the deal in which the error is discovered is void; but any previous
scores or cuts made with that pack stand good. If the cards have not
been cut, or if a card is found faced in the pack, or if the dealer
exposes a card in dealing, any active player who has not looked at his
cards may demand a fresh deal by the same dealer. If the dealer gives
too many or too few cards to any player, he must shuffle and deal
again. If the error is not discovered until the hand is partly played
out, the deal is void, and the misdealer deals again. A misdeal does
not lose the deal under any circumstances, but it is usual to exact a
penalty of ten points for a misdeal.
_=OBJECTS OF THE GAME.=_ The object of each player is to obtain the
privilege of attempting to accomplish a certain task, which is known
as his “game,” and which he must be able to carry through successfully
against the combined efforts of the two other players. The more
difficult the task undertaken, the greater the number of points scored
for it, and the player who will undertake the game which is of the
greatest value of those offered must be allowed the privilege of trying
it. In order to determine which player this is, they may all bid for
the privilege by naming a certain number of points, usually well within
the actual value of the game they intend to play. If a bidder meets
with opposition, he gradually approaches the true value of his game,
and the player whose game is worth the most will of course be able to
bid the greatest number of points, and must be selected as the player,
the two others being his adversaries.
_=Games.=_ These games are divided into two principal classes, those
in which the player undertakes to win, and those in which he tries to
lose. When he plays to lose, it is to lose every trick, there being no
trump suit, and the cards in each suit ranking A K Q J 10 9 8 7. These
games are called _=Null=_, or Nullo, and _=Null Ouvert=_, the latter
being played with the successful bidder’s cards exposed face upward on
the table, but not liable to be called. The moment he wins a trick in a
Nullo, he loses his game. Nullos are quite foreign to Skat, and appear
to have been introduced as a consolation for players who always hold
bad cards.
When _=Ramsch=_ is played, the object is to take less than either of
the other players; but the cards rank as in the ordinary game, except
that the four Jacks are the only trumps.
In all other games the successful bidder undertakes to win; but his
success does not depend on the number of tricks he takes in, but on the
total value of the counting cards contained in those tricks. The total
value of all the counting cards is 120 points, and to be successful,
the single player must win at least 61. If he succeeds in winning 61
or more points, he wins his game, whatever it may be. If he can get 91
points, he wins a double game, which is called _=schneider=_. If he can
take every trick, he wins a treble game, which is called _=schwartz=_.
It is not enough to win 120 points, for if the adversaries win a single
trick, even if it contains no counting cards, they save the schwartz.
If the single player fails to reach 61, he loses. If he fails to reach
31, he is schneider; and if he fails to take a trick he is schwartz.
These various results increase the value of the game, as will presently
be seen.
There are four varieties of games in which the successful bidder plays
to win, the difference being in the manner of using the skat cards,
and making the trump. These games are called _=Frage=_, _=Tourné=_,
_=Solo=_, and _=Grand=_, and they outrank one another in the order
given, Frage being the lowest. The first three: Frage, Tourné and
Solo, are each again divided into four parts, according to the suit
which is trumps; a Tourné in clubs being better than one in spades;
a Solo in hearts being better than one in diamonds, and so on. This
is in accordance with the rank of the suits already mentioned in the
paragraph devoted to that subject.
In a _=Frage=_, or Simple Game, the successful bidder takes both the
skat cards into his hand, and then declares which suit shall be the
trump; discarding two cards face downward for his schatz, or treasure,
before play begins. The two cards thus laid aside count for the single
player at the end of the hand, provided he takes a trick, and they
cannot be won by the adversaries unless they make the single player
schwarz. Frage is no longer played.
In a _=Tourné=_, the successful bidder turns one of the skat cards face
upward on the table before looking at the second card. He may turn over
whichever card he pleases, but the one he turns fixes the trump suit
for that hand. If the card turned over is a Jack, he may change to a
Grand; but he must do so before he sees the second card in the Skat.
If the player does not like the first card he turns, he need not show
it, but may put it in his hand and turn the other. This second one must
be the trump; or a Grand may be played if the card is a Jack. In case
the game is lost after taking the second card, it costs double. This is
called _=Passt mir Nicht=_.
In a _=Solo=_, the skat cards are not touched, the successful bidder
naming the trump to suit the hand of ten cards originally dealt him.
