How to Play

Skat is Germany's national three-player trick-taking card game. Played with 32 cards, it combines an auction, three distinct contract types (Suit, Grand, Null), and a sophisticated scoring system with multipliers.

Skat is the national card game of Germany and one of the most strategically rich trick-taking games ever designed. Invented around 1810 in the Saxon town of Altenburg, it combines an auction, three competing game types, a uniquely layered trump hierarchy, and a point-scoring system based on card captures and multipliers. Three active players play each hand: one 'declarer' against two defenders. To win, the declarer must not only take enough card points but also match the value of the contract they won in the auction.

Players

Skat is always a three-player game in the sense that three players are active each hand. With four at the table, the dealer sits out and only deals; with five, both the dealer and the player to the dealer's left sit out. A four-handed Skat evening is the common social form.

Card Deck

• Use the 32-card German Skat deck, or a standard 52-card deck with 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s removed. Every suit has exactly 8 cards: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7.A♠10♠K♠Q♠J♠9♠8♠7♠
• In Suit and Grand games the trump hierarchy is layered. The four Jacks are always the four highest trumps, ranked by suit: J♣ > J♠ > J♥ > J♦. Below them, the trump suit's remaining cards rank A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7.J♣J♠J♥J♦A♠10♠K♠Q♠
• Non-trump suits rank A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7 (Ten above King).A♠10♠K♠Q♠
• Card point values (120 pips total in the deck): Ace = 11, Ten = 10, King = 4, Queen = 3, Jack = 2; all other cards = 0.A♠10♠K♠Q♠J♠

Objective

You bid in an auction for the right to play as declarer. If you win the auction, you play alone against the other two (the defenders) and must capture at least 61 of the 120 card points and reach the multiplier-based game value you bid. Fall short on either count and you lose the contract at double its value. Defenders win by stopping you on either count. Running scores over many deals determine the overall winner.

Setup and Deal

1. Seats: Forehand (left of dealer, leads first), Middlehand (middle seat), Rearhand (dealer in a three-player game, or dealer's right in a four-handed game).
2. Shuffle, cut, and deal 10 cards to each player in the Skat pattern: three cards, two cards face-down to the table (the skat), four cards, three cards.
3. Deal rotates one seat clockwise after each hand.
4. The auction follows immediately.

The Auction

1. Middlehand bids to Forehand first. Middlehand calls progressively higher values (18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30...). After each call Forehand says 'Yes' to hold, or 'Pass'. If Forehand says 'Yes', Middlehand may raise again or pass.
2. Winner takes on Rearhand. Rearhand then bids against whichever of Forehand or Middlehand is still in, using the same yes/pass pattern.
3. The last player standing becomes declarer and must play a contract of at least the value they won.
4. All three pass: The hand is either thrown in or played as Ramsch (optional variant, see Variations).
5. Legal bid values are the possible game values generated by multipliers (18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 40, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50...). Beginners can simply climb by 1 and check legality at the end.

The Skat and Choice of Contract

1. Pick up or 'Hand': The declarer may either pick up the two skat cards, add them to their hand, and discard any two face-down to score with their tricks; or declare 'Hand' and play with the skat untouched (which adds a +1 multiplier).
2. Announce the contract:
3. Suit games (Clubs, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds): the chosen suit is trump in addition to the four Jacks. Base values are Clubs = 12, Spades = 11, Hearts = 10, Diamonds = 9.
4. Grand: only the four Jacks are trump; every other card is a normal suit. Base value 24.
5. Null: declarer wins by losing every trick. No trumps; cards rank in numerical order A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each suit. Fixed values: Null = 23, Null Hand = 35, Null Ouvert = 46, Null Ouvert Hand = 59.A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠9♠8♠7♠
6. Ouvert: declarer plays with their hand face-up. Valid only in Null contracts or in a Hand-announced Suit/Grand.

Trick Play

1. Forehand always leads the first trick. Each subsequent trick is led by its winner.
2. Follow-suit is strict. You must play a card of the suit led if you have one. If you cannot follow, you may play any card, including a trump to win.
3. Remember the Jacks count as trumps, not as their 'suit' in Suit and Grand contracts. So a lead of a Jack is a trump lead; if you hold no Jacks and no other trumps, play any card.
4. Winning the trick: Highest trump wins (with J♣ topping everything), otherwise the highest card of the led suit. The winner gathers the three cards face-down to their personal trick pile.J♣
5. Ten tricks are played. The two skat cards are added to the declarer's captured cards at the end (unless played Hand, in which case they were already committed).

