Skull King scoring rules
Skull King is a trick-taking game where you do not score for winning tricks — you score for predicting how many you will win. Bid too low and a won trick hurts you; bid too high and you lose points for every trick you fall short.
A game runs over ten rounds. Round one deals one card each, round two deals two, up to ten. Everyone bids before the first card is played.
Keep score while you read
The core scoring
At the end of each round, compare each player's bid with the tricks they actually took.
- Bid made exactly: 20 points per trick bid.
- Bid missed: −10 points for every trick you are off, in either direction.
- Bid of zero, and you took no tricks: 10 points per card dealt that round.
- Bid of zero, and you took a trick: −10 points per card dealt that round.
Why a zero bid is worth so much late
A zero bid pays per card dealt, not per trick, so it is worth almost nothing in round one and a great deal in round ten. Missing it costs exactly as much. That asymmetry is what makes the last rounds tense.
Bonus points from special cards
Bonuses sit on top of the round score and only apply to players who made their bid, unless your table plays them as always counting.
- Black 14 won: 20 bonus points. A coloured 14: 10 points.
- Capturing a pirate with the Skull King, a mermaid with a pirate, or the Skull King with a mermaid: a capture bonus each time.
- Loot cards played and won in alliance: a shared bonus.
- Kraken, White Whale and Harry the Giant change how a trick resolves rather than adding points directly.
Common scoring variants
Two variants show up often enough to be worth naming. A forgiving one gives each round a potential of 10 points per card dealt and pays a share of it based on how close the bid was — full marks for exact, half for one trick off, nothing beyond that. An all-or-nothing one pays 15 points per card dealt for an exact bid and zero for any miss at all.
Frequently asked questions
20 points for every trick you bid, so a bid of 3 that comes in exactly is worth 60 points. A bid of zero is the exception: it pays 10 points per card dealt in that round.
You lose 10 points for every trick you are away from your bid, whether you took too many or too few. Bidding 2 and taking 4 costs 20 points, exactly like bidding 2 and taking none.
By the standard rule, no — bonuses only apply when the bid is made. Many tables play them as always counting, which makes captures worth chasing even on a lost round. Agree before you deal.
Ten, going from one card per player up to ten. Shorter and longer formats exist: five rounds of five cards, ten rounds of ten, or a sequence that climbs and comes back down.