Playing positions The following terms are recognised by the International Laws of Skat or
Skatordnung: •
Dealer: the person who shuffles and deals the cards •
Forehand: the person on the left of the dealer in Skat and who is first to be dealt cards. •
Middlehand: the person left of forehand and right of rearhand and who is the second player to be dealt cards. •
Rearhand or
endhand: the person who is last to receive his cards. In a three-hand game this is also the dealer. In a four-hander, it is the person on the right of the dealer The following terms are also commonly used in connection with the bidding phase: •
Hörer (Hearer): Forehand. The hearer hears the bid of the speaker or 2nd speaker. •
Sager (1st bidder): middlehand; the bidder makes the first bid to the hearer. •
Weitersager (2nd bidder): rearhand; the 2nd bidder bids to the hearer if the 1st bidder has dropped out, or to the 1st bidder if the hearer has dropped out. •
Soloist or
declarer: the player who wins the auction and plays alone against the two defenders •
Defender or
opponent: one of the two
adversaries of the soloist.
Contracts Official contracts Contracts permitted by the
Skatordnung are: • Suit: contract in which the soloist attempts to score at least 61 points. Trumps are the four
Jacks or
Unters and a suit announced by the soloist •
Grand: only the Jacks or Unters are trumps • Null: contract in which there are no trumps and the soloist tries to avoid winning any tricks
Unofficial contracts The following contracts are also played, but are not recognised by the
Skatordnung: • Revolution: unofficial contract which is like Null, except that the opponents may exchange with the
skat • Bock: unofficial contract in which all game values count double •
Ramsch: unofficial contract where each player plays for himself and the aim is to score the fewest points •
Schieberamsch: like Ramsch, but the skat may be picked up by each player in clockwise order. If a player chooses to pass on the skat, the losers usually score twice as many minus points. After picking up the
skat the player returns two cards to the
skat, which may be picked up by the next player in turn. The
skat is usually 'shoved' once per player, each player may also exchange one or two cards. The shoving of Jacks/Unters after picking up the
skat is often forbidden.
Game value Multipliers The multipliers used to raise the game value (see
Skat) are: • Hand: the skat is not picked up •
Schneider: the soloist or defenders score fewer than 31 points •
Schwarz: the soloist or defenders fail to win any tricks • Schneider predicted (
angesagt): the soloist predicts that his opponents will fail to reach 31 points • Schwarz predicted: the soloist predicts that he will win every trick •
Ouvert: the soloist lays all his cards on the table before starting (no multiplier changes in Null games)
Stakes The game value is doubled with each of the following announcements in succession (cumulative multipliers in brackets): • Kontra: said if a defender does not think the soloist will win (x2) • Re: reply by the soloist to "Kontra", if he still thinks he will win (x4) • Bock: response to "Re" by the defender if he is not convinced that the soloist can win, sometimes also called "Supra" (x8) • Zippe: soloist's response to "Bock" or "Supra" if, despite the opinion of the defender, he is confident of winning; also called "Hirsch" (x16) == Cards or card combinations ==