Skat (card game) The word scarto is still used in some other Italian card games to this day, and is not to be confused with the American game called "scat" Skat is a game for three players. At the beginning of each round or 'deal', one player becomes "declarer" and the other two players become the "defending team". The two defenders are not allowed to communicate in any way except by their choice of cards to play. The game can also be played by four players. In this case, the dealer will sit out the round that was dealt. Players may agree at
Pinochle queens for five points, and jacks and nines are worth zero. An even simpler method has aces, tens, and kings worth 10 (and known as "counters"), and everything else zero ("garbage"). Since all points are multiples of ten in the third method, most players drop the redundant zero. Aces, tens, and kings won in tricks are worth one point. The meld scoring can also avoid the zero in the tenth place. Melds like 1,000 aces are thus worth 100. The terms "1,000 aces", "800 kings" and so on are often used, even though the point values are one-tenth. Two-handed pinochle