My grandfather taught me and my younger brother to play skat (which I thought was spelled "scot" because of his accent) when we were kids. It is very mysterious, and I don't remember any of the details. But trying to learn it at a young age made other card games easier to learn, such as euchre, which is also very strange and requires card-counting. And poker, of course, which the article claims you can play after watching it for 30 minutes, but to play it well, you have to know what's going on, on the table. I was a pretty successful poker player in friendly games.

knbwhite: WastrelWay: My grandfather taught me and my younger brother to play skat (which I thought was spelled "scot" because of his accent) when we were kids. It is very mysterious, and I don't remember any of the details. But trying to learn it at a young age made other card games easier to learn, such as euchre, which is also very strange and requires card-counting. And poker, of course, which the article claims you can play after watching it for 30 minutes, but to play it well, you have to know what's going on, on the table. I was a pretty successful poker player in friendly games.

Is it played with enthusiasm, slapping cards down like Caribbean dominoes players? I think I've seen it played.

It's very hard to remember much, because it was 60 years ago. But I think my grandfather did that.