Skat is (along with Doppelkopf) the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia. It is also played in American regions with large German populations, such as Wisconsin and Texas.
It is a three- or four-player game of tricks using a 32-card deck.
The deck of 32 cards consists of the cards 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace in all suits, without joker. Some players in Eastern and Southern Germany and Austria prefer German decks with the suits of bells, hearts, leaves and acorns. Until recently in Saxony and Thuringia for example German-suited decks were used almost exclusively. At tournaments, a compromise deck is used nowadays that has the standard suits but with green spades and yellow diamonds. The choice of deck does not otherwise affect the game's rules.
League games are organized worldwide by the International Skat Players Association and within Germany by the Deutscher Skatverband e.V. and online by the Deutscher online Skatverband e.V..
Skat was developed around 1810...
full article at wikipedia
