A guide to trick-taking games
Plus 15 trick-taking recommendations
Some of the oldest-known card games are trick-taking games. What’s a trick? I’m glad you asked. We’ll get to that. But before we do, I’ve put together this guide for myself more than anything, and I hope it’s useful and interesting for you, too. I know you might be here for some recommendations, but I’ve got some background that might be helpful. It was helpful for me to write it out.
What’s in a name?
Trick-taking games have been around for ages, originating in Late Imperial China and developing in various ways across the world. The basic conceit is simple, but let’s break it into terms for ease of use.
Trick: A round of play, during which one or more cards are played. One player will lead. Other players will follow. A player will win a trick. It may continue until each player has played a card, or it may continue until every all but one player has passed on the opportunity to play a card.
Lead: The first card played in a trick. In many games, the player leading will have free choice over what can be selected.
Follow: Subsequent cards played in a trick. The rules of the game will dictate what cards are eligible to be played, but in typical trick-taking games, subsequent cards must follow the suit of the lead.
Win: One player wins the trick. This may be because they played the highest in-suit card in a trick, because they were able to play the last card in the trick, because they played a card in a trump suit, or for some other reason.
Trump: In many trick-taking games, the trump suit or a trump card is a player that will defeat other cards of a non-trump suit without exception. Or potentially with some exception, depending on the rules of the game.
A taxonomy of tricks
The more one explores a topic, the more one sees similarities, and the easier it becomes to group things into categories. And so it is with trick-taking games, and while I won’t purport to be be an expert at this, I’ll do my best to group things in a reasonable way here. There will be significant overlap across some games, even if maybe it betrays the term “taxonomy.” (Honestly, I’m not sure if that’s allowed in a taxonomy or not. I’m guessing yes.)
Bidding: Games in which players bid for points, potentially by specifying how many tricks they’ll win. A classic example of this is Bridge, which I’ve never played. (Maybe I should join a Bridge club.)
Partnerships: Games in which players form partnerships, and those partnerships will cooperate (usually without overt communication, and sometimes without any communication) to reach desired outcomes. A classic example is Spades (which is also a bidding game, and Bridge is also a partnership game.)
Trump: Games in which there is a trump suit, and cards will win tricks when played against other suits. It might be determined randomly by turning up a card (as in Euchre), it might be determined by the game itself (as in Spades), or it may be chosen by a winning player (as in Bridge.)
Must-follow: Games in which players must follow suit of the lead, and even here, there’s a split. In some, you must follow, and if you cannot, you must pass. In others, you can break the lead if you have no legal options to follow.
Last-trick: Games in which the goal is to either take or not take the final trick of a round. (Cucumber is an example of a game in which the last trick is to be avoided.)
Shedding: Games in which the goal is to be rid of cards before other players.
Trick Avoidance: Games in which winning tricks is ostensibly a bad thing, despite the word “winning” sounding great.
Many classic games also see plenty of regional variations and house rules, which might provide some initial confusion, but it’s a cool way to learn about various regions of the world.
Why trick-taking?
There are a number of reasons I enjoy trick-taking games, from the decision space it invites, to the ease of playing so many classics of the genre with just a deck of cards or two. Even a lot of modern trick-takers could easily be proxied with those decks of cards, should you be caught in the wilderness without your favorite. (Or something like that, I don’t know.)
The biggest thing is so many trick-taking games share a common DNA, and that can make teaching those games more available and accessible. Once you’ve learned one — and plenty of people have played Pinochle, Rook, Bridge, Spades, Hearts, and any number of other classics — it’s easier to learn a second, a third, a fourth. Few board and card games can profess to share in that trait, and there’s a real magic there.
