Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-11-30
.SKAT GAME MADE OVER.
AMERICANS HAVE IMPROVED THE
OLD TIME GERMAN
RULES.
GERMANS AGREE TO CHANGES.
Methods of Bidding and Scoring as Ad-
vocated by Americans Adopted by
the German Skat League.

SHuASs IL - sdIe 10 say ludI the ma
jority of them believe that they are
playing German skat as it was played
for years in the old country.
Americans have taken whist and re-
duced it TO a science instead of scram-
bic to see who would hold the most
honors in trumps. They took the Per-
sian game of las mas and made it over
into draw poker. Then they took the
poky game of bezique and made it into
one of the most popular games in the
United States, auction pinochle with
widow.
Ii you had told German a few years
ago that America would take skat, weed
out all of its weak points and improve
ITS good ones 50 as to reduce its COM
plicatlons to a simple, straightforward
game which any person could learn IN
five lessons. he would have laughed AT
you: Nevertheless this has been done.
The strongest evidence of the correct
ness of American Judgment in such mat
tiers is the recent adoption by the Ger
man Skat league of the American
| methods of bidding and scoring at the
great national game of Germany The
German league has chucked its system
OF bidding and scoring and adopted the
American.
There are still in New York old school
players who stick to the old game. But
the next annual congress of the North
American Skat league will be held in
New York in June. and the players will
have to follow the new rules, so they
may as well learn them. After fair
trial it is safe to say they will never re-
turn to the old way again.
The Original Game.
As originally played, according to the
laws adopted by the skat congresses in
Altenburg, Leipzig and Dresden, all the
bidding was by suits. Beginning with the
lowest game. frage, now no longer
played, the players outbid one another in
the order of suits; hearts being better
than diamonds, and then spades and then
clubs. Having exhausted the frage bids.
they ran the solos and gamut of four
suits, with the nullo sandwiched in be-
tween the spades and clubs, and then
they got to grands, and finally to the
open games.
This was not only tedious and compli-
Gated business, but the American players
soon discovered that it did not carry out
the true principles of the game; because
the player with the most valuable game
did not always get the chance to play it.
, Any one holding spade solo with six
matadores, schneider announced, worth
ninety-nlne points, could not bid any
higher than simple spade solo, which
would be oyer-bid by tullo, then worth
only twenty points.
The first step therefore in the improve
ment of the game was to abolish this
bidding by suits and to introduce the
system Of bidding by the point value Of
the game the player proposed to try.
Tins had the great additional advantage
or concealing from opposing bidders the
suit the player purposed declaring
But in making this Improvement the
Americans fixed the values of the game
so that they should retain their old rank
his made 1t necessary to give the value
twenty-three TO the nullo, so that it
the club solo, the lowest spade being
worth twenty-five and the lowest club
twenty-four.
This again compelled them to advance
the open nullo to forty-six and then to
make the grand solo half way between
the turned grand, which was twelve and
the open grand, which was twenty-four;
so they put the solo at eighteen.
When gucki grands were introduced
they could not push the other grands out
of place, so they put the gucki in the
same place as the solo, a mistake which
was soon recognized in practice. As
gucki grand is made with the aid of the
skat cards, there WIS no reason why it
should be any more valuable than
turned grand, and al the American Skat
congress in st. Louis in 1898 the value
of gucki grand was fixed at twelve.
The next thing to remedy was the null
To- The moment player bid twenty
three and then passed every one at the
table knew what he held.
This was a serious defect. and there
being no reason why a nullo should
come between the two black suits when
the rank of the bids no longer took any
notice of suits the nullo was put at
twenty and nullouvert q forty, so that
one could not tell what the player was
bidding on.
The gucki nulio, unlike the gucki
grand, was found to give the player too
great an advantage for the risk incurred,
and its value was therefore cut down to
fifteen, losing thirty if unsuccessful 1t
was also settled that the open gucki
nullo would have to be announced before
the skat cards were touched or it would
be straight nullo only.
This readjustment of the scores left
nothing that was out of gear bnt the
solo grand. In order to carry out the
scheme of advancing by four points at
time. as in the other games, the solo
grand was reduced to sixteen. which
also made it difficult to distinguish bids
on it from bids on solos.
The American Values.
The table of values as now adopted
by the American Skat league. which
will be insisted on at the next skat con-
gress in New York, is therefore US fol-
If trumps are ID. H. n e
A tournee is worth. 9 *
A solo is worth ...s......9 10 IL II
If the four jacks are the only trumps-
turned grand is worth. ................I II
A gueki grand is worth ..............l ~
A grand solo is worth. ................ IL
An open grand is worth. ............. "a
If there are no trumps at all
guckl nuiio is worth. ............. I5
A nullo out of hand is worth ...... ~
An open gucki nullo Is worth ......;f -
An pIlpn milo solo is worth, In
When the penalty for losing a ramscb
was only ten points it was found NOT
to be severe enough TO prevent "maur-
ers" from refusing to bid on their hands.
SO il has lately been raised TO 20. ana II
one player takes no trick it is 30; while
if one player takes all the tricks il is 30.
But no matter how much simplified
the game values there was still the bug
aboO of adjusting the scores at the end
of the game so as TO ascertain how
much each individual player had lost
and won This matter Of fixing the
scores at the end has probably done
more to discourage learners than any
ether mart of the game.