Skat/Bibliography

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Around 1900 there seems to have been a short international boom of Skat, with many publications on the game in English. Ever since, most Hoyles describe one variant or another.

International Skat

• Internationale Skatordnung [German].

  Original version of the International Laws of Skat, with additional explanations. Including minor amendments for clarification that were made in 2006. The page also has links to PDF versions in German, Spanish and French. The English PDF file linked omits the explanations.

• The Skatordnung.

  Free English translation by David Parlett.

• Sammlung von Skatgerichtsentscheidungen [German].

  Collection of decisions by the German Skat Court w.r.t. the International Skat Order. With an appendix consisting of decisions relating to tournaments and to popular rule variants.

• Ehmann, Holger, Ich lerne Skat. Begleitheft für einen Skatlehrgang [German].
• Ehmann, Holger, Aprendo Scat. Guia para principiantes apuntes de clase [Spanish].
• Parlett, David, Penguin book of card games, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5.

  Skat is discussed on pages 212–225. Two pages are devoted to North American and Texas Skat.

• Parlett, David, Oxford A–Z of card games, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860870-7.

  Discusses Skat on pages 333–342. Slightly more than one page is devoted to modern American Skat.

History

• Hempel, Johann Friedrich Ferdinand (1818), "Das Skadspiel", Osterländische Blätter (no. 30): 238–239.

  Earliest description of the game.

• Pierer, H. A., ed. (1833), Encyclopädisches Wörterbuch der Wissenschaften, Künste und Gewerbe, Altenburg.

  Early complete description in an encyclopaedia.

• Stein, Oskar (1887), Geschichte des Skatspiels, Berlin.

  First standard work on the history of the game.

• Hoffmann, Detlef & Margot Dietrich (1982), Das Skatspiel. Geschichte – Bilder – Regeln, München: Verlag C. J. Bucher GmbH, ISBN 978-3-7658-0392-5.

  Comprehensive illustrated history of the game, written by an art historian and the director of the Deutsches Spielkartenmuseum (German Museum for the History of Playing Cards).

• Parlett, David (1990), The Oxford guide to card games: a historical survey, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-214165-1.

  The history of Skat is discussed on pages 271–279.

• Parlett, David (1991), The history of card games, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-282905-4.

  Paperback edition of Parlett 1990.

Local and historical Skat rules

• Allgemeine Deutsche Skatordnung. Bearbeitet von K. Buhle und angenommen vom Ersten Deutschen Skat-Congreß in Altenburg, Leipzig, 1886.

  First national German ruleset for Skat. Prescribes the conservative method of bidding by contract type and suit, although number bidding was more popular. Describes two ways of treating null contracts in the bidding phase.

• Hertefeld, A. (1883), Illustrirtes Skatbuch. Theorie und Praxis des Skatspiels, Breslau. [German]
• Lemcke, Ernst Eduard (1887), An illustrated grammar of skat, New York.
• Hertefeld, A. (1893), The game of skat in theory and practice, London.

  English translation of Hertefeld (1883).

• Foster, R. F. (1906), Foster's skat manual, New York.

  Contains "The American Laws of Skat", which are similar to the German 1886 rules but prescribe bidding by number.

• Petersen, Reinar (1998), Lærebog i kortspillet Skat [Danish].

  Describes a Danish variant of Skat. Base value of grand is 20.