Games of the World: Skat, Germany's national card game
Born in Altenburg around 1810, played by some 25 million Germans: bidding 18, 20, 22…, one against two, jacks as top trumps and 61 points to win. Why online Skat so often means money — and why we are considering it.
The eighth article in our "Games of the World" series is about a card game that Germans call their national game. According to the German Skat Association, about 25 million Germans play it — more than play football. This is Skat.
Born in Altenburg
Skat was invented around 1810–1813 in the small town of Altenburg (now in Thuringia) by members of a local card club of Tarock lovers. From the games they knew they put together a new one: for three players, with bidding and a hidden widow.
Altenburg is still the capital of Skat. The first Skat congress was held there in 1886, the International Skat Court, which settles disputed deals from all over the world, sits there, and in 2016 Skat was added to Germany's national list of intangible cultural heritage — for training the mind and bringing people of different ages to one table.
How to play
- Three players and a deck of 32 cards: 10 each, and two cards go face down into the widow — that is the "skat". If four sit at the table, the dealer sits out the deal.
- Bidding. In turn, players name the possible value of their game — 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30 and up. The highest bidder becomes the declarer and plays alone against two.
- Contract. The declarer may pick up the skat and discard two cards, then announces the game: a suit game (trumps are the jacks plus one suit), grand (only the four jacks are trumps) or null (a promise to take no tricks at all).
- Play. Ten tricks. In suit and grand games the jacks are the top trumps, and the jack of clubs is the highest of all.
- Card points: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2. The deck holds 120 points; the declarer needs 61. Take 90 and it is "schneider", take every trick and it is "schwarz" — and the game is worth more.
Why people love Skat
In Skat every deal is a little drama. Bidding is bluff and calculation: bid too low and you give the game away, bid too high and you lose. The two defenders play together without any agreement — only through the cards they put on the table. And the value of the game depends on how many top jacks you hold — or precisely don't hold, because "without two" counts as well.
Skat is a game for years: you can learn the rules in an evening, but people spend their whole lives learning to play it well. No wonder Germany has clubs, leagues and national championships, and the International Skat Players Association holds European and world championships.
Skat online
There is plenty of Skat online, but usually with a catch. Big platforms sell game chips, premium access and special cards, and on some of them tournament entry fees are paid in money and winnings are paid out in money too. For our club that door is closed: the club does not run games for money.
And at VOG?
Status at VOG: under consideration. Skat is in our games catalogue as one of the most promising of the new card games. It is close to Preferans, which is in development — also three players, bidding, a widow and one against two — and that is a good basis for making Skat the way it is played in Germany: with a rating, tournaments and game analysis, but without money.
If you play Skat, write to us: which rules you use and what is missing from the online Skat you know.