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
Skat (card game) tricks and players must agree whether a game lasts for a certain number of deals or until one player scores a certain number of game points. Scoring is similar to normal Skat. Skat in the United States and Canada was played for many years as an older version of the game, also known as "Tournee Skat", which shares most of its rules with its modern European counterpart with the addition of a few different games and an alternate system of scoring. "Tournee Skat" is declining in popularity. Most tournament Skat players in North America play the modern game described above.