Skat bidding table: every bid value from 18 to 264 and how they come about
During bidding the players name game values until two of them pass. The declarer must then announce a game whose value is at least the last bid, otherwise they have overbid. The table below is the complete sequence of bid values under the International Skat Order. In Grand Skat the voice-over calls them, and the coach in the full version tells you after the hand whether your bid was covered.
The bid values in order
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, 100, 108, 110, 117, 120, 121, 126, 130, 132, 135, 140, 143, 144, 150, 153, 154, 156, 160, 162, 165, 168, 170, 176, 180, 187, 192, 198, 204, 216, 240, 264.
Values that are not in the sequence (25 or 32, for example) do not exist: no game can produce them.
Base values
| Game | Base value |
|---|---|
| Diamonds | 9 |
| Hearts | 10 |
| Spades | 11 |
| Clubs | 12 |
| Grand | 24 |
| Null | 23 |
| Null Hand | 35 |
| Null Ouvert | 46 |
| Null Ouvert Hand | 59 |
Null games have fixed values and no matadors. Every other game is calculated like this:
Game value = base value × (matadors + game levels)
Matadors
Matadors count the jacks from the jack of clubs downwards that the declarer holds in an unbroken sequence (with) or lacks in an unbroken sequence (without). In a suit game the trumps of the suit continue the count after the four jacks (ace, ten, king, queen, nine, eight, seven); in a Grand only the four jacks count.
- Jack of clubs, jack of spades, jack of hearts: with three. No jack of clubs, no jack of spades, jack of hearts: without two.
- The cards in the skat count too: a player who bids "with one" and finds the jack of spades in the skat suddenly has "with two" and a higher game value.
Game levels
To the matadors you always add 1 for the game. Each further level adds another 1:
| Level | When |
|---|---|
| Hand | the skat stays face down |
| Schneider | the opponents take at most 30 card points (or the declarer does, and then loses) |
| Schneider announced | hand games only |
| Schwarz | the opponents take no trick at all |
| Schwarz announced | hand games only |
| Ouvert | hand game with open cards; counts Schneider and Schwarz announced as well |
Worked examples
- Hearts, with two, game 3, hand 4: 10 × 4 = 40.
- Spades, without four, game 5: 11 × 5 = 55.
- Grand, with three, game 4, Schneider 5: 24 × 5 = 120.
- Clubs, without one, game 2: 12 × 2 = 24.
- Grand Ouvert, with four, game 5, hand 6, Schneider 7, Schneider announced 8, Schwarz 9, Schwarz announced 10, Ouvert 11: 24 × 11 = 264, the highest bid value.
Overbidding
A player who bid 40 and can only show a game worth 30 at the end has overbid and loses. The lost value is the next possible value of the announced game that reaches the bid, doubled. Grand Skat calculates this automatically and the coach shows where the mistake was.
Practice
Bid values are learned at the table, not from the table. In Grand Skat the voice-over bids along, the easy bot level gives you time, and the free tutorial has its own lesson on bidding. Play now at grandskat.com, free in the browser. Legal notice in the Impressum.