Editing Skat (card game) (section)

==== Bidding mechanics ====
===== Order of bidding =====
The order of bidding is determined by the seating order. Starting from the left of the dealer players are numbered clockwise: the first seat ({{langx|de|Vorhand}}), the second seat ({{langx|de|Mittelhand}}) and the third seat ({{langx|de|Hinterhand}}). In a three-player game, the dealer will be the third seat.  In a four-player game the third seat will be to the right of the dealer.

Bidding starts by the player in second seat making a call to the player in first seat on which the latter can ''hold'' or ''pass''. If the first seat player holds, the second seat player can make a higher call or pass himself. This continues until either of the two players passes. The player in third seat is then allowed to continue making calls to the player who has not yet passed. Bidding ends as soon as at least two players have passed. It is also possible for all three players to pass.

The starting order can be memorized as “deal–respond–call–continue” ({{langx|de|"geben–hören–sagen–weitersagen"}}). The player who continues in this mnemonic is either the dealer (in a three-player game) or the player in third seat. The mnemonic is commonly used among casual players.

'''Example:''' Anna, Bernard and Clara are playing, and seated in that order around the table. Anna deals the cards. Clara makes the first call to Bernard, who passes right away. Anna then makes two more calls to Clara, who accepts both bids. Anna then passes as well. The bidding ends, with Clara being the declarer for this round.

===== Possible calls =====
The calling player (i.e. the player currently calling the bids) may either

* “pass”, leaving the bidding and forfeiting the chance to become declarer in this round, or
* bid any possible game value that is higher than the highest bid made so far in this round.

The responding player (i.e. the player currently responding to the bidder) may either

* “pass”, leaving the bidding and forfeiting the chance to become declarer in this round, or
* “accept” or "yes", staying in the bidding and waiting for further calls.
Responder must wait for caller to bid or pass before passing herself.

Except for "pass", only the possible game values are legal calls. Therefore, the lowest possible call is 18, which is the lowest possible game value in Skat. Players are free to skip intermediate values, although it is common to always pick the lowest available call while bidding.

The sequence of possible double digit game values, beginning with 18 is 18—20—22—23—24—27—30—33—35—36—40—44—45—46—48—50—54—55—59—60—63—66—70—72—77—80—81—84—88—90—96—99 (triple digit bids are possible albeit rare in a competitive bidding). Among German players the values representing null games, especially 23, the most common one, are often replaced by the call “null”. Also, numbers are frequently abbreviated by only calling the lower digit of a value not divisible by 10 (e.g. “two” instead of “22” or “five” instead of “45”); this is unambiguous if values are always called out in order and intermediate values never skipped, as is the custom. (As the German words for "null" and "zero" are identical, this yields the rather unintuitive sequence 18—20—2—0—4—7—30 and so on.)

===== Passing out =====
If all players pass, the hand is not played and the next dealer shuffles and deals. A dealer never deals twice in a row.

It is common in informal play to play a variant of Skat called ''Ramsch'' (junk, rummage) instead of skipping the hand and dealing for the next one. The objective in that variant is to make no ''trick'' as their points would score negatively. This is not part of the sanctioned rules, however.

In a pass-out game, the player in first seat will be the last one to pass. If that player intends to become declarer, however, he or she has to make a call of at least 18 (picking up the ''Skat'' in that situation implies the call).

===== Example bidding =====
Players Anna, Bernard and Clara are seated in that order, clockwise; Anna is the dealer. The bidding proceeds as follows:

# Clara: "18"
# Bernard: "Yes"
# Clara: "20"
# Bernard: "Yes"
# Clara: "22"
# Bernard: "Pass"
# Anna: "23"
# Clara: "Yes"
# Anna: "24"
# Clara: "Yes"
# Anna: "Pass"
 
On this deal, Clara will be declarer with a final bid of 24 (the highest accepted bid).