Traditionally, German-suited playing cards -with acorns, leaves, hearts, bells - were used, but the internationally widespread French-suited ones work as well, leaving out a number of cards as there are only 32 in the game. The players in the defending team, however, cannot communicate with each other - except through the cards they decide to play. The highest bidder plays solo against the two others, who form a temporary alliance for the round. It involves an auction at the beginning of each round, based on each player's prospect of winning according to the cards they've been dealt. Skat is a three-player strategy card game. Jan Ehlers contributed to having skat listed as a German UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage asset Image: Elizabeth Grenier/DWĪs the former deputy president of the German Skat Association, Ehlers promoted the successful bid to have the game listed by the German branch of UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016. In Berlin alone there are 200 associations meeting up at least once a week to play, says Ehlers. 'With poker, you can watch other people play for a half hour and then you can play, whereas most people play skat their whole life and they still don't get it,' says skat expert Jan Ehlers.īut even with its seemingly puzzling rules, there are more people who play skat than football in Germany: some 20 to 25 million, according to the estimates of the German Skat Association. But to be honest, as a Canadian who's been living for 15 years in Germany and who's otherwise well integrated in the country, it's nice to know I still have something left to learn that would 'make me even more German': how to play skat.Īnd to my defense, it's not a game you can simply pick up through observation. To start out, full disclosure: I'm not sure I'll ever learn.

Scat card game for windows