What’s the twist? Some trick-taking games to consider
Brian Boru: High King of Ireland is one of the more novel uses of trick-taking on this list, largely in that it integrates it into a larger whole. Trick-taking underpins an area majority mechanic, and winning tracks allows you to gain influence on the map. Losing a trick provides you access to an action based on suit, giving you plenty of incentive to not win a trick. [BGG]
The Crew and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea are two of my favorite games, full stop. They’re both cooperative trick-taking games in which players attempt to complete objectives, and those objectives grow in difficulty as missions progress. As you progress, each player could have multiple missions — “win a green nine” in The Crew or “win no green cards” in MIssion Deep Sea, as but two examples. I’d recommend The Crew first, simply because it’s a little more straightforward in its progression. Mission Deep Sea has highly variable objectives, and that’s exciting and fun on its own, but there’s something really magical about the path you take in the original. [BGG]
Diamonds is a game with a name that makes you think of Hearts and Spades, but it’s actually a reference to little plastic “diamonds,” which give you points at the end of the game. The major twist here is that playing out of suit provides you an opportunity to take a “suit action” related to those diamonds, as does winning the most of a suit. It’s always fun when trick-takers incentivize playing out of suit; one of my favorite aspects of the genre is figuring out how to craft your hand to succeed. [BGG]
Five Cucumbers is a game in the mold of Cucumber, a Baltic trick-taking game in which the goal is to not win the last trick in a round. Unlike the game on which it’s based, Five Cucumbers sees players try to avoid taking cucumbers (printed on the cards), rather than avoiding taking points based solely on the card value. My only real complaint here is that the cucumbers appear to be pickled (which is fine, unless they’re sweet pickles,) and I think “In a Pickle” or might be a fun name for this game. (See also: Gudetama: The Tricky Egg Game, which is a lot like Five Cucumber but with an adorable lazy egg.) [BGG]
Maskmen is a trick-taking game from Japanese powerhouse Oink Games. In it, the value of cards is determined each round, and each card has no inherent value. Value is determined by playing more cards (thematically, wrestlers) of a specific color than the previously played cards, or playing an equal number of cards with a known, higher value. Players are limited to playing only three cards at once, and throughout the first few tricks, the value of each color becomes known. Ridding your hand of cards first or second gets you points, and having cards left in your hand when everyone else is out nets you a negative point at the end of the game. After three rounds, the game ends, and points are tallied. The visuals are bold and striking, and puzzling out your hand with to-be-determined values makes for a great time. [BGG]
Sea Change is, in many ways, a straightforward must-follow trick-taking game with one vital twist: A rotating trump suit that changes any time a player plays the same number as the card just played, the trump suit changes — and it changes mid-trick, giving players extra incentive to try to play out of suit. That extra bit of chaos lifts this game from a near-basic trick-taker to something more exciting. [BGG]
Skull King is one of the bidding-focused games here, in which each round sees players dealt the a number of cards equal to the round. Players will try to predict how many tricks they’ll win, winning 20 points for every trick they win. If they go over or under their prediction, they’ll lose 10 points for every trick off their bid. Bidding zero and winning zero nets you ten times the current round number — the same as winning half the number of tricks in the round. Inevitably, players won’t all bid cleanly in a way that everyone can meet their goals, and that’s where the game gets exciting. There are also pirate cards. Everyone loves pirates. [BGG]
Texas Showdown is one I’ve played just once (a shout out to Spencer is necessary here, as he’s taught us several of these games), but the twist in gameplay has me wanting more. Typically, players must follow the lead suit, but if you can’t, you’ll play out of suit. In so doing, you allow other players to follow the suit you just played, too, too. The highest card in the most common suit (and there are eight to choose from) played wins, but here’s the thing: You don’t really want to win. You want to be the player who wins the least tricks at the end of the game. In many trick-avoidance games, playing out of suit can be a safe action, but here, it’s anything but. [BGG]
