Overview
- Players: 2 or more; 4-6 is ideal
- Game type: Cards, attrition
- Objective: Be the last player remaining
Rules
Skite is played with a standard 52-card deck, without jokers. The game is played in rounds, where the objective in each round is to not lose (as opposed to completely winning).
Each player is dealt three cards, which can be viewed only by the respective player. The remaining cards are placed face down in a stack. Each hand is assigned a point value, which is counted blackjack-style in one suit only (aces are 11 points, face cards are 10 points, all else is face value). Thus, the highest valued-hand is 31 points, called a skite. Additionally, three-of-a-kind is worth 30.5 points, the next best hand.
Each turn consists of picking up a card and placing an unwanted card on the pile. The card picked up can either be the next card of the stack or the topmost card of the pile. When a player believes he/she is not going to lose, then the player knocks the table in place of his/her turn. Each of the other players has one additional turn, then the game ends. (If the stack is emptied, then the round immediately ends.) A player with skite can end the round at any point, even out of turn, by declaring "Skite!".
At the end of each round, players show their cards, point values are assessed, and a loser is determined. If multiple players tie on the lowest score, all of those players lose. The loser(s) lose a life; if the loser also knocked, he loses two lives. Players begin the game with four lives. It is not possible to gain a life.
When a player runs out of lives, he/she drops out of the game. The winner is the last remaining player.
Variant: Super Skite (aka Ultra Skite)
Super Skite is played identical to Skite, except that two decks are used and each player is dealt four cards. Skite is 42 points (two aces and two ten-point cards) and four-of-a-kind is worth 41.5 points. Wild jokers are commonly incorporated as well.
Credits
The game of skite was taught to me (Raymond Cheong) by a friend, Jason Yau. The game may have alternate names. The variant Super Skite was created by the Queen Anne's crew on or about Novemeber 1999.