The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04

mer. They were organized to learn bridge.
or rather TO perfect themselves in that
game; but they all took up skat instead. The
best woman bridge player I know, who lives
In Buffalo, won't touch the game IL she can
get skat. I expected to teach bridge in
New York all this winter, but I find they
want skat. In fact, they are crazy for IL
when O they get to know It,"
A well known man teacher of whist and
bridge and the author OF more than twenty
books on card games was asked the other
day what he thought about skat.
while I have played skat for years. he
said, and belong to both the German and
the American skat leagues, my attention was
first called to the possibilities Of the game
by a story told me- by Lady -- in Lon
don last spring. It appears that some
people at a dinner party we're praising the
attractions Of bridge in the presence OF the
King, when the King remarked that he
thought skat was the better game.
L quite agree with the King that in some
respects skat is a better game. In fact. II
has several points in its favor that no other
, game can boast Of.
TO begin with, IL is one Of the few really
good games for three players; but IL there
are four or five candidates they can all
play, and ever six may make up a table.
This is infinitely better than whist or bridge,
In which II there are not exactly four IL is
either impossible to play, or some one must
sit out and watch the game all through q
rubber. In skat a newcomer never has 10
wait for a seat, and the game is finished
any time you want to stop.
-Skat does not require the gambling
element to make it interesting, like bridge
or poker. In bridge you must play for
money, or there would be no restraint on
the declarations.
NO matter how rash the make may be
in bridge it is possible to pull it of; but
in skat it is useless to overbid your hand,
because you kno in advance that you
must lose. In bridge you declare with a
view to winning as much money as possi-
BILE; in skat you declare in order to get the
privilege OF playing.
in the one you must declare. win or
lose, in the other you declare only when
you AVE theo odds in you favor
MANY Of the elements that make bridge
so popular are to be found in skat. such as
the sole responsibility for the result Of the
declaration resting with theplsyer whonames
the trump, and the combination Of two
adversaries against him. But in skat there
is the added interest that the adversaries
are not always the same pair, as they are In
bridge. With a table of four skat PLAYERS
there are no less than nine difrent ways in
which one player. naming the trump, may be
opposed to a different partnership.
In bridge there are only two games,
trumps and no trumps, and there Is only one
way Of selecting them-to name them,
In skat there are seven games, and there
are three different ways of selecting them,
considerable Judgment being required in the
choice OF methods"
AS to the game itself. there seems TO be a
general but mistaken impression that ii is
complicated and difficult to learn. Judging
from the description of it this idea of the
game must be a mistaken one
Both the teachers quoted above insist
that if the game is property presented to the
pupil it is easily mastered in ten lessons
of an hour each, and at the end of that time
any person OF ordinary intelligence will be
a better skat player than the majority o.
those who have simrly picked up the game,
even if they have played it for years.
Skat is played with a pack OF thirty-two
! cards, all below the seven being thrown out.
As in all German games, the 10 ranks next
1 W NHO ~ "NN WIZ ~cAAO ZIG II " g
The four jacks are always the best cards in
the pack, no matter what the trump suit
may be.
There are never more than three active
! players in each deal, although four or Ave
may sit at the same table and take their
turns to become active players. Each in
dividual is for himself and the final result
is an individual score. Each deal is prao-
Nf,aIIv q nNun,Nlafn 1aUno In sts,le An. "a l.
usual to finish a round 80 that each may
have dealt an equal number of times.
Any one can ave the first deal, after
which it passes in order TO the left. The
cards are given out three at a time for the
first round; then two are laid aside, face
down, for the skat; then four more TO each
player, and finally three, so that each hand
consists of ten cards.
When four play, the dealer takes no
cards. When five play, he gives TO the two
on his left and the one on his right.
There are several varieties of game to be
played, and the players bid against one an
other for the privilege of saying what the
game shall be, the one Offering &c play the
game which will win or lose the greatest
number of points having the choice.
This bidding is done by naming the figure
value OF a game, SuCn as JWelNe, lXteen or
thirty, as the case may be. If no one bids,
the player on the dealers left has the right
TO name the game.
Any bids are made to him first by the
play err on his left. If he has a game worth
as much himself, he says so and the other
must bid higher or pass. The survivor
of this first bidding is then open to bids
from the third man, who must offer higher
than the last bid or pass.
The successful bidder, who is called the
player, can name rs much more exT ensive
a game as he pleases, but he cannot name
a cheaper one. If the bid on which he
holds it is twenty, he must play a game
worth at least twenty.
Having stated what he is going to play,
the two others become partners against
him for that deal, but there Ia no change
in the original lead, which is always with
the player on the Dealers left. Players
must follow suit If they can. but there is
no obligation TO win a trick or to lead any
particular suit.
There are three kinds OF game to be
played and three ways Of playing them.