Tichu is a spin on the Chinese trick-taking game Zheng Fen (which I have learned from BoardGameGeek, not from my own experience) that’s a little hard to describe succinctly. Basically, Tichu is a partnership game, and players lead with single cards, straights, pairs or greater sets, sequences of pairs or full houses (and probably one or two other types I’ve forgotten here), and players follow by playing a higher value set of cards of the same type. Only some cards score points, but the most points are gained with the game’s bidding mechanism by calling “Tichu” or “Grand Tichu” if a player thinks they’ll be the first to rid their hand of cards. If they call and succeed, their team will score 100 or 200 points, respectively — but if they fail, their team will lose those points instead. Should both players on a single team shed their hand of cards, they’ll score points. There are a few more twists and turns — including four unique cards that add a lot to the game — but I’ll leave that for you to discover. [BGG]
Tournament at Camelot and Tournament at Avalon both add the idea of player health, protagonists, and companions, turning the Tournament games into a trick-taker with variable player powers (protagonists) and a slight catch-up mechanic (companions.) Add in single-use action cards that help the player with the least health, and you’ve got a recipe for a game that can swing wildly. [BGG]
Trick-Taking in Black and White is another I’ve just played the once, but it’s a trick-taker from Japan that has an simple — but interesting — twist. Each of the 36 cards has two numbers on it: one in black, one in white, and the two sum to 37. A player will lead in one of the two colors, then everyone else follows in that color. That’s simple, but the strategy that emerges from the scoring rules will bend brains. If you win an equal number of black and white tricks, you’ll earn points equal to the number of tricks you’ve won. If you’ve not won an equal number, you’ll lose points equal to the number of tricks you’ve won. It’s a simple, fascinating game to puzzle through. [BGG]
Plus: Trick-taking for two
Claim is a two-player competitive game with a plethora of expansions, each of which add new factions to the base game. In Claim, two players compete with tricks to win followers in the first phase, then they use those followers in the second phase to attempt to win influence in factions. Having more cards in factions at the end of the game nets you points. The twist: Factions have unique properties, and those expansions add enough factions that you can pretty radically change the shape of the game each time you play. [BGG]
Fox in the Forest and Fox in the Forest Duet are two worth checking out, the former competitive and the latter cooperative. They both have the same idea under the hood: three suits, special abilities on odd-numbered cards, and a need to coordinate the number of tricks you win. In the competitive iteration of the game, you’ll aim to win either very few tricks (0–3) or a lot of tricks (7–9, with 13 tricks total.) In Duet, you’ll aim to not win too many tricks more than your opponent, lest you slide off the map, pictured above. [BGG]
A partial to-play list
American Bookshop: Collect the most of a suit and you’ll earn points, fail to do so, and you’ll lose points. [BGG]
Cinderella’s Dance: Two players can only play cards up to three higher than their opponent, with the last card played taking the trick. [BGG]
Ghosts of Christmas: A Christmas Carol, but trick-taking. And cards are played out of order? Huh! (There’s probably a lot more to it than that. I’ll report back.) [BGG]
Influentia: Cyberpunk trick-taking! [BGG]
Joraku: Area-majority, trick-taking, 15th to 17th century Japan? I’m in. [BGG]
Space Dragons: Low-value cards have good effects, high-value cards have bad effects. Also, dragons. In space. [BGG]
Take the A Chord: Improvisational jazz trick-taking? I don’t know how I could ever say no. [BGG]
Time Chase: In this one, you can go back in time and manipulate previous tricks. Neat! [BGG]
Tricky Tides: Pick-up and deliver plus trick-taking? Consider me shipped and on sold on the idea. [BGG]
Some resources
The Trick-Taking Guild on BoardGameGeek is a great place for discussion of new and unique trick-takers.
Taylor’s Trick-Taking Table, a YouTube channel dedicated to trick-takers. Taylor’s one of the best YouTube rules explainers I’ve come across, and he’s always talking about new and interesting games.
Final thoughts
I really can’t believe you made it this far. Thanks for sticking with it. I feel like I should have some sort of surprise here, but, uh, I don’t. How about this: Leave a comment with your favorite trick-taking game. I mean, if you want. I won’t harass you into doing it. Or, you know what, you could also reply to the email. I’d just love to hear from you and think about these games more.
Also, my wife published her first issue of Chocolatist, a bean-to-bar chocolate newsletter. If you’re into chocolate, I think you’ll appreciate it.