# The Lieutenant Skat Handbook

## Introduction

### Gametype:

Card, Arcade

### Number of possible players:

Two

Lieutenant Skat (from German Offiziersskat) is a fun and engaging card game for two players, where the second player is either live opponent, or built in artificial intelligence.

The game is played using a single deck of cards. Cards are shuffled and distributed amongst the players in such a way that half of them are face down and half of them are open. Each participant plays one of the open cards per turn. As soon as all the cards are played the round ends and points are calculated and awarded.

## How to Play

### Objective:

Score more than 60 points in a single game.

Once dealing is finished each player ends up with 16 cards each. Cards are displayed in two horizontal rows - four cards per row. Half of the cards are face down and half are face up. As a player you can see the cards of your opponent as well as your own. You can make a move then by clicking on any of your cards which are currently face up. The opponent has to reply by choosing a corresponding card form his/her own stack.

### Note

If your opponent is artificial intelligence, its cards will be chosen automatically.

Once the exchange is finished values of the played cards are evaluated and either you or your opponent is awarded points. The game is complete in 16 rounds (when all of your and your opponent's cards have been played). After the game ends your score is being compared to that of your opponent and the player with the higher score wins the round.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### Game Screen

&lskat; default game screen. &lskat; default game reference screen.

1 2, 3 4 5 6 7 8
- Active player indicator Card stacks for player one and player two Stack of won cards (if any) Gameplay area Score board with player's name, points in the current game, the overall score of the player, and the amount of wins per game Player's controller (Human/PC) The 'trump' in the current game

### Rules

- Every player owns 16 cards. 8 of them are face down 8 of them are face up.

- A face down card can only be opened after a face up card covering it has been played.

- Each game has a randomly chosen 'trump' card [8].

- All four Jacks are counted as trumps and do not belong to their suits.

- If a color (⪚ heart) is selected as 'trump' all seven hearts as well as all four Jacks count as trumps, making 11 trump cards.

- Jacks beat each other in order (greatest to least): Club->Spade->Heart->Diamond.

- The sequence of cards for a trump color: Jack of clubs, Jack of spades, Jack of hearts, Jack of diamonds, Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Nine, Eight, Seven.

- The sequence of cards for a non-trump color: Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Nine, Eight, Seven.

- The values of the cards (highest to lowest):

Card | Value
Ace | 11
Ten | 10
King | 4
Queen | 3
Jack | 2
Nine | 0
Eight | 0
Seven | 0

- A special 'trump' game is called the Grand. In this game no suit is trump and only the four Jacks count as trump. This game type is indicated by the symbol of a Jack's head [8] on the score board [6].

- If player starts the round he has a choice of cards to play with, either a card from a suite or a 'trump' card.

- Only the face up cards from the player's own stack can be used to play the round.

- Player who wins the round starts the next one.

- The player who wins the round adds values of the cards played in that round to his/her score.

- Player with more than 60 points wins the game.

- If both players finish with 60 points each the game ends in a draw.

- For each game a certain amount of victory points is awarded and added to the overall score.

Points | Score
60 | 1
61 to 90 | 2
91 to 119 | 3
120 | 4

### Strategies and Tips

When the game starts, the starting player should play any of the face up cards from own stack. If the second player currently has face up cards that are of the same suit as the card played, he has to reply with one of those cards. If, however, the second player does not have a card of the same suit, he can play with any other card including a 'trump' card.

If there is at least one 'trump' card, the highest 'trump' wins both cards.

If there is no 'trump' card, the highest card of the suit played by the starting player wins both cards.

If the replying player has no card of the requested suit and no 'trump' card, he has to play any card and the starting player wins both cards.

The player who wins the round leads the next one.

## Frequently asked questions

Can I play with a different deck of cards?

Yes. Refer to this section of 'Interface Overview' for details.

I have made a mistake. Can I undo?

No. This game does not have an Undo feature.

Can I use the keyboard to play this game?

No. This game cannot be played using keyboard.

I cannot figure out what to do here! Are there hints?

No. This game does not have a Hint feature.

I have to quit the game now, but I am not finished yet. Can I save my progress?

No. This game does not have a Save State feature.

Can I change players' names?

Yes. To change the names displayed on the right hand side of the game screen refer to this section of 'Interface Overview' for details.

## Interface Overview

### The Game Menu

&Ctrl;N Game New

- Starts a new game.

&Ctrl;End Game End Game

- Ends a running game.

Game Clear Statistics

- Clears the all time game memory. This statistic is saved when the game ended and shows the overall score and the amount of played and won games per player. This is cleared with this menu option.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

- Quits the program.

### The Settings Menu

Settings Starting Player

- Selects whether player 1 (top) or player two (bottom) begins the next game.

Settings Player 1 Played By

- Chooses who should play for player 1 (top). The player can be either controlled by the local player with the mouse or the computer will control it.

Settings Player 2 Played By

- Chooses who should play for player 2 (bottom). The player can be either controlled by the local player with the mouse or the computer will control it.

Settings Theme

- Chooses a visual theme. This changes the appearance of the game but not of the cards. Card decks are selected with their own menu option.

F10 Settings Select Card Deck...

- Choose the face and back of the carddeck used for playing. You can select these in a preview dialog showing all carddecks installed for &kde;.

  Some carddecks or cardsets are marked as scalable graphics (SVG) in the dialog. Choosing them will display better quality of the graphics when the game is scaled or enlarged. Fixed size graphics will loose quality when resized different than their original size.

Settings Change Player Names...

- Change the names of the players.

Additionally &lskat; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.

## Credits and License

&lskat;

Program copyright 2000-2007 &Martin.Heni; kde@heni-online.de

Graphics copyright 2007 Eugene Trounev eugene.trounev@gmail.com

Documentation copyright 2000-2007 &Martin.Heni; kde@heni-online.de

Documentation converted to &kde; 2.0 by &Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;
&documentation.index;