The Skat belongs to him, as in Frage and Tourné, but he must not
see its contents until the hand is played out, when any points and
Matadores it may contain will count for him.
In a _=Grand=_ there is no trump suit, the four Jacks being the only
trumps in play. These four cards preserve their relative suit value,
the club Jack being the best, and they are still Matadores. There are
four varieties of Grand: A tourné player may make it a Grand if he
turns up a Jack. This is called a _=Grand Tourné=_. A player may make
it a grand without seeing either of the skat cards. This is called a
_=Grand Solo=_. A player may announce a Grand and lay his cards face
up on the table; exposed, but not liable to be called. This is called
a _=Grand Ouvert=_. A Frage cannot be played as a Grand under any
circumstances. A player may announce _=Gucki Grand=_, which means that
he will take both the skat cards into his hand at once, in order to get
the privilege of laying out any two cards he pleases, but that Jacks
will be the only trumps. If a Gucki Grand is lost, it costs double.
A player may announce a _=Gucki Nullo=_, in which he takes both the
skat cards into his hand and lays out any two cards he pleases. This
loses double if it is not successful.
_=Revolution=_ is seldom played. It is a Nullo in which the adversaries
put their twenty cards together as one hand to see if they can make the
player take a trick.
_=Uno=_ and _=Duo=_ are Grands, in which the single player engages to
take one trick in Uno, or two in Duo, neither more nor less.
_=GAME VALUES.=_ Each of the foregoing games has what is called a unit
of value, which is afterward multiplied several times according to the
number of Matadores, and whether the game was schneider or schwarz.
These unit values are as follows, beginning with the lowest:
---------------+------------------+-------------------------
Suits Trumps:--| Jacks Trumps:-- | No Trumps:--
----+----+-----+------------------+-------------------------
|Turn| Solo| Turned Grand 12 | Gucki Nullo 15
♢ | 5 | 9 | Gucki Grand 16 | ” if played open 30
♡ | 6 | 10 | Solo Grand 20 | Solo Nullo 20
♠ | 7 | 11 | Open Grand 24 | ” if played open 40
♣ | 8 | 12 | Ramsch 20 | Revolution 60
----+----+-----+------------------+-------------------------
When one player takes no trick in a Ramsch, the player with the greater
number of points loses 30. If two players take no trick, the loss is 50
points.
_=All Guckis lose double if they fail=_, so that if a player announces
a Gucki Nullo and loses it, he will lose 30; but if he won it he would
get 15 only. If a player has a Gucki Null Ouvert, he must announce that
it is to be played open before he touches the skat cards. It is then
worth 30 if won; 60 if lost.
_=Passt-mir-nicht tournées all lose double if they fail=_, but win the
usual number of points if they succeed.
_=Multipliers.=_ The foregoing are simply the standard counting values
of these various games. In calculating the actual value of a player’s
game, in order to see how much he may safely offer in the bidding, and
how much he would win if successful in his undertaking, these standard
values are multiplied as follows:--
Five classes of games are recognized, beginning with the lowest, in
which the player gets the necessary 61 points, but does not make his
adversaries schneider. This is simply called “game,” and as it must
always be either won or lost, it is a constant factor. The value of the
game is 1, and each better game is numbered in regular order, the five
varieties being as follows:
The Game, 1. Schneider, 2. Schwarz announced or Schwarz, 3. Schwarz
after announcing Schneider, 4. Schwarz announced, 5.
These numbers are added to the number of Matadores, and the total thus
found is multiplied by the unit value of the game. For instance: A
player has obtained the privilege of playing on a bid of thirty. His
game is a Solo in hearts, in which he holds the three highest Matadores
and announces schneider in advance. His game multiplier is therefore
3 (for the announced schneider), to which he adds 3 more for the
Matadores, 6 altogether. The unit value of a heart Solo being 10, he
could have gone on bidding to 60 had it been necessary, and he will win
60 from each of his adversaries if he succeeds in reaching 91 points
in the counting cards he takes in in his tricks, together with what he
finds in the Skat.
If his adversaries got to 30 with their counting cards, he would have
lost 60 to each of them, although he bid only 30, because he announced
his game as schneider, and did not make it. Had he not announced the
schneider, and reached 91 or more in his counting cards, he would have
won a game worth 50, losing the extra multiplier by not announcing the
schneider in advance; for a schneider made without announcing it is
worth only 2.
