Trick-taking

The Landor Syndicate, a pirate alliance in an area of space controlled by the Lunar Orion Order, needs a new leader. The outgoing Supreme Admiral is looking for his replacement. Players take on the role of rival captains recruiting crews, capturing rival pirates, and collecting treasure.

Pirate Tricks is a trick-taking game for 3 to 5 players with a unique scoring system. The game is played over three hands. Each hand has different scoring goals. Once the scoring cards are revealed, the players are dealt five cards. Then players each bid on another 7 cards to complete their hands.

As the players bid for cards, they will look to gain certain cards that will boost their scores. While taking tricks, the players will need to be mindful of the different factions of pirates as some will score higher than others or may be worth negative points. At the end of the hand the players will collect treasure based on how well they matched the treasure scoring card. During some hands the players will want to get as many tricks as possible, other hands they will want to have few to no tricks, or they may have to match a predicted number of tricks taken.

Play continues for three hands. New scoring cards are revealed before each hand. After three hands, whichever player has gathered the most treasure will be proclaimed the next Supreme Admiral of the Landor Syndicate.

Tichu took much of its rules and mechanics from Zheng Fen. It is a partnership climbing card game, and the object of play is to rid yourself of your hand, preferably while scoring points in the process.

The deck is a standard 52-card pack with four special cards added: dog, phoenix, dragon and Mah Jong (1). When it's your turn, you may either beat the current top card combination — single card, pair of cards, sequence of pairs, full house, etc. — or pass. If play passes all the way back to the player who laid the top cards, he wins the trick, clears the cards, and can lead the next one. The card led determines the only combination of cards that can be played on that trick, so if a single card is led, then only single cards are played; if a straight of seven cards is led, then only straights of seven cards can be played, etc.

The last player out in a round gives all the cards he won to the player who exited first, and the last player's unplayed cards are handed to the opposite team. Fives, tens and Kings are worth 5, 10 and 10 points, with each hand worth one hundred points without bonuses — but the bonuses are what drive the game. At the start of a round, each player can call "Tichu" prior to her playing any card. This indicates that she thinks that she can empty her hand first this round; if she does so, her team scores 100 points, and if not, it loses 100 points. Cards are dealt at the start of a round in a group of eight and a group of six; a player can call "Grand Tichu" after looking at only her first eight cards for a ±200 point bonus. If both players on a team exit a round prior to either player on the opposite team, then no points are scored for cards and the winning team earns 200 points (with Tichu/Grand Tichu bonuses and penalties being applied as normal).

The first team to 1,000 points wins.

Spy Tricks (orig. Trick of Spy) is a trick-taking game in which the players act as spies, trying to identify the only face-down card in the game.

A light card game where players gain status by going out first.

The 80-card commercial deck contains cards ranked from 12 to 1, along with two Jesters. Each card bears a number, which is not only its rank, but also tells you how many of that card exist in the deck. In other words, there are twelve 12s, eleven 11s, four 4s and a single card ranked 1. The lower the number, the better the rank.

The deck is dealt out to all players and the object is to get rid of your cards as fast as possible. The hand begins with one person playing one or more card to the center of the table. The cards played must all be of the same rank (although Jesters are wild, and may be played with any other cards). Each player in turn must now either play the same number of cards of a better rank, or pass. Play continues around the table until everyone has passed; at that point, the cards are cleared and whoever played the last set of cards leads the next round. After everyone has gone out, the players are ranked. For example, the person who first got rid of all his cards becomes The Great Dalmuti. Players change seat position to represent the new hierarchy and begin another round. The Great Dalmuti is generally played for many rounds.

Similar to:

Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
Pyramid Card
Scum: The Food Chain Game
Deathtrap Dungeon: Card Game

The Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game for two players. Aside from the normal ranked- and suited-cards used to win tricks, fairy characters such as the Fox and the Witch have special abilities that let you change the trump suit, lead even after you lose a trick, and more.

You score points by winning more tricks than your opponent, but don't get greedy! Win too many tricks, and you will fall like the villain in so many fairy tales...