How to keep score in Skull King: bids, bonuses and negative points
July 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Quick answer
Skull King is scored round by round against your bid. Hit a bid of one or more exactly and you score 20 points per trick you bid; miss it and you lose 10 points for every trick you were over or under. A bid of zero is worth 10 points times the round number if you take no tricks, and costs the same if you take any. Bonus points only count if your bid was exact.
How the bidding works
A game runs for ten rounds. Round one deals one card to each player, round two deals two, and so on up to ten. Before each round everyone bids, simultaneously, the exact number of tricks they think they will win, and the whole scoring system is built around that word, exact.
The bid is a promise, not a target. Winning more tricks than you promised is punished just as hard as winning fewer, which is why deliberately losing tricks late in a round is a real strategy.
Scoring a bid you hit, and one you miss
At the end of each round, compare tricks won against the bid:
- Bid one or more and hit it exactly: 20 points per trick bid, so a bid of 3 that lands is 60 points
- Bid one or more and miss: lose 10 points for each trick you were over or under
- Bid zero and take no tricks: 10 points times the round number
- Bid zero and take even one trick: lose 10 points times the round number
The penalty is measured by the size of your mistake, not the size of your bid. Bidding 4 and taking 2 costs 20 points; bidding 1 and taking 3 also costs 20. Totals can and regularly do go negative, especially early when a single unlucky trick ruins a zero bid.
The zero bid is the one that scales with time. Nilling in round two is worth a modest 20 points, while a successful zero in round ten is worth 100, and failing it in round ten costs exactly the same.
Bonus points, and the catch that decides games
Certain captures pay extra on top of the round score:
- Capturing a standard 14: 10 points each
- Capturing the black (Jolly Roger) 14: 20 points
- Your Skull King capturing a Pirate: 30 points per Pirate taken in that trick
- Your Mermaid capturing the Skull King: 40 points
The catch: bonuses are only awarded to a player who made their bid exactly. Capture the Skull King with a Mermaid and then overshoot your bid by one and you lose the 40 points along with everything else. It is the single most common scoring dispute at the table, and it is what makes a wild, greedy round genuinely risky.
Common scoring mistakes in Skull King
- Awarding bonus points to a player who missed their bid: bonuses only count on an exact bid.
- Scoring a missed bid as zero for the round instead of a negative number.
- Penalising 10 points per trick bid rather than 10 per trick of difference between bid and result.
- Treating a failed zero bid as a flat penalty: it scales with the round number, so it costs 100 in round ten.
- Scoring the black 14 as 10 points; the Jolly Roger 14 is worth 20.
- Forgetting that scores are cumulative across all ten rounds and can sit below zero for most of the game.
Free Skull King score sheet (no signup)
Add your players, fill in the boxes as you go and the totals add themselves up. Leave a box empty if it scored nothing: then tap See who won when the game is over. Nothing is sent anywhere: the sheet stays in this browser, so you can close the tab mid-game and pick it up later, or print it blank and use a pen.
| Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Round 1 | ||||
Round 2 | ||||
Round 3 | ||||
Round 4 | ||||
Round 5 | ||||
Round 6 | ||||
Round 7 | ||||
Round 8 | ||||
Round 9 | ||||
Round 10 | ||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ten rounds, and a missed bid costs 10 points per trick. Those rounds go in as negatives. The round number is also the number of cards dealt.
2–8 players
An empty pad for the table: no scores, nothing on screen is cleared.
Want this Skull King score sheet on a page of its own, with nothing else around it? Free online Skull King score sheet: same sheet, same saved game.
What's the easiest way to track Skull King scores?
Skull King produces ten rounds of positive and negative numbers per game, which is why the score sheet is where arguments start. Log the final totals in RivalBoard, a free shared leaderboard app for friend groups, and a stack of scribbled grids becomes a record of who actually bids well over a whole season of game nights.
RivalBoard is a free shared leaderboard app for friend groups, made for exactly this: log each Skull King match in seconds and everyone in the group sees the same standings, with win percentages, streaks and head-to-head records. Still weighing your options? See our comparison of paper, spreadsheets and apps for tracking board game scores.
Frequently asked questions
How many points is a correct bid worth in Skull King?
A bid of one or more that is hit exactly scores 20 points per trick bid, so a bid of 2 is worth 40 points and a bid of 5 is worth 100.
What happens if you miss your bid in Skull King?
You lose 10 points for every trick you were over or under. Bidding 3 and winning 1 costs 20 points, and the round score is negative rather than zero.
How does a zero bid score in Skull King?
A successful zero bid scores 10 points times the round number, so 30 points in round three and 100 in round ten. Taking any trick after bidding zero costs that same amount instead.
Do bonus points count if you miss your bid in Skull King?
No. Bonus points for capturing 14s, Pirates or the Skull King are only awarded to players who hit their bid exactly. Miss the bid and every bonus earned that round is lost.
How many rounds are there in a game of Skull King?
Ten. Round one deals one card per player and each round deals one more, up to ten cards in the final round. Scores are cumulative across all ten.
Is there a free Skull King score sheet online?
Yes, the score sheet on this page is free and needs no signup: all ten rounds are laid out, negative scores are allowed, the totals run themselves and the winner is called once round ten is in. It is made by RivalBoard, a free app that keeps a shared leaderboard for your group across game nights.
Related scoring guides
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Scrabble scoring: letter values, premium squares and the 50-point bingo
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