In reckoning the value of a game it is always safer to bid on playing
“with” than “without” Matadores in a Solo or Tourné; because, although
you may have a hand “without four,” you may find a Wenzel in the Skat,
and if it is the club Jack you lose three multipliers at once.
_=BIDDING.=_ The players must be familiar with the manner of computing
the various games in order to bid with judgment, and without
hesitation. Suppose you hold the three highest Matadores with an
average hand, not strong enough in any one suit to play a Solo, but
good enough for a Tourné. Your smallest possible game will be diamonds
with three; which will be worth 5 multiplied by 4; 1 for the game, and
3 for the Matadores, 20 points. If you can get the game on any bid
less than 20 you are absolutely safe, provided you can reach 61 in
your tricks. But the opposition of another player may irritate you,
[reizen,] and provoke you to bid 24, or even 28, in the hope of turning
a heart or a spade. If you go beyond 20, and turn a diamond, you must
either find the fourth Matadore in the Skat, or make your adversaries
schneider, in order to secure another multiplier. If you fail, you lose
24, or 28, according to your bid.
The great difficulty in Skat is to judge the value of a hand, so as
neither to under nor overbid it, and also to get all out of it that it
is worth. A person who plays a Frage in hearts when he could easily
have made it a Solo, reduces the value of his game just eighty per
cent. A player with the four Wenzels, A K Q 9 8 of diamonds, and
a losing card, would be foolish to play a diamond Solo with five,
schneider announced, worth 72; while he had in his hand a sure Grand,
with four, schneider announced, worth 140. Of course the schneider is
not a certainty. The risk is that the Ten of diamonds will be guarded,
and that an Ace and a Ten will make, both of them on your losing card,
or one of them on the diamond Ten. A careful player would be satisfied
with 100 on such a hand, for if he fails to make the announced
schneider, he loses everything.
A player is not obliged to play the game he originally intended to, if
he thinks he has anything better; but he must play a game worth as much
as he bid, or the next higher, and having once announced his game, he
must play it.
Suppose Vorhand has a spade Solo with two, and on being offered 33
says, “Yes,” thinking the bidder will go on to 36, instead of which he
passes. It is very probable that the bidder has a spade Solo without
two, and will defeat a spade Solo announced by Vorhand. If Vorhand
has almost as good a game in hearts, he should change, hoping to make
schneider, or to find another Matadore in the Skat. If he loses the
game, a heart Solo with two costs 30 points; but as Vorhand refused 33,
and the next best game he could have made with a heart Solo is 40, that
is the amount he loses, although he refused only 33.
_=Method of Bidding.=_ The Vorhand always holds the play, and the
Mittelhand always makes the first bid, or passes, the Hinterhand
saying nothing until the propositions made by the Mittelhand have
been finally refused or passed by the Vorhand. The usual formula is
for the Vorhand to say, “How many?” or, “I am Vorhand,” thereupon the
Mittelhand bids or passes. If Vorhand has as good a game as offered him
he says, “Yes,” and Mittelhand must bid higher or pass. If Vorhand has
not as good a game he may either pass, or bluff the bidder into going
higher by saying, “Yes.” As soon as one passes, the other turns to the
Hinterhand, who must either make a higher bid than the last, or pass.
The survivor of the first two must either say, “Yes,” to the offers
made by Hinterhand, or pass. The final survivor then announces his
game. It is usual for the last one to pass to signify that he is done
by pushing the skat cards toward the survivor, indicating that they are
his, and that he is the player. If a player is offered a game equal to
his own he may still say, “Yes;” but if he is offered a better game,
and still says, “Yes,” he runs the risk of being compelled to play.
The old German way of bidding, adopted at the Skat Congresses in
Altenburg, Leipzig and Dresden, was to bid in suits; a bid of club Solo
outranking one of spade Solo, no matter what it was worth. This has
long been obsolete, the objection to it being that a player might get
the play on a game of much inferior value. A player with a spade Solo,
six Matadores, and schneider announced could offer only a spade Solo,
without mentioning its value, and although his game was worth 99, he
could be outbid by an offer of Nullo, which was then worth only 20.
This is contrary to the spirit of the game, which requires that the
person offering the game of the greatest value shall be the player. The
rank of the bids in the old German game was as follows, beginning with
the lowest:--
Frage, in the order of the suits.
Tourné, in the order of the suits.
Grand Tourné.
