Skat

Skat is a game for 3 or more people. Our online version can be played by 2 or 3 people. The game is named after two face-down cards called Skat.
The Skat pack consist of 32 cards (four suits of eight cards each). The suits, listed according to rank, are Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds.

Values of the cards

The Skat pack is thus worth a total of 120 points. 

What the cards mean: In Suit games one suit is always Trumps. The rank of the other suits remains the same. The highest Trumps of a Suit game are the Jacks in the order Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds, followed by the seven cards of the Trump Suit according to their respective points. In Grand games only the Jacks are Trumps in the order of their suits.
In Zero games the Jacks are also counted as a suit. The alternate ranking is Ace, King, Queen, Jack and then Ten, Nine, Eight and Seven. 

"With"
With refers to Trumps in consecutive order from the Jack of Clubs on. If the Soloist has the Jack of Clubs (including the two Skat cards), what counts is his or her existing Trumps. It is said that s/he is playing with Jacks. If s/he does not have the Jack of Clubs, the missing Trumps are counted, meaning s/he is playing "without".
Suit games are possible with or without eleven Trumps (four Jacks and seven Trump suits). Grand games are possible with or without a maximum of four Trumps (four Jacks).

Object of the game: The object of the game is to win as many tricks as possible and thus collect points.

Fellow players: The player who is the first to get cards is the Forehand (designated by the flag), the player to his or her left is the Middlehand and the third player is the Rearhand. The Forehand has the right to open the game and has the first option on the bids of the other players.

Game start: Each player receives 10 cards. Two Skat cards lie face-down in the middle.

Bids: After the cards are dealt out, bidding (offering and holding playing points) is used to determine the Soloist. The minimum bid is 18, followed by 20, 22, 24 etc.
The Forehand now asks the Middlehand to bid. If the Forehand has no 18, before s/he passes s/he has to wait for the offer of the Middlehand or, if this player also passes, the offer of the Rearhand. The Middlehand and the Rearhand are bound to the offers. If the Forehand cannot match or beat the bids, s/he has to pass. The third player then bids in the same way or else passes.
The declarer is the player who has offered or held the highest bid, and s/he opens the game.
The Forehand can draw a Skat without comment or call a Hand game. 

Calling a game: The Soloist who has started the game can now take two Skat cards and click on the two cards s/he wants to put away. The Soloist now has to make a valid announcement, e.g. announce a Hand or Ouvert game. The Soloist also determines Trump suit (except in Grand or Null).

Various playing options: There is a difference between Playing with Skat and Playing without Skat (Hand games). Both game categories also allow the possibility of choosing between a Suit game, Grand game or Null game.

Null game: In a Null game, the player tries to avoid winning any tricks. Only fixed base values are used. The sequence of cards is: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace for all Null games. In Null ouvert and Null ouvert hand, the Soloists puts his or her cards on the table immediately immediately, the first trick is not played hidden.

The Grand has a base score of 24, which means 48 points.

The "Grand ouvert" is the highest game in Skat. Its base score is 24.

The maximum is four Jacks with a multiplier of 11.
With 4 Jacks the score is calculated as follows: Game 5, Hand 6, Schneider (Tailor) 7, Schneider announced 8, Schwarz (Black) 9, Schwarz announced 10 and Open. 11 = 11 x 24 = 264 points.
The "Grand ouvert" is always a Hand game, meaning that no Skat is drawn. In this case the Forehand also deals. The Soloist has to show their ten cards before the start of the game, before the Forehand plays. In order to win, s/he has to win all ten tricks, 120 points are not enough.

Playing without Skat

Hand game means that the Soloist only uses the cards in his or her hand and does not draw the two Skat cards:
In Hand games there are seven winning levels, as well as the winning levels "Hand", "Schneider declared", "Schwarz declared" and "Open".

Schneider, Schwarz-announced Schneider and Schwarz can only be declared in Hand games. Schwarz only counts once, even in Hand games.

Playing with Skat

In "Playing with Skat" there are 3 winning levels. (see "Game score and winnings" below).

Opening and following suit: After a game is declared the Forehand deals, followed by the player who won the previous trick.
After the game is opened, the player to the left plays a card. S/he - and the third player - always have to play the same suit or play a Trump.
A player who does not have the right suit either has to play a Trump, i.e. take the trick, or play a card of a different suit. When a Trump is required, but cannot be played, any other card of another suit has to be played.

Tricks: A trick consists of a card from the Forehand, Middlehand and Rearhand. It is complete as soon as all three have played a card. The trick is won by the player who:

The player who takes the trick is the next to play. 

Game end
A hand is over once all cards have been played.

Scoring and winning
61 points win:
Once 61 points have been reached in a Suit or Grand game, the Soloist wins. There is one exception: when the Soloist has to reach a higher level. Every Suit and Grand game has a fixed base score, which is 9 for Diamonds, 10 for Hearts, 11 for Spades, 12 for Clubs, 24 for Grand and Grand ouvert.
Every Null game also has a fixed base score: 23 for Null, 35 for Null hand, 46 for Null ouvert and 59 for Null ouvert hand.

Winning
There are different winning levels for Suit and Grand games:

Category I:
1 Simple
2 Schneider
3 Schwarz

Category II:
1 Simple
2 Schneider
3 Schneider announced
4 Schwarz
5 Schwarz announced
6 Open

A Simple win means the Soloist has won their game after 61 points including the two Skat cards.
Schneider is the player who has won 30 points or less.
Schwarz is the player who has not won a single trick. If s/he has one single trick with no points s/he is the Schneider.
Schneider announced and Black announced is only calculated if the Soloist really announces the winning level for a Hand game. If s/he does not reach it, s/he has at least lost the game in the winning level declared. If s/he wins a higher level than the one declared, the higher level counts. If the Soloist loses in the wining level declared, this is not counted twice (there is no "self-Schneider").
Open/ Ouvert as a winning level occurs in Suit and Grand games. The Soloist cannot pass up a trick. These games automatically count as Schwarz announced. A Clubs ouvert with twos thus counts 9 x 12 = 108 points; a Grand ouvert with fours counts 11 x 24 = 264 points.
The Soloist wins a Null game if s/he doesn't win any tricks.

Game scores
The game scores of the individual games are calculated in points. With the exception of Null games, which have fixed scores, game scores depend on:

Trumps and winning levels are added up and form the sum of the hands. Both categories have the following options:
Category I (Games with Skat): Trumps (1 - 11) + Winning levels (1 - 3) = Sum of hands (2 - 14).

Category II (Hand games): Trumps (1 - 11) + Winning levels (2 - 7) = Sum of hands (3 - 18).

The sum of the hands is multiplied by the respective base score of the game announced, which results in the game score.
For the same winning level, Suit and Grand games with Trumps have the same score as games with a different amount of Trumps.
Every game lost must be entered into the game list with double the points or paid double.

Overbidding
Overbidding means that a player set a game score which s/he was not able to achieve, and thus loses.
If the offered bid is not reached in a Hand game, because the Trump needed was one of the Skat cards, the Soloist has overbid him or herself. S/he also loses if s/he wins more than 60 points in tricks.