Skitgubbe, (pronounced "hoo-eet goo-beh") and also called Mas, Mjölis, Mjölnarmatte, or Flurst (in the United States), is a popular Swedish card game that is rated as one of the best for three players. It has two phases: in the first, players accumulate cards; in the second players aim to discard the accumulated hand. The last player to go out is the skitgubbe. Sometimes, the skitgubbe must make a goat noise.
The first phase is unusual for a trick-taking game, in that there is asynchronous sloughing of cards that match played cards, while play goes around the table.
History
Skitgubbe's predecessor is probably the Finnish game of Myllymatti, which is first mentioned in 1808. The Finnish word is a combination of mylly, which means mill, and Matti , which is the Finnish form of the name Mats. The miller Mylly Matti is part of Finnish folklore and is described by Zacharias Topelius as a good-hearted, easily deceived fellow who often walks around with a sack. The Finnish name of the game was translated to Mjölnarmatte in Swedish and was first mentioned under this name in 1875. Mjölnarmatte was soon simplified to Mjölis (known since 1890) and mas (known since 1905). Mas can be understood both as a lazy and tardy person and as a transformation of the name Mats. The name Skitgubbe for the game has been known since 1953, but did not begin to be used in gaming literature until the 1980s.
The first Swedish rules were published in Kortoxen in 1949 under the name Mas. Today the game is usually called Skitgubbe or Mas. The name Mas occurs especially in parts of the country where Skitgubbe is used for the game of Vändtia. According to the games expert Dan Glimne, today's Skitgubbe is one of the most played card games in Sweden. In Finland the game is now called Koira, which means dog, and in Norway a similar game is played called Mattis .
It is unclear how the rules of the game have evolved over time. Closely related games were formerly played in German-speaking circles in the Baltics under the name Müller Matz (a direct translation of Myllymatti into German) and in Russia under the name Melniki ("miller"). The rules of the Russian game are very similar to a variant described in Kortoxen and called Mas with upturned trump. It is possible that this corresponds to an original or early variant of the game.
Rules
Skitgubbe is a game for three or more players using a regular fifty-two card pack without jokers. There are a large number of rule variations, and some of the most common are given below. The denominations have the usual ranking with Aces at the top and Deuces at the bottom.
The game has two different phases. In the first phase, the players try to take cards that give as favourable a starting position as possible before the second phase, where you must get rid of the cards again as quickly as possible. The game is about avoiding being the last person sitting with cards in hand. Whoever does that has lost and become a "skitgubbe". So there is no winner, only a loser.
Deal
The dealer deals three cards each, clockwise, starting with forehand, the player on the left. The cards are normally dealt singly. The remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table and form the talon.
Phase 1
Phase 1 is a trick-taking round where the winner of a trick captures all the cards in it. In some variants of Skitgubbe only two players play for each trick in this phase, in other variants everyone plays for each trick. The latter is probably the most common way to play these days.
The suit normally doesn't matter in the first phase, but there is an older variation where you play with the trump upcard and where the trick can only be won by the highest trump or the highest card of the led suit if no trumps are played. This variant is now rare.
Two-player tricks
Forehand leads to the first trick, and the player next in clockwise order also plays a card. Whoever plays the highest rank wins the trick; suit doesn't matter. If both play the same rank or denomination, it is called "countering" or "bouncing" or a "counterplay". The players then play one more card each. If both play the same denomination again, they play another card again and so on. After each card played, the player immediately draws a new card from the talon, so that players always have three cards in their hands. A player with poor cards in hand may play the top card from the talon to the trick. This is called 'taking a chance' or 'daring'.