skat

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A card game for three persons that is played with 32 cards, sevens through aces.
2. n. One of the combinations of cards occurring in this game.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. See scat.
2. n. The German national card-game for three players. The pack contains 32 cards, ranking A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7, the four jacks being always the four best trumps, and preserving the same rank as the suits, clubs being the best, then spades, hearts, and diamonds. All trumps in unbroken sequence with the club jack held by the same side are called matadors. Ten cards are given to each player, three, four, three at a time, two being laid off for the skat, between the first and second rounds. The players bid against one another for the privilege of playing some one of the four varieties of the game. ‘Mittelhand’ bids to ‘Vorhand,’ and when ‘Vorhand’ refuses or ‘Mittelhand’ stops bidding, ‘Hinterhand’ bids to the survivor. Each bids well within what he thinks he can make, naming the value in figures, without stating what game he purposes playing. If he fails to make good his bid in his play, the adversaries score what he should have made as the matadors lie. The successful bidder is known as the ‘player.’ The four games are: tournee, in which the player turns over one of the skat cards for the trump, afterward taking both skat cards into his hand and discarding others in their place; if the turned card is a jack, he may change his game from tournee to grando; solo, in which the trump suit is named and the skat cards are not touched until the end of the play, when they are counted for the player's side; grando, in which the four jacks are the only trumps, so that there are four plain suits; nullo, in which there are no trumps and the cards rank A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, the object of the player being not to take a single trick. Each of these games has a standard value according to the trump suit. The tournees are: diamonds 5, hearts 6, spades 7, clubs 8. The solos are: diamonds 9, hearts 10, spades 11, clubs 12. There are four varieties of grando (or grand). The turned grand is worth 12. Gucki grand, in which the player announces in advance that jacks shall be the only trumps, but takes both the skat cards and then discards two in their place, is worth 16. Solo grand, played without touching the skat cards, is worth 20. Open grand, in which the player lays his cards face up on the table and guarantees to win every trick, is worth 24. Nullos also have four varieties. Gucki nullo, in which the player takes both the skat cards and then discards, having previously announced to play nullo, is worth 15. If the player announces an open gucki nullo, he must lay his cards face upon the table after discarding; it is worth 30. Solo nullo, if played without touching the skat cards, is worth 20; if played open, 40. If the first card turned in a tournee does not suit the hand, the player can announce passt mir nicht, and turn the other. All guckis and passt mir nichts lose double if lost The unit values of all games except nullos are multiplied by the number of matadors, and it does not matter which side holds the sequence of matadors, its multiplying power is the same. If the single player has the jacks of clubs, spades, and hearts, he is ‘with three.’ If he has nothing higher than the king of trumps, he is playing ‘against six.’ There are also five game values, which are used as multipliers. Counting each ace as 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3, and jacks 2, there are 120 points in the pack. If the player gets 61 of these he wins his game; if his two adversaries combined get 60 they beat him. If the player gets 91 he makes them ‘schneider’; if they get 90 they make him ‘schneider.’ If he gets every trick he makes them ‘schwarz’; if they get all the tricks they make him ‘schwarz.’ The multipliers are: game 1; schneider 2; if the schneider is announced in advance, or if schwarz is made without announcing anything, 3; if schwarz is made after announcing schneider, 4; schwarz announced, 5. No announcement of schneider or schwarz can be made in any game in which the skat cards have been used, such as tournees and guckis. Suppose the player announces a club solo, unit value 12, and is with two matadors, getting 74 points out of the 120. He reckons, one for game, with two, three times twelve, or thirty-six points won. Varieties of skat, such as point ramsch, schieber ramsch, contra and recontra, uno and duo, are sometimes played; but they are not recognized by the Skat League. When four play at the same table, the dealer takes no cards; but he shares the fortunes of those opposed to the single player as to winning or losing on the hand. Vorhand, on the dealer's left, always leads for the first trick, no matter who is the successful bidder. Players must follow suit if they can; but if they cannot follow suit, they can trump or discard at pleasure. In nullos, the moment the single player takes a trick, his game is lost. The penalty for a revoke is the loss of the game.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A three-handed card game played with 32 cards, of which two constitute the skat (sense 2), or widow. The players bid for the privilege of attempting any of several games or tasks, in most of which the player undertaking the game must take tricks counting in aggregate at least 61 (the counting cards being ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2). The four jacks are the best trumps, ranking club, spade, heart, diamond, and ten outranks king or queen (but when the player undertakes to lose all the tricks, the cards rank as in whist). The value of hands depends upon the game played, trump suit, points taken, and number of matadores.
2. n. (Skat) A widow of two cards.