Officers' Skat Skat ("Räuberskat") or Coachmen's Skat ("Kutscherskat") There are several local variations of the card game, which differ mainly in the number of cards revealed or hidden and the calculation of points. The game is played between two players, each of whom has two rows of cards placed face down and two rows of cards placed face up on top of them. Thus each player has his 16 cards laid out in two rows of cards facing him, each row containing four pairs of cards, the top cards being face up. The players then play for 16 tricks. Players may agree
Pinochle team or player has been "set". This means that the total bid amount is subtracted from the total game score, often accompanied by losing the points scored in meld for that hand as well. This can result in a negative score. A related though different style of bidding is for the players to bid individually, and partners' bids are then summed. The winning bid only decides trump; both (or all) teams' bids become their contract, meaning any team can score or be set. This creates a more balanced game. In some versions of pinochle, after the bid has been taken