GAMEPLAY

The following description is based on the official game rules dated January 1^st, 1999.

The game is meant for three players.

The dealer is selected at random. Another dealer is the player clockwise.

A 32-card pack is used to play Skat; from Ace to Seven. Two variants of suits are used - the German suit (used widely some time ago but now the custom refers to Southern and Eastern Germany, including Altenburg) - with different names and ranks as well as the French suit, which is commonly used.

There are 2 basic variants of the game - an official one and an unofficial one (bars and pubs). The other one has a few variations, which have been implemented here.

The game is about collecting tricks. Each player is dealt 10 cards. The remaining cards for the so-called skat (in other words).

The game is started with bidding. The winner becomes a (sole) "declarer" and plays against two other players (opponents). The declarer is allowed to use a card from the skat in order to improve the cards in hand. He or she is also allowed to select the trump suit.

In order to win, the dealer must score at least 61 pts in cards and the skat; the opponents win when they score at least 60 pts.

Card value:

Cards seniority:

In other games - from Ace to Seven, but Jacks are always the highest trumps according to the seniority of suits. The strongest trump is Jack Club (called the old one), and then Jack Spades, Hearts, Diamonds.

Concluding:

Seniority and computational value of the suits:

Clubs (kreuz) - 12 pts

Spades (green) - 11 pts

Hearts (herz) - 10 pts

Diamonds (shell) - 9 pts

The declarer can select the so-called Grand as a suit (Jacks are trump cards then) or Null (no trick game; the declarer's task is not to collect a single trick in such a game).

In Skat players are obliged to follow the suit. However, there is no obligation either to beat with a higher card or to beat the trump. When a player has not got a card of the suit, any card can be played.

BIDDING / AUCTION

Each dealing consists of bidding and playing.

Bidding is run with points calculated on the basis of points of the game value. The declarer (the player who wins the bidding) plays against two other players, whose points are scored together.

In Skat the position of a player at the table in relation to the dealer is essential.

The player on the left of the dealer is called forehand (F), on the right - middlehand (M) and the dealer is called rearhand (R).

Bidding is started by the middlehand, who examines the forehand (up from 18 pts in sequence). The player confirms possessing the number of points of denies it by clicking pass. The moment that one of the player passes, the rearhand starts bidding. The rearhand should bid a higher number than the opponent or pass, too.

When all the three players pass, a new dealing is started.

The exception to the rule is an unofficial game with the Ramsch variant marked (discussed in the game variant).

The points bid at this game stage indicate the number of points the solo player is going to score. However the points are for the cards, not forecast for the game, i.e. resulting from the sum of the value of the cards in hand.

Each value in bidding defines the number of points which is possible to be scored in the game. The values allowed are 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 40, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 54, 55, 59, 60 etc. In the game window the successive values are set automatically. If a player selects the value and bid, it means that he or she declares to score the number of points for the game. There are two kinds of points - points for the cards and points for the game. Calculating the value of card points involves summarizing the value of particular cards; the points scored for the game depend on various multipliers.

The game value in game points depends on the trump selected, the position of matadors, as well as whether the declarer has used the skat.

If the opponents scored at least 60 points, the sole player loses the game. In this moment, if he or she exchanged the cards, i.e. collected the skat, he or she scores the doubled number of negative points.

If the opponents did not score the required minimum number of points necessary to win, the sole player's winning depends on a number of factors, which are presented below.

The bid winner is allowed to select two game variants: from hand or with the skat.

In case of selecting the game with the skat, the player collects the cards from the skat from the table and adds them to the cards in hand without presenting them to the opponents. He or she replaces them with any two cards from hand. The cards collected from the skat can also be put back. The points scored for the cards returned to the scat are included in the card points.

Having selected the kind of game, it is possible to declare a contract - 6 options presented above, i.e. Suits, Grand and Null.

If a player declares the Suit Hand or Grand Hand, he or she can raise the bid by declaring:

These declarations do not apply in case of a NULL game.

Such declarations are to be announced before the first trick is played. However, they cannot be announced if the skat has been exchanged.

If the NULL game is selected the Open (Ouvert) game variant can be declared.

WARNING: In an unofficial game variant Schneider, Schwarz or Open can be declared in case of exchanging the skat.

GAMEPLAY

No matter who won the bidding, the first trick is always led to by the forehand; the other ones are led to by the player who has collected the previous one.

The trick (sztych) is a set of cards played by all the players in one lead (three cards).

The game is over when all the players get rid of their cards in hand.

The kinds of wins:

GAME VALUE CALCULATING

Calculating game value for the games with the declared Suit or Grand:

The game value results from multiplying the two numbers: the base value for the suit (quoted earlier) as well as the multiplier.

