Smear (card game) may be discarded in a trick won by the player's partner, like in Pinochle, or even to "smudge," which is the highest bid in some forms of Pitch. Partnership Smear is played by four players in fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise. It can also be played by six players in three partnerships. The following version is one of several described by John McLeod. The game is played with a deck of 54 cards including two Jokers (Jo). The cards are ranked in the usual order, Aces ranking high. In a feature borrowed from Euchre, the Jack that is not trump but
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