When in German taverns cards are knocked, an Altenburger card game is probably played. The tradition of Altenburger card making reaches back to the time of Luther.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, the card game Skat originated in the Thuringian town of Altenburg, which from then on has carried the title "Town of the Skat". A lot of stories and anecdotes are entwined around the origin of the game. Here are some of the most credible ones:

An Altenburger coachman brought the card game Schafkopf (sheeps head) from one of his frequent trips to the Saxon-Bohemian Ore Mountains. In the following years around 1810, Skat evolved from this game as well as other games such as L´Homme, Solo and Tarock.

The name is much older than the game. According to the linguistic meaning ´scartare´ means ´to throw away´. The cards who were thrown away were called Skat in the Italian Tarock. Finally, in 1818 the game Skat was mentioned for the first time in the "Osterländer Blätter", published by Friedrich Ferdinand Hempel from Altenburg.

Between 1825 and 1830, it was mainly students who contributed to the spreading of Skat. First, it was played in the Saxon-Thuringian universities of Leipzig, Halle and Jena and soon, its fame spread all over the German country.

In 1903 the Altenburger Skat Spring was built by means of private donations. Card players from all over the world babtize their decks in its water because it brings good luck. Right next to it, you can find the famous Altenburger Card Game Museum where, along with card games from 1509, all our recent products are displayed. Excellent product quality, imagination and good service have made our company famous worldwide.