¶ Trick Taking Games

¶ Basic Rules of Trick-taking:

• Each player is dealt a hand of cards.
• One suit is designated as the trump suit.
• During a trick, each player plays one card:
  • The lead player plays any card from their hand. The suit of this card is now the lead suit.
  • Then going around the table, every other player plays a card:
    • If they have any cards in the lead suit, they must follow suit and play such a card.
    • If they don’t have any cards in the lead suit, they can play any card from their hand.
• At the end of each trick, find the highest ranked card:
  • Trump-suit cards are more highly ranked than any other card.
  • Cards of the lead suit are more highly ranked than all non-trumps.
  • Within each suit, cards are typically ranked AKQJT98765432, highest-to-lowest.
• Whoever played the highest card takes all the cards from that trick and puts them in a stack in front of them.
• That player then leads the next trick.
• Tricks are played until everyone’s hands are empty.

The goal in trick taking games varies. Sometimes you want to take as many tricks as possible. Sometimes you want to take as few as possible, or take a specific number of tricks. Or it could be that the specific cards in the tricks you take are what matters.

Pages in this group

• Hearts (4 Players)
  The hearts are poison.
• Oh Hell! (3-7 Players)
  Good for teaching the concept of trick-taking.
• Ship's Crew (3-5 Players)
  Cooperative mission-based trick-taking.
• Spades (4 Players)
  Play as a team and guess how many tricks you'll win.
• The Devil's Poker (2+ Players)
  Micro trick-taking. Good for a laugh or as part of another game.