Skat
Classic three-player Skat with the standard rules. Win the bidding, take the skat or play hand, name your game and make 61 of the 120 card points as declarer, or stop the declarer as a defender.
How to play Skat
Bidding
Each player gets 10 cards and 2 go face down as the skat. Bids are game values: 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30 and so on. Middlehand bids to forehand, who says yes or passes; then rearhand (the dealer) bids to whoever is left. If both pass, forehand may play at 18. When it is your turn, the bidding box shows your best game and what it is worth, so you know how far you can go.
The skat and your game
The winner of the bidding, the declarer, picks up the skat and puts any two cards away, or plays hand without looking. Then they name the game: a suit (clubs 12, spades 11, hearts 10, diamonds 9), grand (24, only the jacks are trumps) or null (23; hand 35; ouvert 46; ouvert hand 59). In suit and grand games the jacks are the top trumps, in the order clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds. Suit and grand ouvert are not offered here.
Play and scoring
Forehand leads; follow suit if you can, and remember that jacks belong to the trumps. Aces count 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2, and the skat counts for the declarer, who needs 61. A suit or grand game is worth its base value times the matadors (with or without the top trumps) plus 1 for game, 1 for hand, and 1 each for schneider (90 points), schwarz (every trick) and their announcements in a hand game. In null the declarer must not take a trick. A game worth less than the bid is overbid and lost. Won games score their value; lost games count double, as a minus.
Levels and controls
Easy, Medium and Hard play a short list of 6 deals, so each player deals twice; the full list has 12 deals against Medium players. The highest total wins. Tap a card to lift it and tap again to play it, or drag it to the middle; with a mouse, a click plays it. Use the arrow keys and Enter for cards, and Tab to reach the bidding buttons. There is no undo, because the other hands are hidden.
Questions
How does bidding work in Skat?
Players bid game values instead of tricks: 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30 and so on. Middlehand bids to forehand, who answers yes or pass, and then rearhand bids to the survivor. The winner must then play a game worth at least the bid, or the game is lost as overbid. If all three pass, the deal is thrown in; here it still counts as one of the deals.
What does with 2 or without 2 mean?
Matadors are the top trumps in an unbroken run from the jack of clubs, counting the skat. Holding the clubs and spades jacks but not the hearts jack is with 2; missing the clubs and spades jacks but holding the hearts jack is without 2. Either way the game is worth the base value times 3 (2 plus 1 for game).
How many points do you need to win a Skat game?
The declarer needs 61 of the 120 card points, counting the two skat cards. With 90 or more the declarer makes schneider, and taking every trick is schwarz; both raise the game value. A declarer with 30 or fewer points is schneider too, and loses more.
What is a null game?
In null there are no trumps, the cards rank ace, king, queen, jack, ten down to seven, and the declarer must not take a single trick. It is worth 23, 35 when played hand, 46 ouvert (with the declarer's cards laid open) and 59 ouvert hand.
Do the computer players cheat?
No. Each one sees only its own cards, the bidding and the cards played; only a declarer who picked up the skat knows the two cards they put away. The Hard players try out many possible layouts of the cards they can't see before they choose a card. The computer players never declare ouvert games.