Editing Skat (card game) (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of Skat}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-F0528-0026-001, Erfurt, Skatspieler im Park.jpg|thumb|Skat players in an Erfurt park in 1967]]

Skat was developed by the members of a local [[Tarock (card games)|Tarock]] club, the ''Brommesche Tarok-Gesellschaft''<ref>Michael Dummett, Sylvia Mann, ''The game of Tarot: from Ferrara to Salt Lake City'', p. 487, United States Games Systems (1980), {{ISBN|0-7156-1014-7}}</ref> around 1810–1813 in [[Altenburg]], in what is now the State of [[Thuringia]], [[Germany]].{{efn|Hempel writes in 1839 that "for 30 years a particular game, the game of Skat, has been almost universally popular in Altenburg and the surrounding area." That puts its invention at around 1810 and we know had emerged by 1813 from von der Gabelentz's notes q.v.<ref>Hempel (1839), p. 80.</ref>}}

Skat is based on the three-player [[Tarot game]] of [[Grosstarock]] and the four-player game of [[German Schafkopf|Schafkopf]] (forerunner of American [[Sheepshead (game)|Sheepshead]]).<ref>David Parlett, ''Oxford Dictionary of Card Games'', p. 254, Oxford University Press (1996), {{ISBN|0-19-869173-4}}</ref> It has become the most loved and widely played German card game, especially in German-speaking regions.<ref>International Skat Order, International Skat Players Assoc., Rev. 15APR2007</ref> In the earliest known form of the game, the player in the first seat was dealt twelve cards and the other two players ten each. He then made two discards, constituting the ''Skat'', and announced a contract.<ref>David Parlett, ''Teach Yourself Card Games'', p. 191, McGraw-Hill (2003), {{ISBN|0-07-141974-8}}</ref> But the main innovation of this new game was that of the [[bidding (cards)|bidding process]].<ref>{{cite web|author=David Parlett |url=http://www.parlettgames.uk/skat/skathist.html |title=Parlett on Skat (5) History |publisher=parlettgames.uk |access-date=2010-04-13}}</ref>

The earliest recorded rules for "Scat" date to 1835, by when it was already popular in the [[Kingdom of Saxony]], especially in the [[Duchy of Altenburg]] and the surrounding area. These describe a game for 3 players with [[German-suited cards]] who received 10 each in packets of 3, 2, 3 and 2, the two remaining cards being dealt to the table as a [[talon (cards)|talon]] known as the ''Scat''. There were just two contracts – ''Frage'' and ''Solo'' – and [[forehand (card player)|forehand]] opened the bidding or passed. A ''Frage'' bidder could be overcalled by a ''Solo'' and either could be overcalled by the same contract in a higher-ranking suit, the suits ranking in the same order as in the modern game. The declarer needed 61 [[card point]]s to win and there were bonuses for scoring 90 (''Schneider''), taking all tricks (''Schwarz'') and, optionally, for holding or lacking [[matador (cards)|matadors]] in unbroken sequence from the top. The four [[Unter (playing card)|Unters]] were permanent trumps ranking above the trump suit.<ref>Pierer (1835), p. 371.</ref>

The first book on the rules of Skat, ''Das Scatspiel: Nebst zwei Liedern'', was published in 1848 by one of its inventors, secondary school teacher J. F. L. Hempel.<ref name="Foster">R. F. Foster, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TVsRK5_35U4C&dq=Ramsch+game&pg=PA162 ''Foster's Skat Manual''], pp. 7, 8, 162, Averill Press (2008), {{ISBN|1-4437-2151-4}}</ref> Nevertheless, the rules continued to differ from one region to another until the first attempt to set them in order was made by a congress of Skat players on 7 August 1886 in Altenburg. These were the first official rules finally published in a book form in 1888 by Theodor Thomas of Leipzig.<ref name="Foster"/> The current rules, followed by both the [[International Skat Players Association]], [[German Skat Federation]] and [[British Skat Association]], date from Jan. 1, 1999.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/547318/skat] Skat</ref>

The word Skat is a Tarock term<ref>Robert MacHenry, Philip W. Goetz, ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', vol. 1-30 p. 252, Encyclopædia Britannica (UK) Ltd. (1983), {{ISBN|0-85229-400-X}}</ref> derived from the Latin word ''scarto, scartare'', which means to discard or reject, and its derivative ''scatola'', a box or a place for safe-keeping.<ref>Robert Frederick Foster, ''Foster's complete Hoyle: an encyclopedia of all the indoor games'', p. 378, (1897)</ref> The word scarto is still used in some other Italian card games to this day. Skat is completely unrelated to an American game called [[Thirty-one (card game)|Scat]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pagat.com/draw/scat.html|title=Difference between American Scat and German Skat|website=pagat}}</ref>

Nowadays, it is very popular to play the Skat game online through web browsers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Skat Online|url=https://www.spiele123.com/spiel/skat|website=Spiele123}}</ref>