Skat

Skat is a sophisticated trick-taking card game played with a piquet pack or an equivalent 32-card pack with German suits. It is reputedly one of the best 3-player games. Skat was invented in Altenburg, Germany in the early 19th century. Since the end of the 19th century it has been Germany's national game.

The official standard rules are defined in the Internationale Skatordnung (International Laws of Skat) of 1998, the common ruleset of the Deutscher Skatverband and the International Skat Players' Association. Disputes are settled by the German Skat Court in Altenburg. Locally played rules often reflect an earlier stage in the game's development or add further features. However, variations are generally restricted to bidding and scoring; the core rules of game play are minimalistic, stable, and standardized, comparable to the basic Whist rules that underlie the various forms of Bridge.

Modern standard rules
The game is played with a pack of 32 cards consisting of Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8 and 7 in four suits. The game is most commonly played with French-suited cards, although in some regions in Germany and Austria German-suited cards are preferred. The cards carry values as shown in the table, for a total of 120 card points. It can be observed that the 12 low cards have no point value at all, while 84 of the game's 120 card points are concentrated in the 8 high cards. Only the 12 court cards have point values close to the average.

Skat is played clockwise and for a full number of rounds. A round consists of 3 plays; it finishes after each player has dealt once. For each play, the dealer deals 10 cards to each player and deposits 2 cards face down in the middle as the skat. The dealer must follow the scheme 3–skat–4–3.

The players now bid for the privilege of choosing a contract and playing as a soloist against the party consisting of the other two. At the end of the play either the soloist or the opposition players will win, and the play will have a certain value that depends on the contract, the card points won by the respective parties, and several other factors. To keep the contract, the soloist must win the play and the value of the play must be at least as indicated by the bid. In this case the soloist scores the value of the play. A soloist who loses the play or who wins a game whose value is below the bidding value loses twice the value of the play or twice (an approximation to) the bidding value, whichever is higher.

The main purpose of the complicated bidding and scoring rules is to encourage the choice of a moderately risky contract. Among skilled skat players, all but the most extreme card distributions lead to interesting plays. Moreover, the alternation between playing alone and playing in various teams gives the game variety beyond that of most other auction games.

Suit and grand contracts
The soloist may announce a suit contract in any of the four suits. All four Jacks are trumps and full members of the trump suit. The card ranks within the trump suit are as shown in the table. Thus the highest trumps are always the Jack of clubs, Jack of spades, Jack of hearts and Jack of diamonds (in this order), followed by the Ace of trumps etc. As a result, one third of the cards (11 out of 32) are trumps, and the trump suit has considerably more cards than any of the three plain suits (11 vs. 7).

The soloist has the privilege of picking up the skat and discarding any two of the resulting 12 cards. The two discarded cards count towards the soloist's total card point score. This is a good opportunity to discard a single Ten in a suit in which the soloist does not hold any other cards. Two discarded Aces or Tens contribute one sixth of the total card points towards winning the play, a substantial contribution.

Regardless of who won the auction and announced the contract, forehand (the player to the dealer's left) leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit whenever possible. A player who cannot follow suit may play any other card. The trick is won by the party that played the highest trump. If the trick does not contain a trump, it is won by the party that played the highest card of the suit led. The player who won a trick leads to the next trick.

Generally it is an advantage for the opposing players if the player to the soloist's right leads. In this case the first opposing player can try to lead with a plain suit which their partner does not hold. The partner can then react very flexibly after seeing the card played by the soloist. It is much more tricky if the player to the soloist's left leads. A rule of thumb at the beginning of the game is "long path – short suit". Long path" refers to the path from the leading player to the soloist, the partner being in the way. "Short suit" is the recommendation that the leading player lead with a suit of which they hold only few cards.

A grand is played in exactly the same way as a suit contract, except that no natural suit is declared trumps. As a result, the four Jacks form a tiny trump suit on their own, and along with the 4 natural suits there is a total of 5 suits. The scarcity of trumps (at most four of the ten tricks may contain a trump) gives this contract a flavour that is very different to that of a suit contract.