Solo in diamonds, hearts and spades.
Nullo, worth 20.
Solo in clubs.
Grand Solo, worth 16.
Null ouvert, worth 40.
Grand ouvert.
The multipliers were the same as those used in the modern game, but the
player had no means of using them in his bids. It will be observed that
the modern value of the various games seeks to preserve the old rank by
assuming the lowest possible bid on any given game.
In some parts of Germany it is still the custom to reckon Solos at the
tourné values, simply adding one multiplier for “out of hand.” Thus
a spade Solo with two would be reckoned; “with two, one for game, one
for out of hand; four times seven, or twenty-eight.” Note that seven is
tourné value for spades.
_=THE SKAT CARDS.=_ The successful bidder determined, the skat cards
are pushed towards him, and the manner in which he uses them limits the
game he is allowed to play. While the player must win or lose a game
worth as many as bid, he may attempt to win as many more as he pleases.
If he has got the play on a bid of ten, that does not prevent him from
playing a club Solo, with schneider announced. But if he has bid or
refused eleven, and plays a tourné in diamonds, he must make schneider
or play with or without two Matadores in order to bring his multipliers
up to three. It both these fail him he loses 15, the next higher game
than his bid possible in a diamond tourné.
As Frage is no longer played on account of its small value, if the
player takes both the skat cards into his hand at the same time,
without showing them, his game must be a Gucki Grand, unless he has
previously announced that it is a Gucki Nullo. His game announced, he
lays out any two cards he pleases for his skat, so as to play with ten
only.
If the player turns over either of the skat cards, his game is limited
to a tourné. If he turns a Jack, he may change to Grand, but not to
Grand Ouvert. Neither schneider nor schwarz can be announced in any
game in which the skat cards are used. A tourné player must lay out two
skat cards to reduce his hand to ten cards.
If the player neither turns over nor takes into his hand either of
the skat cards, he may play any of the suit Solos, Grand Solo, Grand
Ouvert, Nullo, or Null Ouvert. He may announce schneider or schwarz in
any Solo.
Any player looking at the skat cards before the beginning of the play
is debarred from bidding that deal, and is penalised ten points in the
score. In addition to this penalty, either of the other players may
demand a fresh deal. If a player looks at the skat cards during the
play of a hand the play is immediately stopped, and if he is the single
player he can count only the points taken in up to that time, exclusive
of the skat. These points are deducted from 120, and his adversaries
claim the difference. The game is then settled, according to this
count, exactly as if the hand had been played out. If an adversary
of the single player looks at either of the skat cards during the
play of a hand, the single player may at once stop the game, and his
adversaries can count only the points they have taken in in tricks up
to that time. If they have no tricks they are schwartz; if they have
not 30 points they are schneider.
When four or more play, any person holding no cards may be penalised
ten points for looking at the skat cards.
_=METHOD OF PLAYING.=_ The successful bidder having disposed of the
skat cards and announced his game, the Vorhand leads any card he
pleases for the first trick. Vorhand should be careful not to lead
until the player has laid out or discarded for the Skat in a Gucki or
a Tourné. Players must follow suit if they can, but are not obliged to
win the trick. Having none of the suit led, they may trump or discard
at pleasure. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the
trick, and trumps win all other suits. The winner of the first trick
leads for the next, and so on, until all the cards have been played,
or the game is acknowledged as won or lost, and abandoned. In a Grand,
if a Jack is led, players must follow suit with the other Jacks, they
being trumps.
_=Abandoned Hands.=_ If the single player finds he has overbid himself,
or sees that he cannot make as good a game as bid, he may abandon his
hand to save himself from being made schneider or schwarz, provided he
does so before he plays to the second trick. A Solo cannot be abandoned
in this manner, as the rule is made only to allow a player to get off
cheaply who has been unlucky in finding nothing in the Skat to suit his
hand. For instance: A player has risked a Tourné with a missing suit,
and turns up that suit. He can abandon his hand at once, losing his bid
or the next higher game, but escaping schneider.
_=Irregularities in the Hands.=_ If, during the play of a hand, any
person is found to have too many or too few cards, the others having
their right number, it is evident that there has been no misdeal if the
pack is perfect and there are two cards in the Skat. If the player in
error has too few cards, probably from having dropped one on the floor,
or having played two cards to the same trick, he loses in any case, but
the adversary may demand to have the hand played out in order to try
for schneider or schwarz, and the last trick, with the missing card,
must be considered as having been won by the side not in fault. If the
player in fault is opposed to the single player, his partner suffers
with him. If the player discovers his loss, he is not allowed to pick
the card from the floor and replace it in his hand if he has in the
meantime played to a trick with a wrong number of cards.