The value of the multiplier is the sum of the points according to the table below:

The example of the way of calculating:

Warning: The rules are the official tournament rules. In unofficial games Schneider and Schwarz or Open can be announced in every game (i.e. for example players do not have to play from hand (with no skat) in order to announce Schneider or they do not have to announce Schwarz in order to play Open). Here is the table of possible game values:

Matadors:

Club Jack, other Jacks and a trump suit in an unbroken sequence with it are named matadors.

If there is such a sequence in cards or skat, the matadors are like this:

If the player does not have some, he or she plays against the matadors.

Examples of matadors ( as a trump suit)
J, J, J, A, 10, Q, 9	For 1
J, J, J, J, A, 10, K	For 7
J, J, A, K, Q, 7	Against 1
J, A, 10, K, Q, 7	Against 3

Explanation:

Line 1: there is a Club Jack, then there should be Spade Jack, but there is not - so there is 1 matador

Line 2: there are 4 Jacks, i.e. 4 matadors, then A, 10, K - so the strongest card sequence, i.e. there are 7 matadors (7 cards of the sequence)

Line 3: there are Jacks, Ace, King, but 1 matador is missing - so the game is against the first one.

Line 4: the game is against 3.

NOTE:

The official tournament: the matadors count as matadors even if the player did not look at skat.

Unofficial rules: If the game is from hand, and the player did not look at skat, the matadors from skat are not counted.

The game multiplier is always counted regardless the player wins or loses.

The value of Null games:

GAME VARIANTS:

Kontra and Re

It is a very popular game variant.

Both opponents of the declarer (the sole player) are allowed to say Kontra before the second trick is taken. It doubles the value of the contract, whether won or lost.

The declarer can say Re then, which doubles the contract again.

The score is doubled, not the value of the contract.

Example:

Suppose, the bid was 20, the player looked at the skat and played diamonds. The player has only one matador and wishes to make the opponent Schneider. The opponent says Kontra and collects 85 card points.

Since the player has 1 matador, the game value is 18, the game is lost. So, the result based on the lowest multiple of diamonds which would have been sufficient, i.e. 27. The player loses double because he or she looked at the skat and the score is doubled again for the Kontra, so the player loses 108 game points altogether.

Ramsch:

It is also a very popular game variant.

If all the players pass, the cards are not dealt again and the Ramsch game is started.

The card value is the same as in case of the Grand game, but the game objective is to avoid collecting points. The player who collects the most points loses.

Each player is allowed to collect the skat cards and play two cards from hand. The cards can be collected by another player if he or she decides to collect the skat. The cards are to be collected before the decision what to play. The exchange is started by forehand, then the middlehand and finally rearhand. If the player decides not to exchange skat, the score for hand is doubled. Jacks cannot be passed on.

Skat is collected by the winner, i.e. the one who has the most.

The amount lost is the number of card points taken.

If two players scored the same number of points, both players lose.

If three players scored the same number of points, (40 pts each), the result is not scored.

The player who did not collect any tricks is called a Virgin (Jungfrau). If there is such a player, the negative points are doubled. If the player collects all the tricks, in the Ramsch game, he or she scores 120 positive points, not negative ones.

Bockrounds:

A Bockround is a round (3 dealings) played for a double stake. It refers to doubling the final scores on the score sheet; the bidding and the game values remain unaffected.

Bockround is usually played when:

After every third bockround there is a compulsory round of Ramsch.

The Ramsch rounds are played according to the Ramsch rules, including the possibility of playing Grand.

Starting with the first player (forehand) in the round, the players have the possibility of announcing GrandHand.

If nobody wants to play GrandHand, a regular Ramsch round begins.

Having completed 3 Ramsch rounds, the game continues with regular rounds.

SCORING

Example (official rules):

GThe middlehand has the following cards: J, J, 10, K, 9, 8, A, A, 10, 7 and decides to play Clubs (kreuze) from hand; it should give 48 pts (against 2, game 3, from hand 4, 4 x Clubs = 48).

Rearhand has null ouvert and raises up to 46; and then the middlehand says "yes".

The middlehand plays Clubs and collects 74 card points (together with the skat), but unfortunately the skat contains the Club Jack and Heart Queen .

So, he or she plays with 1 matador (not against 2, as it was expected) and wins only 36 (with 1, game 2, hand 3, once 12 for Clubs), which is less than he or she has bid.

In this case the middlehand loses 96 pts (twice 48 pts which are the minimum value necessary to win the game).

If the player collected 95 card points, he or she would win the undeclared Schneider and have 48 pts (with 1, game 2, hand 3, Schneider 4, x12 = 48) and would win 48 pts.

In order to minimize the difference between different contracts, the official rules claim that:

GAMEOVER

The game is over when one of the players scores or exceeds 1000 pts in the last dealing.