After the last trick the parties count their card points and check that the total is 120. The soloist must win more than half of the card points, i.e. at least 61 points, to win the play. Otherwise the opposing players win the play. If one of the two parties scored 30 card points or less, the play is called schneider. If one of the parties won all tricks and the other none, the play is called schwarz. Since the two cards discarded by the soloist at the beginning have a maximal card value of 22 points, schneider implies schwarz.

The value of the play is determined by the formula
 * value = base value &times; (tops + multiplier).

The base value (see table) depends on the chosen trump suit. The tops are the number of top trumps held or not held by the soloist. A play is said to be "with n tops" if the soloist's 12 initial cards included the highest n trumps, starting with the Jack of clubs. It is said to be "without n tops" if the soloist's 12 initial cards included none of the highest n trumps. In either case n is the number used in the formula. The multiplier is always at least "1 for the play". It is increased by 1 if the game is schneider, and it is increased once more if it is schwarz.

The base value for a grand contract is 24, i.e. twice the base value of a clubs contract and almost three times the base value of a diamonds contract. This very high base value is often considered a weak point of skat. Among skilled players grand contracts tend to dominate, and are felt to be less interesting than ordinary suit contracts.

The player who won the auction with a bid of 48 holds Ten, King, Queen, 9, 8, 7 of hearts but no Jacks, and for some reason wants to play hearts. Ignoring schneider and schwarz, the player expects the play's value to be 10 &times; (1 + 5) = 60. The player now picks up the skat and finds the Jack of clubs. What was planned as a play without 5 tops becomes a play with 1 top. Again ignoring schneider and schwarz, we can expect a value of 10 &times; (1 + 1) = 20.
 * Example

The prospective soloist cannot possibly win all tricks, and even if this were possible the value would still be only 10 &times; (3 + 1) = 40. The player will have to switch to grand for a value of 24 &times; (1 + 1) = 48. Whether this can be won depends on the other cards and the player's skills.

Null contracts
Like many solo games, Skat also allows the choice of a negative contract, in this case called null. The objective for the soloist is to lose all tricks. The card points are irrelevant in this case, and in fact the Tens rank in their natural position immediately above the 9. Moreover, there are no trumps, and the Jacks also rank in their natural position between the Queen and Ten.

An important rule of thumb for checking whether a hand is suitable for a null contract is that "nobody goes below 7, 9 and Jack". The contract is safe if all suits are safe.

The soloist may also choose to play without picking up the skat. This is known as a null hand. Another variant is null ouvert, in which the soloist plays with all their hand cards spread face up on the table. These two variants can be combined to obtain an even higher play value.

The values of the null contracts were chosen so that they are between the values of the clubs and spades contracts with 1, 2, 3 and 4 tops, respectively. Historically, the null ouvert is responsible for the grand's base value of 24. The grand previously had a base value of 20, as is still the case in some local variants. It was changed because it was felt inappropriate that a null ouvert (46 points) could beat a grand with or without 1 top (previously 20 &times; 2 = 40 points) in the bidding phase. In the modern standard rules a grand with or without 1 top is worth 24 &times; 2 = 48, which is slightly more than a null ouvert.

Hand contracts
A soloist who chooses a suit or grand contract may decide to play a hand contract, i.e. not to pick up the skat, to increase the game value. In this case the player has less information about total card distribution and the expected value of the play. Except for the higher play value, the skat is treated as if the soloist had picked up and discarded the two cards. In particular, any trumps contained in the skat factor into the determination of the number of tops.

A hand contract (and only a hand contract ) may be further modified by announcing schneider, schwarz or ouvert. By announcing schneider or schwarz, the soloist guarantees not only to win, but to also ensure that the play ends in schneider or schwarz, respectively. Ouvert is a stronger form of a schwarz announcement in which the soloist places all hand cards face up on the table and plays them out from there. Ouvert implies announcements of schneider and schwarz, and by announcing schwarz the soloist implicitly announces schneider as well.

To win a play in which schneider has been announced, the soloist must ensure that the opponent players win at most 30 card points worth of tricks. To win a schwarz contract, the soloist must win all tricks.

If the soloist did not announce schneider (or schwarz, ouvert), the value of a hand contract is determined in exactly the same way as an ordinary suit or grand contract, except that the multiplier is increased by "1 for hand".

