Tag: Trick Taking

Games with Trick Taking mechanics require players to play a card from their hand to a center play area. Typically, the player with the best card wins the turn.

9 Lives

| T3d-1978

9 Lives is a trick-taking game where players compete to earn the most points. The game uses 3-4 suits which show the color of the cards on the rear.

Players make bids of if they will win 1-6 tricks, and can bid exactly or a range. Each number may only be bid up to two times. Points are earned when a player hits their bid and lost if they miss it.

The game is “must follow” with a fixed trump suit. The winner of a trick also takes one of the cards played to the trick other than theirs to place in their hand.

The game ends after either 4 rounds or a player has earned 9 points, and the player with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Predictive Bid
  • Trick-taking

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.42

Crew, the: The Quest for Planet Nine

| kithorning

In The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, you and your friends embark on a perilous journey as astronauts investigating an unknown planet. Each astronaut will have a specific mission to complete, portrayed through a classic trick-taking game. However, communication is difficult in space, and while you are all on the same team, not everyone knows your specific mission. It will take trust and a good sense of timing to successfully complete all 50 missions!

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.96

Crew, the: Mission Deep Sea

| kithorning

The sequel to The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, this trick-taking game builds onto the original with more missions, more flexibility, and an improved scalability system for different player counts. 

In The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, you and your friends are assuming the roles of deep-sea explorers in a classic trick-taking game. Unlike most games, you all must work together to accomplish unique tasks – without being able to tell each other what that is. Some players will need to win specific card while others will need to avoid it entirely! With 32 missions, each game is sure to offer a new challenge representing the immense pressure of the depths of the ocean.

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.04

Colossal Cat in the Box

| T3d-1978

Cat in the Box is a trick taking game where your suit is every color all at once – until you observe it. Players are dealt a hand of cards with no suit but different numbers, and over the course of the game they will claim various suits to best meet their bid. But be warned! Because of the nebulous nature of the cards, a paradox can form at any time! The player who causes the paradox will lose points, while everyone else will get the opportunity to score based off of their completed tricks and any patterns they made on the research board. 

Colossal Cat in the Box is a supersized version of Cat in the Box!

Game Mechanics:

  • Enclosure
  • Hand Management
  • Predictive Bid
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Claim 2

| T3d-1978

Board Game Overview

With the sudden death of the king and no known heirs, the kingdom is up for grabs! The only thing – you have to get the approval of at least 3 out of the 5 factions of the land to become the new ruler. And you’re not the only one wanting power. 

Claim 2 is a two player game split into two phases. In phase 1, players will play their cards to recruit followers from various factions to support their cause. In phase 2, players will use their followers to gain the favor of the different factions, giving them special powers to gain an edge over their opponent! Do you have what it takes?

Game Mechanics:

  •  Take That
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 25 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.60

Arcs

| T3d-1978

Arcs is a sharp, tactical space opera game, for 2–4 players, set in a dark yet silly universe. Players represent officials from a distant, decaying and neglectful Empire who are now free to vie for dominance whether through battle, gathering scarce resources or diplomatic intrigue. Ready yourself for dramatic twists and turns as you launch into this galactic struggle.

A deck of cards in 4 suits with ranks from 1-7 (2-6 for less than 4 players) defines the action selection system. These cards are played in a trick-taking adjacent system to select actions, take the initiative and declare Ambitions. The 3 declared Ambitions are what will score in that deal. Timing is everything. Bad hands must be mitigated by careful card play and benefitting from other players’ card play.

Battles are resolved quickly with the attacker choosing their level of risk. The defenders must be prepared with adequate defensive ships and cards in their tableau.

Each game contains a hundred wooden ships and agents, 18 custom engraved dice, a beautiful six-panel board, and tons of cards with over 60 pieces of unique art. The base game may be played without the optional Leaders and Lore cards (for an easier teach) or with them for a richer, fuller and asymmetric game. It is also the core of the campaign game (requiring the Blighted Reach Expansion), which provides an epic, more thematic experience.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Campaign
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Take That
  • Trick-taking
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.40

Shamans

| T3d-1978
Shamans

Shamans

Shamans try to restore harmony in a world threatened by Shadows. You’ll need to pick a side.

The game combines with ingenuity: hidden roles, competitive play and an original card playing mechanic.
Each played card allows you to stabilize the spirit world, perform a Ritual, acquire an Artefact; and together they will bring you closer to the final showdown between Shadows and Shamans.
When time comes, the victor will be the one who managed to read through his rivals and stuck to the right side in this never-ending confrontation.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Hand Management
  • Hidden Roles
  • Team Based
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.85

Brian Boru: High King of Ireland

| T3d-1978

In Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, you strive to unite Ireland under your domain, securing control through might, cunning, and matrimony. Join forces to fend off Viking invaders, build monasteries to extend your influence, and gather support in towns and villages throughout the land. To become High King of all Ireland, you need to navigate a web of shifting alliances, outmaneuver your enemies, and grab history by the reins.

The success of the historical Brian Boru rested on three pillars: his victories against the Vikings, the favor he managed to garner with the Church, and the alliances he forged through political marriages. This became the foundation of the game, with each pillar becoming a suit in the trick-taking that forms the core of the mechanisms. Win a trick and you gain influence in a town, which, in turn, gains you majorities in the regions; if you lose the trick, however (deliberately or otherwise), you instead take an action corresponding to the suit of the card.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Trick-taking
  • Variable Phase Order

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.54