Welcome!

You want to play a round of Skat but your buddies don't have time?
You want to improve your playing skills without losing money?
You want to learn how to play Ramsch smarter than the others?

Then JSkat is the right choice for you!

JSkat is a free implementation of the German card game Skat in Java^TM. You can play it on nearly every platform that runs a modern Java Runtime Environment (at least Java 17). We know that it runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS with the JRE from Oracle, but we like to hear from you, if it's playable on other platforms, too. We also like to hear from you if you have problems running JSkat on your platform of choice.

Who is behind JSkat

JSkat was created by Jan Schäfer. In the meantime several other people contributed to JSkat. It's a non-profit project that steals a lot of our spare time. ;o) Our goal is to develop a free computer Skat game that can play either according to the official rules or with a customized special ruleset that is often played in the pubs.

Current affairs

2022/7/31: JSkat 0.21 is out. This is a minor maintenance release. One bug fix was done for correct display of game results in Ramsch games.

2022/2/23: JSkat 0.20 is out. This is a minor maintenance release. JSkat needs at least a JDK 17 to run. JavaFX was also updated to version 17. One bug fix was done for correct calculation of overbid games.

2021/1/30: JSkat 0.19 is out. This is a minor maintenance release. The exceptions thrown on start up JSkat from the fat JAR are removed now.

2020/11/19: JSkat 0.18 is out. Fewer clicks are needed for announcing a game. Discarded Skat cards are shown in the game overview after the game has ended.

2019/09/13: JSkat 0.17 is out. This is a maintenance release with some minor tweaks. This version requires at least Java 11. It was tested with AdoptJDK (https://adoptopenjdk.net/) under Linux and Windows.

2017/01/23: JSkat 0.16 is out. This release adds support for high resolution displays and multiple monitor setup. On the other hand it's now possible to hide the toolbar buttons to have more space on low resolution displays. The settings can now be saved either in the users home directory or in the current working directory. This makes it possible to carry around JSkat on your USB stick and have your settings everywhere around. This release is the first JSkat release that needs at least Java 8. The main window was ported to JavaFX. Other parts of the GUI will follow in the next releases. Several bug fixes have been done.

2015/07/13: JSkat 0.15 is out. This release enables the replay of local skat games step by step to investigate every move after finishing the game. Some bugfixes in game result calculation were done. The GUI was also refreshed a bit. Unfortunately the AI players are still very poor in their playing strength. So as always we recommend to play on the International Skat Server (ISS).

2014/09/10: JSkat 0.14 is out. This release fixes annoying bugs in AI players that would have played schwarz otherwise and lead to preliminary ending of games. It's possibe to announce Contra/Re if pub rules are activated. Only the random player supports this right now. Unfortunately the AI players are still very poor in their playing strength. So as always we recommend to play on the International Skat Server (ISS). Optimisation of the GUI for small screen sizes was done.

2013/11/02: JSkat 0.13 is out. This is mostly a bugfixing release. We fixed a lot of the most annoying errors that caused JSkat to freeze or behave strangely. There are new card sets to choose in the options dialog.

2013/05/09: JSkat 0.12 is out. After a long time without updates we bring you a new version. The AI player with neural networks is starting to play meaningful. But there is still space for improvements. That's why we still recommend to play against the AI players on the International Skat Server (ISS).

2012/08/28: JSkat 0.11 is out. With this version the playing on the International Skat Server (ISS) was improved. There is a new AI player (Beta), that plays with algorithms.

2012/08/01: JSkat is also available for Android. The app was developed by Daniel Loreck and Sascha Laurien using JSkat as base. JSkat on Android can be installed throw the Google Play Store.

2012/03/13: JSkat 0.10 is out. It's possible to play Ramsch games now. This release includes many bugfixes and improved playing strength of the computer players again.

2011/10/09: JSkat 0.9 is out. This release again includes many bugfixes and improved playing strength of the computer players.

2011/07/20: JSkat 0.8 is out. This release includes many bugfixes for playing on the International Skat Server and a new AI player that uses neural networks.

2011/05/23: The release is out: JSkat 0.7 is finished. Please download this new version to play over the internet on the International Skat Server against the strongest Skat AI players known today. You can also play against other human players.

2011/04/05: There are new screenshots of the upcoming Version 0.7 for all people who are curious, how the new JSkat will look like. We hope you will like it.

2011/03/26: JSkat is approaching the beta phase for version 0.7 in the near future. This version is a complete rewrite of JSkat with new AI players and features. You will be able to play over the internet on the International Skat Server against human players or the strongest AI players known today.

2009/05/23: You are probably wondering if JSkat is still a living project, since the last version was released in August 2007. But be assured: We are still working on JSkat!
Unfortunately, we did not have as much time as we would have liked, so JSkat went on something similar to a hiatus, but behind the scenes, Jan has done a major refactoring and implemented a whole new AI player. Due to the refactoring, the AI players from previous versions do not work any longer and need some recoding. This is the reason why there isn't a new release out already.
However, we would appreciate it if you download the release 0.6 to show your interest. And feedback is always welcome...

License

JSkat is copyrighted under the Apache License, Version 2.0.