Scoring Suit and Grand Contracts

• Count card points in the declarer's captured cards (skat included).
• To win outright: declarer needs 61+ of 120 pips.
• Schneider: declarer captures 90+ pips (defenders 30 or fewer). Worth an extra multiplier point.
• Schwarz: declarer captures every trick. Worth another extra multiplier point.
• Multipliers (the 'game level'): Start at 1 for 'with Jacks' (having J♣, or having a consecutive chain of top trumps starting from J♣) or 'without Jacks' (missing J♣, then J♠, J♥, J♦ and further trumps as the chain of absences continues down the trump ladder). Add 1 for 'game' (the base win). Add 1 each for Hand, Schneider, Schwarz, Ouvert, or announcing Schneider / Schwarz in advance.J♣J♠J♥J♦
• Game value = (base suit value) × (multipliers). The declarer must have bid at or below this number in the auction, or they lose even if they took 61+ pips.
• Won contract: add the full game value to the declarer's score.
• Lost contract: subtract twice the game value (or double the highest legal value that still covers the bid, whichever is larger).

Scoring Null Contracts

• No card points are counted. The declarer must lose every single trick.
• Taking any trick loses the contract. Score is the fixed value of the chosen Null: 23, 35 (Hand), 46 (Ouvert), or 59 (Ouvert Hand).
• Won Null: add that value to the declarer's score. Lost Null: subtract twice that value.

Winning

A Skat session has no single deal that ends the whole game; players keep a running score over an agreed number of hands (often 24, 36, or 48 in tournament play). Bonuses and penalties may apply at the end: the player in the lead wins. In casual four-handed play, the sitting-out dealer earns no score that hand but collects their own wins when their turn comes round again.

Common Variations

• Ramsch: When everyone passes, Ramsch is played. Each player plays for themselves, Jacks are the only trumps, and the player with the fewest card points at the end wins; whoever takes most pips typically gets a heavy penalty.
• Bock Rounds: A series of hands where all scores are doubled. Triggered by specific events (a lost contract, three successive wins, a player reaching a round number of points).
• Tournament Skat: Played under rules of the Deutscher Skatverband (DSkV); includes exact legal bid tables and Ramsch handling.
• Officers' Skat (two-player): A two-player variant played without an auction, with some cards face-up and face-down on the table; cards are drawn from those stacks rather than held in hand.

Tips and Strategy

• Count Jacks like they were gold. Because the four Jacks are the four highest trumps in every Suit or Grand game, possessing J♣ alone is usually enough to consider a 20-point contract; J♣ + J♠ often enough for a 22 or 27.J♣J♠
• The skat cards are a scoring resource. In a Suit contract, burying (discarding) two Tens in the skat locks 20 pips into your captures for free; just make sure the discards are not in your trump suit.
• Draw trumps early as declarer. Two rounds of trump leads usually strip both defenders of trumps, leaving your Aces and Tens safe.
• Defenders: watch the declarer's discards. A card the declarer refuses to lead is often a weak spot; attack those suits hard.
• Beware overbidding. If you bid 24 but can only actually produce a 20-value contract, the auction winner loses immediately, regardless of the cards.
• Null contracts favour a flat, evenly split hand. A 7 or 8 in each of three suits with no high cards is a strong Null.

Glossary

• Skat: The two face-down cards placed in the middle during the deal; also the name of the whole game.
• Declarer / Alleinspieler: The auction winner; plays alone against the two defenders.
• Forehand / Vorhand: The player to the dealer's left, who leads the first trick.
• Hand game: Contract played without picking up the skat; earns a +1 multiplier.
• Schneider: Taking 90+ card points (or giving defenders 30 or fewer).
• Schwarz: Winning every trick.
• Null: Contract to lose every trick.
• Ouvert: Contract played with the declarer's hand face-up on the table.
• Ramsch: The 'rubbish' round played when nobody bids; fewest pips wins.
• Matadors: Top trumps held in unbroken sequence starting with J♣ ('with') or missing from that sequence ('without'). Sets the Jack count multiplier.J♣