Skat

Skat is the most popular card game in Germany. Originating in the early part of the 19th century, it has not only been played in Germany, but was taken by German immigrants wherever they traveled, especially to the United States. Despite the fact that it was more popular [Page 637]among Germans in the United States than Pinochle, it was the latter game and not Skat that was banned in some places during World War I.

During that era, the game was frequently played by German soldiers on the front. The game is mentioned in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. The association of the game with soldiers was also demonstrated by the German Expressionist painter Otto Dix. Dix, who had been a soldier on the Western Front, in his paintings after the war depicted three severely maimed veterans in a painting/collage titled Cardplayers. They are missing eyes, hands, legs, and one has an artificial jaw, and they are playing the game that they would have known in the trenches—Skat. The game would also be played extensively by German troops in World War II, most notably on the Western Front during the “phony war” period prior to May 1940. An ongoing Skat game played by soldiers crippled in World War II figures in the novel The Officer Factory by the German writer Hans Helmut Kirst.

Skat has other associations as well. Many reminiscences of the 20th-century Austrian composer Richard Strauss include descriptions of his habit of playing Skat on an almost daily basis, either as a break between composing sessions or prior to conducting performances.

Like many other card games, there are many variations to the game, some of them based on the type of play, others based on preferences within the regions of Germany which, in turn, are quite different from versions played in the United States. In the United States, the main differences are some variations in play and a difference in how the game is scored. Since the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, the differences, some of which were cosmetic in the way the cards appeared and others having to do with rules, have been resolved.

Skat is played by three or four players with a 32-card deck with seven, eight, nine, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace in each of the four suits. In the four-handed version, cards are dealt to all but the dealer, who sits the game out; the role of dealer is rotated through the subsequent games.

The dealer deals cards to all the players. Players receive 10 cards each, with the two remaining cards, known as the skat, being placed in the center of the table. The first part of the game is known as bidding, in which each player bids based on the cards they have in relation to the values of those cards, and how many of them are of the trump suit. Whoever wins the bid then plays against the remaining two players.

The player who wins the bidding becomes the Declarer and can take the remaining two cards in the skat and discard two cards. The Declarer does not have to take the cards in the skat. The Declarer decides which suit will be the trump suit. The Declarer then plays a card and each of the players does likewise in an attempt to win the trick. Each player must play a card in the same suit as the Declarer's card, if they have it. Any player who cannot do this can play any card, including a card of the trump suit. The winner of the trick places the cards in that trick face down on the table. The two players who are playing against the Declarer place their tricks together.

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