If the soloist announced schneider but not schwarz, the multiplier is always increased by "1 for hand", "1 for schneider" and "1 for schneider announced". Thus the total multiplier is 4, or 5 in case either party wins all tricks. There is no "eigenschneider", i.e. "1 for schneider" is never added more than once.

If the soloist announced schwarz but not ouvert, the multiplier is always increased by "1 for hand", "1 for schneider", "1 for schneider announced", "1 for schwarz" and "1 for schwarz announced". If the soloist announced ouvert, an additional "1 for ouvert" is added.

Details of bidding and scoring
The player to the dealer's left is known as forehand and the following player as middlehand. The third player is called rearhand. In the case of four players (in which case a round consists of four plays and the dealer does not participate in the play), this is the player to the dealer's right. Otherwise the dealer is rearhand.

The bidding follows the principle "deal – speak – listen – continue to speak", i.e. initially middlehand makes a numerical bid to which forehand replies by confirming (to bid the same number) or passing. Middlehand repeats with a higher until either of them passes. After that, rearhand similarly addresses whichever of the first two players has not passed yet. One may only bid numbers that can occur as a play value, so the smallest legal bid is 18 (for diamonds with or without one top).

As a simple example, suppose forehand plans to play clubs hand without 2 tops (12 &times; (2 + 2) = 48), middlehand wants to play null (23), and rearhand wants to play grand without 1 top (24 &times; (1 + 1) = 48). Then one could witness the following conversation: In the example, middlehand does not omit any legal bids. By passing right after 23, middlehand gives away information about their cards. Rearhand initially continues the sequence with 24, but then jumps right to their own limit of 48. Since this is held by forehand and rearhand cannot go higher, forehand becomes the soloist and undertakes to win a play that is worth at least 48 points.

According to the official rules, if all three players pass without a bid, the play does not take place and the deal passes to the next player. Since this is usually a sign of at least one player being overly cautious, it is an almost universal practice to play a game called Ramsch in this situation. The most important feature of Ramsch is that each of the three players is playing on their own and all card points in tricks are negative.

It can happen that the soloist wins the play, but the value of the play is less than the bid. Leaving aside miscalculations, this often happens in the case of hand games with two or more tops, if there is a high Jack in the skat. It can also happen if the soloist expected to win the game with schneider or even schwarz, but decided not to announce this (in the case of a hand game) or was not allowed to do so (after picking up the skat). In both cases the problem is that the sum tops + multiplier is too small. Similar things can also happen when the soloist loses. In any case, if the value of the play is less than the bid, the multiplier is increased until the value is at least the bid. As always, the soloist pays twice the play value, in this case twice the increased value.

If, after picking up the skat, the soloist realizes that the intended contract is not winnable and there is no alternative, it is best to announce the cheapest contract possible under the circumstances. Its value must be at least that of the bid. E.g. a player who won the auction at 20 points and has the Jack of hearts but not the two higher Jacks, and who does not see a chance to win a play, would announce a null and lose 2 &times; 23 = 46 points. (The second cheapest option would be diamonds without two tops at 2 &times; 9 &times; (1 +2 ) = 54.) The player need not worry about losing even more due to schneider or schwarz: So long as the soloist holds at least 9 hand cards, they are allowed to unilaterally declare the play lost. In this case it is not finished, and schneider and schwarz do not apply.

Different numbers of players
There are no convincing Skat variants for more or less than three players. Two players who insist on playing a Skat-like game have the choice between Grandmother Skat, in which the simulated third player does not need to follow suit, and Officers' Skat, which is only very vaguely related to Skat.

Four players can be accommodated if the dealer pauses and a round is redefined as consisting of four plays. The official Skat rules are formulated so as to make sense for three or more players.

Before the first Skat congress
The earliest written record of a game called "Scat" is in a notebook of Hans Karl Leopold von der Gabelentz in Altenburg and is dated 1813. Presumably this already referred to a game that was invented around that time by a card players' club in Altenburg. It mixed elements of the games Wendischer Schafskopf, L'Hombre, German Solo and Tarock. In 1818 Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hempel discussed in in a weekly newspaper, the Osterländische Blätter, and in 1833 and 1848 he wrote about later stages in the game's development.

