who team up just for that hand.

Skat has more rules than most card games, but they fit together neatly. This page follows the standard international rules, which our free online Skat game uses. Where we keep things simpler, we say so, and the rule variations page covers house rules such as Ramsch and Bock rounds.

The cards and what they are worth

Skat uses 32 cards: the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit. If you only have a standard deck, take out the 2s through 6s. What you are after is card points, which live in a few cards:

Notice that the 10 is worth almost as much as the ace and ranks just below it.

The deal and the three seats

The dealer gives three cards to each player, then two face down in the middle (the skat), then four to each player, then three more. Everyone has ten cards. Each seat has a name that matters in the bidding: the player on the dealer's left is Forehand and leads the first trick, the next is Middlehand, and the dealer is Rearhand. The deal moves one seat to the left each hand.

Bidding

Bidding decides who plays alone. Instead of saying "I'll take eight tricks", Skat players name the value of the game they hope to play. Only certain numbers exist, because each is the value of some game: 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 40, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 54, 55, 59, 60 and upward.

1. Middlehand speaks to Forehand. Middlehand says "18". Forehand answers "yes" (in our game the button reads Hold 18) or "pass". If Forehand holds, Middlehand says "20", and so on, until one of them passes. Middlehand may also pass straight away.
2. Rearhand speaks to the survivor. Rearhand carries on from the last number in the same way: the survivor holds or passes.
3. The last player left becomes the declarer at the last number that was held or said.
4. If Middlehand and Rearhand both pass without saying anything, Forehand may play at 18 or pass too. If all three pass, the cards are thrown in and the next player deals.

Worked example. West is Middlehand and says 18; you are Forehand and hold. West says 20; you pass. Now East (Rearhand) speaks to West: East says 22, West holds; East says 23, West passes. East is the declarer at 23 and must now play a game worth at least 23.

The skat, or playing Hand

The declarer may pick up the skat, look at the two cards, and put any two cards face down in their place. Those two cards count for the declarer at the end, so putting down a 10 that might get caught is a classic move. Or the declarer may play Hand, leaving the skat untouched. A Hand game is worth one level more, and only in a Hand game may the declarer announce schneider or schwarz in advance for extra levels.

The three kinds of game

Suit games

The declarer names clubs, spades, hearts or diamonds. The four Jacks are the highest trumps, always in this order: ♣J, ♠J, ♥J, ♦J. Then come the cards of the trump suit: A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7. That makes eleven trumps. In the three other suits the order is A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7, with no Jack.

Grand

Only the four Jacks are trumps. Every suit ranks A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7. Grand is worth twice as much as clubs, and you need Jacks and aces to play it.

Null

There are no trumps, every suit ranks in natural order (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, so the Jack sits between the queen and the 10), and the declarer wins by taking no tricks at all. Card points don't matter. The game ends the moment the declarer takes a trick. In Null Ouvert the declarer plays with all ten cards face up on the table.

Playing the tricks

Forehand leads to the first trick, whoever the declarer is. Each player in turn plays one card, clockwise. You must follow suit if you can. In suit games and Grand the Jacks belong to the trumps, not to their own suit: if hearts are led, the ♥J does not count as a heart, and if a trump is led, any Jack follows. If you can't follow, play any card, trump or not.

The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner leads the next trick. After ten tricks, the declarer adds the skat to their own tricks and counts.

Winning and losing

• The declarer wins with 61 or more of the 120 card points. With 60 the game is lost.
• Schneider: the declarer took 90 or more, or (losing) 30 or less.
• Schwarz: one side took every trick.
• A declarer who announced schneider or schwarz must make it, or the game is lost.
• A game worth less than the bid is lost, however many points the declarer took. This is overbidding.

The game value

Every suit game and Grand has a base value:

The base value is multiplied by a number of levels. First come the matadors: the top trumps in an unbroken row. If the declarer's cards (counting the skat) include the ♣J, count how many top trumps they hold in a row: ♣J and ♠J but not ♥J is "with 2". If the ♣J is missing, count how many top trumps are missing above the declarer's highest one: holding the ♥J as the best trump is "against 2". Then add one level for the game itself, and one for each extra: Hand, schneider, schneider announced, schwarz, schwarz announced.

The smallest possible game is diamonds with or against 1, worth 18, which is why bidding starts at 18. Null games have fixed values: Null 23, Null Hand 35, Null Ouvert 46, Null Ouvert Hand 59.

Overbidding

Suppose you bid 40 and play clubs, but the skat leaves you "with 2": the game is worth 36, less than 40. You lose even with 80 card points. The lost value is the next multiple of the base value at or above your bid, here 48, and it counts double.

Scoring

Each player keeps a running total. A declarer who wins scores the game value; a declarer who loses scores minus twice the game value. The defenders score nothing either way in the standard list. In our game a match is a set number of deals (six by default) or the first to a target score, and the highest total wins. At the end of every hand the game shows the value worked out line by line, for example "Clubs 12 × (with 2 + game 1 + schneider 1 = 4) = 48".