BIDDING. The players must be familiar with the manner of computing the various games in order to bid with judgment, and without hesitation. Suppose you hold the three highest Matadores with an average hand, not strong enough in any one suit to play a Solo, but good enough for a Tourné. Your smallest possible game will be diamonds with three; which will be worth 5 multiplied by 4; 1 for the game, and 3 for the Matadores, 20 points. If you can get the game on any bid less than 20 you are absolutely safe, provided you can reach 61 in your tricks. But the opposition of another player may irritate you, [reizen,] and provoke you to bid 24, or even 28, in the hope of turning a heart or a spade. If you go beyond 20, and turn a diamond, you must either find the fourth Matadore in the Skat, or make your adversaries schneider, in order to secure another multiplier. If you fail, you lose 24, or 28, according to your bid.

The great difficulty in Skat is to judge the value of a hand, so as neither to under nor overbid it, and also to get all out of it that it is worth. A person who plays a Frage in hearts when he could easily have made it a Solo, reduces the value of his game just eighty per cent. A player with the four Wenzels, A K Q 9 8 of diamonds, and a losing card, would be foolish to play a diamond Solo with five, schneider announced, worth 72; while he had in his hand a sure Grand, with four, schneider announced, worth 140. Of course the schneider is not a certainty. The risk is that the Ten of diamonds will be guarded, and that an Ace and a Ten will make, both of them on your losing card, or one of them on the diamond Ten. A careful player would be satisfied with 100 on such a hand, for if he fails to make the announced schneider, he loses everything.

A player is not obliged to play the game he originally intended to, if he thinks he has anything better; but he must play a game worth as much as he bid, or the next higher, and having once announced his game, he must play it.

Suppose Vorhand has a spade Solo with two, and on being offered 33 says, “Yes,” thinking the bidder will go on to 36, instead of which he passes. It is very probable that the bidder has a spade Solo without two, and will defeat a spade Solo announced by Vorhand. If Vorhand has almost as good a game in hearts, he should change, hoping to make schneider, or to find another Matadore in the Skat. If he loses the game, a heart Solo with two costs 30 points; but as Vorhand refused 33, and the next best game he could have made with a heart Solo is 40, that is the amount he loses, although he refused only 33.

Method of Bidding. The Vorhand always holds the play, and the Mittelhand always makes the first bid, or passes, the Hinterhand saying nothing until the propositions made by the Mittelhand have been finally refused or passed by the Vorhand. The usual formula is for the Vorhand to say, “How many?” or, “I am Vorhand,” thereupon the Mittelhand bids or passes. If Vorhand has as good a game as offered him he says, “Yes,” and Mittelhand must bid higher or pass. If Vorhand has not as good a game he may either pass, or bluff the bidder into going higher by saying, “Yes.” As soon as one passes, the other turns to the Hinterhand, who must either make a higher bid than the last, or pass. The survivor of the first two must either say, “Yes,” to the offers made by Hinterhand, or pass. The final survivor then announces his game. It is usual for the last one to pass to signify that he is done by pushing the skat cards toward the survivor, indicating that they are his, and that he is the player. If a player is offered a game equal to his own he may still say, “Yes;” but if he is offered a better game, and still says, “Yes,” he runs the risk of being compelled to play.

The old German way of bidding, adopted at the Skat Congresses in Altenburg, Leipzig and Dresden, was to bid in suits; a bid of club Solo outranking one of spade Solo, no matter what it was worth. This has long been obsolete, the objection to it being that a player might get the play on a game of much inferior value. A player with a spade Solo, six Matadores, and schneider announced could offer only a spade Solo, without mentioning its value, and although his game was worth 99, he could be outbid by an offer of Nullo, which was then worth only 20. This is contrary to the spirit of the game, which requires that the person offering the game of the greatest value shall be the player. The rank of the bids in the old German game was as follows, beginning with the lowest:—

The multipliers were the same as those used in the modern game, but the player had no means of using them in his bids. It will be observed that the modern value of the various games seeks to preserve the old rank by assuming the lowest possible bid on any given game.

In some parts of Germany it is still the custom to reckon Solos at the tourné values, simply adding one multiplier for “out of hand.” Thus a spade Solo with two would be reckoned; “with two, one for game, one for out of hand; four times seven, or twenty-eight.” Note that seven is tourné value for spades.