Skitgubbe

Skitgubbe is a Swedish card game best played by three people, though two or four can also take part, using a standard 52-card pack without jokers. The name is given to the loser, who is left holding cards at the end. The game has two phases. In the first, players take turns winning small tricks of two cards from a face-down stock in order to collect cards. In the second phase they try to get rid of those cards by beating cards played by their opponents, and the last player left holding cards becomes the skitgubbe. The same two-phase pattern appears in related games played in Norway and Finland, such as Mattis, Koira and Myllymatti, and the group is thought to have originated in Finland, with Myllymatti the probable ancestor of the Swedish game.