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Trick Taking games are back in vogue. So many new and interesting games are being released and I am as happy as a gamer at a convention on sales day. I have started to acquire more and more trick taking games and the ones that stick out are the ones with clever and unique twists on the standard formula. If you are interested in getting into trick taking games and want something different then the following 5 games are for you.
Hidden Traitor - Shamans
This shouldn’t work. A hidden traitor game that works even with only 3 players. Oh, and it is also a trick taking game where you get rewarded for playing the highest card in a trick, the lowest card in a trick and you don’t even have to follow the suit if you don’t want to.
Shamans is amazing at all players counts (3 to 5) and it looks so good on the table people will come over to see what you are playing. Due to the way the card suits work you are constantly evaluating which cards to play and which not to play. If you are the ‘baddies’ you don’t want to reveal this until the ‘goodies’ cannot stop you from your domination. Thrown into that there is a way of swapping sides with another player and it makes for a brilliantly tense and exciting game. I also need to mention there is a way of eliminating other players but you must not eliminate the wrong player as that could cause the end of the round very quickly.
This has become my go to game to teach people who want to play something new and interesting. It combines trick taking, hidden traitor, a little bit of deduction, hand management and clever use of one off powers. If you ever get a chance to play this don’t hesitate.
No Card Colours – Cat In The Box
What if you got rid of all the colours on the cards in a trick taking game and instead players had to declare which of the 4 colours the card they are playing is? But what if you include more cards than there are colours therefore causing someone at some point in the game to not be able to play a card without causing a paradox. This is the thinking behind Cat In The Box.
Not content with just this genius innovation on trick taking games, you also have to try to link your played cards to score big points. There is a general board where you place your marker to show the card number / colour combination and you want to link as many of these together as possible. So the game takes on a small area control element to it. Finally you also have to declare how many tricks you think you will win and you will only score your bonus points if you get that correct.
The game plays from 2 to 5 players but is best with 3 or 4. If you are looking for a great trick taking game that works amazingly well with 2 players then the next game on my list is for you.
Throwing In The Kitchen Sink – Skull King
Skull King is currently my king of trick taking games. This is due to 2 reasons. Number 1 it is so simple to teach, especially if someone has played a trick taking game before, and number 2 because it always (without fail) causes laughter and cheers as people play the game.
It has 4 basic suits (purple, yellow, green and black) with the black suit being the trump. But in addition there are mermaid cards which trump all of these basic suits, then pirate cards which trump the mermaids and the basic suits, then finally there is the skull king that trumps everything except the mermaids who will win if played in the same hand. But wait there is more, you also have a kraken which destroys the current trick and the white whale which gets rid of any special cards (mermaids, pirates, pirate king) and turns all other cards played white. There is still more as the game is played over 10 rounds with only 1 card dealt to each player in the first round, 2 in the second etc. Each round you must declare how many tricks you will win and only if your prediction is correct will you score positive points for the round.
Finally the best thing about Skull King is the way in which the 2 player game plays. When playing with only 2 you deal cards to a ‘ghost’ pirate who plays in between the two players and doesn’t have to follow suit. On the ghosts turn you just turn over the top card and this causes all types of chaos.
Skull King is very cheap and easy to play and is one of my favourite games of all time. Play this game as soon as you can.
Cooperative With Limited Communication – The Crew
The Crew is often given as the reason for the resurgence of trick taking games and it is easy to see why. This small box card game turned trick taking on its head as it is a cooperative game with limited communication.
The game is played over a series of missions which start very simply and increase in difficulty at the perfect rate. By the end of the game you will be amazed by the tricks you are pulling off. The limited communication is a great addition to lots of cooperative games but in The Crew it will make you feel like you are in your friends heads as you work out what they are trying to tell you with just a few small bits of information.
As the game is cooperative it is easy to teach people new to trick taking as they won’t feel like they are being bullied by good players the whole time. Plus the structure of the game means that the first few missions are like a tutorial anyway.
A sequel has already been released and I expect a lot more games in this line to be released in the future.
Limited Hand Management - Scout
Imagine a trick taking game where you are not allowed to change the order of your cards in your hand, that wouldn’t work would it? Well it turns out it does work, it works very well indeed in Scout.
At the beginning of the game you are dealt cards and you can orientate them either up or down at this point (without changing the order). Once you have decided which way up they will face you are not allowed to change their orientation again. You are looking for groups of the same number or runs in ascending or descending order.
The game is played over a series of tricks where you either beat the current trick that is on the table or, if you can’t beat it, take a card from the table and add it to your hand. When adding a new card you can change its orientation and add it anywhere in your hand which enables you to build better tricks to play next turn.
This is a genius game which definitely plays better at 4 or 5 players and is so easy to teach you won’t have problems getting new players up and running in just a few minutes.
Thanks for reading this blog and I hope you have found some Trick Taking games you would love to play as much as I do. If you have any suggestions come find me on twitter @BoardGameHappy and let me know what they are.