Then, ten tricks are played, allowing players to take trick points: each card has a face value (except in Null games) and is worth that amount in points for the player winning the trick. The game can also be played in a round of four players in this case, the dealer will sit out the hand that was dealt.Ī central aspect of the game are the three coexisting varieties called “suit game”, “Grand” and “Null”, that are differing in suit order, scoring and even overall goal to achieve.Įach deal starts with a bidding phase to determine declarer and type of game. The two defenders are not allowed to communicate in any way except by their choice of cards to play. At the beginning of each deal, one player becomes declarer and the other two players become the defending team. Skat is a game for exactly three players. 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.

The word scarto is one still used in other Italian card games to this day, and in some German works the word is found spelled 'scat'.

The very word Skat is a Tarok term deriving from the Italian word scarto, 'scartare', which means to discard or reject, and its derivative 'scatola', a box, or a place for safe-keeping. The current rules, followed by both the ISPA and the German Skat Federation, date from Jan.

Nevertheless, the rules continued to differ by region until the first attempt to set them in order was made by a congress of Skat players on Saturday, 7 August 1886 in Altenburg, being the first official rules finally published in book form in 1888 by Theodor Thomas of Leipzig. The first text book on the rules of Skat was published in 1848 by a secondary school Professor called J. But the main innovation of this new game was then that of the Bidding process. In the earliest known form of the game, the player in prior position was dealt twelve cards to the other players' ten each, made two discards, constituting the skat, and then announced a contract. Skat was developed by the members of the Brommesche Tarok-Gesellschaft between 18 in Altenburg, in what is now the Federated State of Thuringia, Germany, based on the three-player game of Tarock, also known as Tarot, and the four-player game of Schafkopf (the American equivalent being Sheepshead).

4.2 Scoring in North American (Tournee) Skat.

4.1 The Games in North American (Tournee) Skat.

Scat card game