Initially Tens ranked low, the dealer automatically became the soloist, and there were no grand, hand or null contracts. In an early bidding system based only on suits, the play values were 1, 2, 3, 4 for bells (diamonds), hearts, leaves (spades) and acorns (clubs), respectively. As of 1820 the sequence of play values was 1, 2, 3, 4; plus 4 in case of a hand contract.

Once the game had reached Leipzig University it began to spread all over Germany. Bonuses for tops were introduced and in more progressive circles even became relevant in the bidding phase. The skat world split into proponents of conservative suit-based bidding and those of the new value-based bidding.

A large number of additional contracts were introduced during the 19th century. Some of them have long been forgotten, while others are still widely played. Most notably, the game of Ramsch – although no longer part of the official rules – is still played by most circles in case no player bids.

Tourné Skat
To combat the uncontrolled growth of rule variants in what was since 1871 a unified Germany, in August 1886 the roughly 1000 players assembled at the 1st Skat Congress in Altenburg approved the first official German rules of Skat. These rules were already very similar to those of modern Skat, but with a number of key differences. One of them is that lost plays were not doubled.

Ordinary suit contracts were known as call contracts, and hand contracts as solo contracts. Call contracts were rarely played because of their low base values. Much more common were tourné contracts: Before picking up the skat, the soloist exposed one of the two cards to determine trumps. A soloist who uncovered a Jack could choose between the Jack's natural suit as trumps and a tourné grand. All other grand or null contracts were hand contracts.

Crucially, the rules prescribed the 'conservative' bidding method that is known as suit bidding. The ranking among the different categories of contracts was call, tourné, solo (in a suit), grand. Within the same category, the contracts were ranked by suit. Other factors such as the number of matadors (tops) only became relevant at the end of the play.

Regarding null [hand] and null ouvert, a choice between two rankings was offered. One ranked null between spades solo and clubs solo, and null ouvert above grands with or without 1 top and without schneider. The other method ranked both null contracts according to a numerical bidding scheme based on total play value.

The rules also mention a variant without call contracts. In this variant, if all players pass ramsch, a negative variant of grand without a soloist is played for a value of typically 10 points.

One year before the Deutscher Skatverband, the American Skat League was founded in 1898 at a meeting of 300 mostly German players in St. Louis. The congress also approved official rules of American Skat. These were very similar to the 1886 "Reichs-Skat" rules but preferred the number bidding system over suit bidding. They also described additional optional contracts. Guckser grand was like the modern grand contract, i.e. the soloist was allowed to pick up the skat. The base value was 12 points if won and 24 if lost. As a minor difference, in American Skat the opposing players are not schneider if they reach exactly 30 points.

According to David Parlett, "American Skat" is still played by a few players in Milwaukee. The call contracts are no longer played. The base value for guckser grand is now 16 if won or 32 if lost, and that of grand [hand] has been increased to 20. In tourné, the soloist privately looks at the first card from the skat and may decide not to accept it ("passt mir nicht") and show the second instead. In that case the base value of the play is doubled.

Neue Deutsche Skatordnung
World War I caused an interruption of the standardisation efforts for Skat, but the game was played widely in the trenches. By 1923 Artur Schubert, a proponent of bidding by suit, published an alternative Skatordnung for bidding by numbers. This marked the breakthrough for the unification of the game. The next Skat congress, 1927 in Altenburg, approved standardisation on number bidding, and in the following year the 12th Skat Congress approved the Neue Deutsche Skatordnung. With some amendments made in 1932, it was in effect until 1998. The main differences compared to the modern rules were that hand games were not doubled when lost, and while all suit contracts could be played ouvert implying hand as today, grand ouvert had a separate base value of 36.

Some American players mixed the new rules with American rules, resulting in Texas Skat. Of more than local significance were a number of simplifications introduced in 1976 by the then recently founded International Skat Players Association (ISPA). The main differences compared to the modern rules were that grand ouvert did not imply schwarz, null hand did not exist, and the value of null ouvert was 69. The much larger Deutscher Skatverband rejected the changes, and in 1978 banned simultaneous membership in both organizations. The ban was lifted in 1998 by the 27th Skat Congress in Halle, when it approved the new International Laws of Skat that had been agreed with ISPA as a compromise.