Officers' Skat Officers' Skat Officers' Skat ("Offiziersskat"), is a trick-taking card game for two players which is based on the rules of Skat. It may be played with a German or French card deck of 32 cards which, from the outset of the game, are laid out in rows both face down and face up. As in Skat, tricks are taken and card points counted to determine the winner of a round; game points are then awarded to decide the winner of a game. It is also called Two-player Skat ("Zweimann-Skat" or "Skat zu zweit"), Sailors' Skat ("Seemannsskat"), Farmers' Skat ("Bauernskat"), Robbers'
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