For the remainder of the year, we are going to focus on learning one of the world's greatest card games, one which has the reputation among card game experts as being one of the very few card games in which the demand for skillful play outweighs the luck factor. This is not a game for casual card players!

Skat (pronounced like the name "Scott") has been Germany's national card game for nearly 200 years. In fact, it is not so much a game as a national institution. Though comparable to Bridge in depth and variety, it is essentially a classless game, being played as enthusiastically in homes and pubs as it is played seriously in clubs and tournaments under the aegis of the German Skat Federation. In Germany there are thousands of local Skat clubs and annual national tournaments are held. Worldwide tournaments are organized by the International Skat-Players Association, to which are affiliated local associations in Australia, Belgium, the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, France, Namibia, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa and the USA.

Skat is unusual in that it is one of the few card games optimized for three players. Around 1810, in Altenburg in Thuringia (a region not far from Leipzig, Germany) members of a local card club were enjoying three-handed games like Tarock and the Spanish game Hombre. Someone introduced the group to Schafkopf, a 4-handed game popular in Bavaria (later imported to the U.S. as Sheepshead). Intrigued by Schafkopf but preferring three-handed games, they created Skat, a variation of Schafkopf for three players, but which far surpasses the original game in its mathematical and scientific complexity. Combining elements of Bridge, Hearts, Euchre, Pinochle, and Poker, it is one of the most exciting card games in the world.

Here is what Joseph Wergin, in his book on Skat and Sheepshead, says about the game:

"Skat is, undoubtedly, the best of all card games as it combines in a remarkable way the elements of both chance and skill. Although upon first exposure it may seem difficult, it is actually quite simple when the component parts are analyzed separately. Skat attracts dedicated card players because it requires them to utilize the full range of their card-playing ability. Card addicts who have mastered the ordinary games will be delighted to discover the new challenges offered by this unique game."