Easy Skat for Reenactors

Easy Skat for Reenactors

An easy guide & cheat sheet for game play during WW2

Anyone following me on Facebook knows that I am a huge advocate for reenacting "for the experience, not the appearance". The people we represent were more than the sum of the clothing on their backs & we do them no justice by ignoring every other aspect of their lives.

One of the easiest ways to begin rounding out your impressions, is by learning the games & other free-time activities that were enjoyed historically. I'm especially fond of card games because they are so versatile & usually only require a deck of cards. Thanks to lots of vendors these days, those cards are inexpensive & readily available. I have decks of reproduction cards ranging from 1500-1920s, all bought for less than $20.

In just a week, I will be on my way to Conneaut D-Day in Ohio for the largest D-day reenactment in the country. Being the 75th anniversary, it's going to be even bigger than it usually is. While that means we will all be busier too, there is always downtime. Focusing on experience over appearance means that I want to fill that downtime with authentic, documentable activities. Preferably ones that don't take too much advance planning (I already have a big enough "to-do" list, thanks). How did WW2 soliders fill their down time? Certainly not with their noses in their cell phones like a lot of reenactors!



But as much as I love a good card game, I don't play them often enough to remember the rules every single time. At an event, pulling out the cellphone to clarify the game rules is pretty gauche. Does this mean that we have to give up on playing cards at an event, or "fake" the rules every time? Never fear friends, Slightly Obsessed to the rescue.

Last year I wrote up some simple game rules for the most popular German card game of WW2, Skat, specifically for fellow reenactors looking to improve the authenticity of their experiences. These instructions are simplified, easy enough to learn while playing & easy enough to remember even while relaxing over a beer in the evening. This year I updated the guide to include a 1/4 "cheat sheet" that you can cut apart & tuck into a pocket. The cheat sheet includes a few rules & most importantly the odd scoring system Skat uses. As an extra bonus, there are 4 cheat sheets per page, so you can hand them out to everyone else you're playing with as well!

Easy Skat For Reenactors, by Chole White (Slightly Obsessed)

I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of you in Ohio next week. I know I've been especially quiet on here during the past couple of years thanks to the ever pesky "Modern Life", but I'm still trying to post tidbits on my facebook page & shoot a few thought provoking videos when I get the free moment (ha!).  So even if you don't hear from me here, be sure to check in on all those other social media spots. And of course, keep an eye out for me at events.

See you in the past!

Chole