I needed 61 points to win – and I got 60. We played four hands, and after three we had each won one hand – even me! The forth hand was going to decide it I bid and was deemed to be the ‘Lonely Person’ – playing alone to take the tricks and appropriate points while the others formed a team against me. Plus, the Jack is not called a Jack, it’s called the Unter! But even more foreign to me is that we played with a traditional German deck and instead of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades I had acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells. I was definitely challenged with the bidding process, which was a complex process of give, listen, and tell. Skat was developed from games like Sheepshead, L’hombre, Solo, and Tarot between 18. ![]() ![]() Luckily my previous Sheepshead experience helped a lot. This is not a simple card game to learn and thanks to my Altenburg teachers and interpreters for trying to teach a beginner. Sosic told me that he often gets calls in the middle of the night asking about rules. I told you Skat is a very serious game in Germany. So this means when you get in a fight with your family members about a rule in a game, you actually have a process to ‘take them to court’. Skat judges meet yearly at Hotel am Roßplan (where I was learning to play) and settle actual disputes over games. President Sosic was teaching me all about this complicated game. Mr Sosic is the president of Altenburg Skat Association, the highest decision body for disputes associated with Skat centered in Altenberg. I was learning how to play this Skat card game with 3 generations of Germans in the town in which it was created – which made this one of my most memorable travel days on this Germany road trip. Skat is a much more complex version of Sheepshead, and it is THE most beloved and played card game in Germany. Luckily the game is for fun, and they expect me to make stupid plays since this is the first time I have learned this complex game where Jacks (which represent the common people) are the most powerful card. I’m playing the ultimate German card game, Skat, in the town where it all started – Altenburg in the state of Thuringia. I look at my hand and wonder what is the right play? And then there’s silver-haired Edith with her glass of wine and flighty demeanor she may be 90 years old, you want to trust her…but I just don’t know. He looks innocent, but I wonder if I should trust him. Young Clement has a big smile on his face watching my every move. He has a serious look on his face as if he’s concentrating on solving the world water crisis. The grin quickly disappears as I look across the table at my opponents and am reminded of why I’m here at this German bar on a Sunday afternoon. My brain suddenly places it – Edelweiss from Sound of Music – a grin creeps across my face as I consider how appropriate the song is for where I am. There’s music in the background, it sounds familiar to me as it echoes throughout the empty bar. The table is filled with drinks pints of beer, German diesel (beer and coke), and glasses of wine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |