Skat: bidding, games and game values

Skat is played by three: one declarer against two defenders who play together. Playcards follows the International Skat Order (ISkO) of the German and the International Skat Players Associations; the rules below are a short summary in our own words.

Start a game

1. Open the Skat tab and choose Against the computer.
2. Give both computer seats a Level. Strong players think ahead by trying out many possible card distributions before every card.
3. Under Cards choose French suits (♣ ♠ ♥ ♦) or German suits (Acorns, Leaves, Hearts, Bells). Each suit has its own symbol and corner letter; if red and black look alike to you, choose Four colours (easier to tell apart) under Help → Settings → Suit colours.
4. Press Deal the cards.

Each player gets ten cards; two cards are put aside face down — the Skat.

Bidding

Before the game the players bid for the right to be declarer. The bids are not free numbers: they are the possible game values 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 40 …

• Middlehand bids to Forehand. Forehand answers Yes, I hold … or Pass.
• The survivor then bids against Rearhand, or is asked by Rearhand.
• The table always shows the Current bid. Press Bid … with the next value, Pass, or Bid this to choose your own value.

Only bid as high as your hand can reach — see “Game values” below. If all three pass, the cards are dealt again (or Ramsch is played if you switched it on under House rules).

Skat or Hand

As declarer you decide:

• Pick up the Skat: the two cards join your hand. Choose two cards and press Put the two cards away — they still count for you at the end.
• Play Hand: you leave the Skat alone. That raises the game value, and only a Hand game may announce Schneider, Schwarz or Ouvert.

Then choose the game: a suit game (Clubs/Acorns, Spades/Leaves, Hearts, Diamonds/Bells), Grand (only the four Jacks are trumps) or Null (you must not take a single trick).

Playing the tricks

Forehand leads. You must follow suit; the Jacks are trumps and belong to the trump suit, not to their printed suit. The declarer needs 61 card points to win (Ace 11, 10 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2). With 90 points the declarer plays the opponents Schneider, with all ten tricks Schwarz.

Game values

The value of a suit game or Grand is base value × multiplier:

The multiplier starts with the matadors: how many top trumps in a row (from the Jack of Clubs down) the declarer holds — “with 2” — or lacks — “without 3”. Add one for the game itself and one each for Hand, Schneider, Schneider announced, Schwarz, Schwarz announced and Ouvert.

Example: Clubs with 2, played Hand = 12 × (2 + 1 + 1) = 48. Null games have fixed values: 23, Hand 35, Ouvert 46, Ouvert Hand 59.

If the game value ends up below your bid, you have overbid: the game is lost at least with the bid value rounded up to the next possible game value of that kind.

Scoring

A won game scores its value for the declarer; a lost one costs twice the value. The Points table shows the running list. Under House rules you can choose Seeger-Fabian scoring (±50, 40 per defender) as used in tournaments.

Next steps

• Check a game value before you bid: the Skat game-value tool explained in Saved tables, statistics and AI tools.
• Play Skat with two friends online: Playing with friends on one device or online.