_=Playing Out of Turn.=_ The usual penalty in America for leading or
playing out of turn is the loss of the game if the error is made by
the adversaries of the single player. If by the player himself, the
card played in error must be taken back, and if only one adversary has
played to the false lead, he may also take back his card. If both have
played, the trick stands good. The single player suffers no penalty, as
it is only to his own disadvantage to expose his hand.
_=The Revoke.=_ If a player revokes, and he is one of the adversaries
of the single player, the game is lost for the player in error; but he
may count the points in his tricks up to the time the revoke occurred,
in order to save schneider or schwarz. In Nullos, the game is lost the
moment the revoke is discovered.
_=Seeing Tricks.=_ The tricks must be kept separate as they are taken
in, and any player is allowed to look at the last trick turned and
quitted. Any player looking at any other trick but the last may be
penalized ten points.
_=Playing Ouverts.=_ The rules of the game require Ouverts to be
exposed face upward on the table before a card is played.
_=SCORING.=_ The score should always be kept by the player sitting on
the right of the first dealer. This will mark the rounds. The score
sheet should be ruled in vertical columns, one for each player at the
table.
Each player is charged individually with his losses and gains, the
amounts being added to or deducted from his score, and a plus or a
minus mark placed in front of the last figure, so that the exact state
of each player’s score will be apparent at a glance.
The score of the single player is the only one put down, and it is
charged to him as a loss or a gain at the end of each deal.
If there are four players, a line is drawn under every fourth amount
entered in each person’s account. If three play, the line is drawn
under every third amount. This system of scoring will show at once
whose turn it is to deal, if the total number of amounts under which
no line is drawn are counted up. For instance: Three persons play; A
dealt the first hand. In the first three columns are shown the amounts
won and lost in the three rounds, while the last three columns show
the manner in which these losses and gains were entered on the score
sheet:--
| Points won and lost. | | Score Card. |
| 1st Round.| 2nd Round.| 3rd Round.| | A | B | C |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+ +----+----+----+
| A won 33 | A lost 16 | C lost 36 | | +33| +40| +55|
| C won 55 | B won 40 | B won 48 | | +17| +88| +67|
| C won 12 | A lost 24 | C lost 12 | | -7| | +31|
| | | | +----+ +----+
| | | | | | | +19|
At the end of the second round a line was drawn under A’s account,
which then contained three items; and after the first game in the third
round a line was drawn under C’s account.
If we suppose the game to be stopped at this point, the scores would be
balanced as follows:
We take the three scores and bring them down on one line. We draw a
line under them, and proceed as follows: First we take A, who has lost
7 to B, and from whom B has also won 88. This gives us 95 minus for A
and 95 plus for B. We then compare A and C, and find that A owes C 26;
put down as minus for A, plus for C. We now compare B and C, and find
that B wins the difference, which is 69 points; put down plus for B,
minus for C. Then we add up to see that the scores balance.
+-----+-----+-----+
| A | B | C |
+-----+-----+-----+
| -7 | +88 | +19 |
+-----+-----+-----+
| -95 | +95 | +26 |
| -26 | +69 | -69 |
+-----+-----+-----+
|-121 |+164 | -43 |
+-----+-----+-----+
The same method may be used when four play; but some prefer to call the
lowest score zero, and so make all the others plus. Suppose the final
scores were as follows:
------+------+------+------------
A | B | C | D
------+------+------+------------
+186 | +42 | +344 | +116
------+------+------+------------
+144 | 0 | +302 | +74 = 520
+4 | 4 | 4 | 4
------+------+------+------------
+576 | 0 |+1208 | +296
-520 | -520 | -520 | -520
------+------+------+------------
+56 | -520 | +688 | -224
------+------+------+------------
If B is zero, his points are to be taken from those of each of the
others, as B is plus. If the low score is a minus, the points must be
added to each of the others. The three totals are added, and found, in
this case, to be 520, which is the total of B’s loss. We now multiply
the scores by the number of players engaged, in this case four, and
from the product we deduct the 520 already found. Then the scores
balance.