Skat

Skat is played by three players with 32 cards: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in each suit. Each player gets ten cards and the remaining two go face down in the middle: the skat. Play is clockwise. The player to the dealer's left is forehand, the next is middlehand and the dealer is rearhand.

The auction decides who plays alone, the declarer. Bids are game values: 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30 and so on. Middlehand bids to forehand, who says yes to hold or passes; then rearhand bids to whoever is left. The senior player only has to say yes, while the junior has to go higher. If nobody bids, forehand may play at 18 or throw the hand in.

The declarer may pick up the skat and put two cards back, or play Hand without looking. Then they choose the game. In a suit game the four Jacks are always the top trumps (♣ ♠ ♥ ♦), followed by A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7 of the chosen suit. In Grand only the Jacks are trumps. In Null there are no trumps, the cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7, and the declarer must lose every trick.

Forehand leads to the first trick. You must follow suit if you can, and remember that the Jacks belong to the trumps. The highest trump wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.

• Card points: Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2, for 120 in all. The skat counts for the declarer, who needs 61 to win. Taking 90 makes the defenders Schneider; taking every trick makes them Schwarz.
• A game's value is its base value (♦ 9, ♥ 10, ♠ 11, ♣ 12, Grand 24) times a multiplier: the number of top trumps the declarer holds or is missing in an unbroken run from the Jack of clubs (matadors), plus 1 for the game, plus 1 each for Hand, Schneider and Schwarz.
• In a Hand game the declarer may announce Schneider, Schwarz or Ouvert (open cards) for extra multipliers. Null games have fixed values: 23, Hand 35, Ouvert 46, Ouvert Hand 59.
• Win and you score the game's value; lose and you lose twice the value. If the game turns out to be worth less than your bid, you lose automatically.
• A match is nine deals, so everyone deals three times. The highest total wins.

• During the auction, use − and + to choose a bid and tap Bid, or tap Yes to hold a bid made to you. Pass drops you out.
• As declarer, choose Pick up the skat or Play Hand. After picking up, tap two cards to put back and tap Discard these two.
• Then tap a game. Each button shows what that game is worth; in a Hand game the value is marked ≈ because the skat's Jacks still count.
• On your turn, tap a highlighted card to play it.

• Daily: everyone gets the same deals each day.
• New Game: a fresh match with new deals.

• Count your Jacks first. Two or more, with a long suit and an Ace or two, is usually a playable suit game.
• Bid only up to the value of the game you'd actually play. If your game turns out to be worth less than your bid, you lose however many card points you take; only Schneider or Schwarz can lift its value back up.
• When you put two cards back, Tens without their Ace are good choices: their 10 points are yours, and they can't be captured.
• As a defender, when your partner is winning a trick, add an Ace or Ten to it. Defenders win with 60 points.

Skat is the national card game of Germany. It was devised around 1810 in Altenburg, south of Leipzig, by the members of a local Tarock club, the Brommesche Tarok-Gesellschaft. They adapted the local game of Schafkopf by adding features of the then popular games of Tarock and l'Hombre. Altenburg is still regarded as the home of Skat and has a fountain dedicated to the game.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest recorded rules date from 1835, and the first book on the game was published in 1848 by J. F. L. Hempel, one of its inventors. The rules still differed from region to region until a congress of Skat players met in Altenburg on 7 August 1886 to set them in order.

Today Skat is organised almost like a sport in Germany, with clubs, leagues and championships. The rules here follow pagat.com's description of the official German and International rules.

Skat is a free browser version of the German card game, played against two computer opponents, with a daily match and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.