History of Skat in accordance with the resolutions of the 28th Skat Congress. Between 1886 and 2006 there were 29 Skat Congresses. The German Skat Association was founded at the third Skat Congress. Important congresses are marked in bold: In the first game variants, the dealer always received the two surplus cards and became a soloist. The trumps comprised the Unters (Jacks) and the trump suit as in the modern Suit contract. However, the declarer was not free to choose trumps. The trump suit, as in Wendish Schafkopf and most contracts of modern Doppelkopf, was permanently Bells (Diamonds). The soloist's only privilege was
History of Skat association was founded. The second Skat Congress also failed due to this issue. On 12 March 1899, in Halle (Saale) at the Third Skat Congress, the German Skat Association was founded.Those present could still not agree on a final set of rules. Although suit bidding was declared an official form of the game, point bidding was still allowed. The Congress chose Altenburg as the headquarters of the new association. A year earlier a comparable association had been founded in the United States: the "North American Skat League". Skat had been played in the USA since at least 1876. Up to