Devil's Scat

This ain’t your grandma’s Scat… there’s gotta be a better way to say that.

Scat is a classic card game where you try to make 31 with a hand of 3 cards. You knock if you think your hand is best to end the round and see if you were right.

This is that game with some fun new bits added in: more suits, fewer junk cards, special hand combos, and an all new scoring system.

Devil’s Scat is an update of the classic game for 2–6 players.

How to Play

To win, you’ve gotta win the round while having enough total points. You score points by creating good hands of cards.

Each Round

You’ll get a new hand of 3 cards. You’ll also draw a “favored suit” at random, which comes into play during scoring.

Your goal is to get the best hand as fast as you can, perhaps even a perfect 31 — or “Scat,” as it’s called here — if you can swing it.

On Your Turn

You’ve got two options. You can either:

• Improve your hand, drawing a card from either the top of the deck or the discard pile, then discarding a card, or;
• Knock, giving everyone else 1 last turn to improve their hands before ending the round.

Everyone then compares what their hands are worth.

What’s Your Hand Worth?

Generally, your hand is worth its highest total of cards in the same suit. In this game, aces are worth 11, face cards are 10s, and number cards are their number, meaning with your 3 cards, a “perfect” hand is 31.

But some hands are worth special amounts.

Winning the Round

If your hand makes Scat (either the 31 kind or the Devil’s Scat), reveal it to instantly end and win the round. Otherwise, the best hand at the end of the round with no ties wins the round.

If there’s a tie, no one wins the round, and that’s OK because…

Scoring

Everyone can score every round. You score points for every item your hand hits on this list:

• Get 1 point for winning the round.
• Get 1 point for a hand worth at least 29.
• Get 1 point for a hand worth the full 31.
• Get 1 point for a hand that scored at least 1 point and contains at least 1 card from the round’s favored suit.
• But also lose 1 point if you knocked and didn’t win the round.

Winning the Game

If someone won this round and they have enough total points, they win! (The points needed depends on how many people are playing.)

Otherwise, shuffle up and deal another round.

Or Change It Up

Too good for our rules? Try one of our suggestions!

Boot a Suit

Go back to the standard 4 suits of cards instead of our 5 for lower player counts of 2 or 3 players. Just remove all of a suit’s game cards and its favored suit card.

Use Classic Scoring

Maybe you like it when players slowly get eliminated! There’s a variant that implements the classic Scat scoring with Devil’s Scat.

You Can Play For Free!

Check out our free download with how to play Devil’s Scat for free with a regular deck of playing cards. You’ll have to use the Boot a Suit variant, but it still works.