Objective

The goal of Scat is to collect cards of the same suit to reach a hand value as close to 31 as possible. The player with the lowest hand value at the end of a round loses a life.

A round is one hand of cards. A game is round after round, one straight after the other, until only one player still has lives left — and that's the one who wins.

Card Values

Aces: 11 points
Face Cards (K, Q, J): 10 points each
Number Cards (2-10): Face value

Important: Only cards of the same suit count toward your score!

Gameplay

Each player is dealt 3 cards
One more card is turned onto the discard pile face down, and only the first player to act gets a look-in at it (see below)
On your turn, you must either:
- Take the top card from the discard pile, then discard one card
- Draw from the deck, then discard one card
- Knock to end the round — but only if your hand is worth 19 or more. Below that the table won't let you
When a player knocks, everyone else gets one more turn, then all hands are shown
The player with the lowest score loses a life
If the player who knocked ends up with the lowest score, they lose two lives — but only if they were beaten outright. A knocker who is tied for lowest is safe, and the players tied with them lose a life each

                That first card, face down. The very first player of the round is the only one who is offered it, and they have to decide blind. Take it from the pile and it comes into your hand, and nobody else ever finds out what it was. Draw from the deck instead — or knock — and you've turned it down: it stays buried, and nobody sees it for the rest of the round. From then on the discard pile is face up like any other game.
            

                A hand of 31 ends the round on the spot. If a card you draw gives you three cards of one suit adding to exactly 31, the table calls it for you straight away — you don't have to do anything. The round stops there, and every other player at the table loses a life, no matter what they were holding.
            

Scoring

Your score is the sum of cards in your hand of the same suit. If you have multiple suits, only the highest-scoring suit counts.

Example: If you have K♠ 9♠ 5♦, your score is 19 (K♠ + 9♠ = 10 + 9 = 19). The 5♦ doesn't count because it's a different suit.

Three of a kind — two ways to play it.

The everyday scoring: three cards of the same rank — 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ — are worth nothing special. Suit is the only thing that adds up, so 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ scores a 7 and is very likely the worst hand at the table. This is how every game is scored unless the table has agreed otherwise.

The house rule: a lot of kitchens play that three of a kind scores 30½ — more than any suit total except a real 31, so it beats everything but 31. This table plays it too, but only when everyone sitting down has agreed to it: each player switches it on in their own Settings, and if every human at the table has it on when the game starts, the table announces it and plays the whole game that way. If even one player hasn't switched it on, that game uses the everyday scoring. The computer players don't get a say. Once a game has started, changing your setting affects your next game, not this one.

Two 30½ hands tie, exactly as any other tie does — both lose a life, unless one of them knocked: then the knocker is safe and the other loses one.

Lives and Winning

Each player starts with 4 lives
Only the lowest hand loses a life. Everyone above the bottom is safe, however close it was
Knock and lose, and it costs you double: if the player who knocked has the lowest score, they lose two lives instead of one
If tied for lowest, all the tied players lose a life — a tie doesn't get anybody off. Except the knocker. A knock has to be beaten, not matched: a knocker who ties for lowest is safe, and the players tied with them lose one each
When you lose all your lives, you're out. The table deals on without you
Rounds keep coming until one player is left with lives, and that player wins the game

Example: You knock on 25. Gus turns over 25, Ed 26, Dave 27. You and Gus are tied at the bottom — but you knocked and Gus only matched you, he didn't beat you. You're safe, Gus loses a life, and Ed and Dave are untouched. Had Gus come in at 24 and beaten you outright, you'd have lost two.

Somebody is always left standing. A round here ends with a knock or a 31, and either way at least one player keeps their lives: a knocker who ties for lowest is safe, a knocker beaten outright is the only one who pays, and a 31 never costs its holder anything. So the last two players can't go out together, and every game ends with a winner.

About the Computer Players

The computer players are not there to be polite. They will knock on you, and they'll do it the moment their hand is good enough — so a round can end before you've had the turn you were counting on. Play like they're trying to win, because they are.

Right now they all play to the same standard, whichever character is sitting in the seat. The names and the faces are the people they're named for; the card sense isn't theirs yet.

Strategy Tips

Focus on collecting cards of one suit
High cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) are valuable
Watch what others discard to guess their hands
Knock when you think you have a better hand than at least one opponent — a knock that comes up short costs two lives, but a tie goes to the knocker
Nineteen is the least you can knock on, but nineteen is not usually enough to be safe
Being second-lowest costs you nothing, so you don't have to be winning — you just can't be last