Officers' Skat choose trumps once both players have four cards, face up, before them. If both players pass, the game is played as "Ramsch", i.e. the is to get the lowest score. The feature of Harlequin Skat is the fact that a player only sees half his own cards, but also half of his opponent's. His opponent cannot see any of those cards, but can see all the others. The advantages of harlequin skat are that you need less space to play it, and a greater tactical depth because you know your opponent's cards before they are seen. The same rules apply
History of Skat Altenburg suit bidding ("Altenburger Farbenreizen") and the point bidding system used today was that the suit bidding offered only the basic values of the games. Except in special cases, a player could not be overbid by an unfavourable Unter/Jack in the Skat, since the position of the Unters was not taken into account when bidding. "Matadors" ("Spitzen") were not taken into account until after the game. In addition, the game types differed from today's: Little is known about the early history and origins of point bidding. The first Skat Congress failed in its attempt to found an all-German Skat Association