Tricktakers

I think this is my favorite of the trick taking games. I just really enjoy the design and the gameplay. It's also awesome how you can mix and match the characters to play a fundamentally different game.

A political tricktaker, where everyone has unique powers, inspired by Root. Though I like this better than Root because it's much faster, and slightly more interactive. It honestly feels more like a political game than a card game (you only get a hand of 5 after all), but the politics are severely limited. But that sorta works out in practice, rounds are quick instead of drawn-out. One downside is that some of the characters are way too weak, and that's the fault of the scoring system, not the unique abilities available.

[microbadge=33173] Trick-taking Game A lot of the game is so straightforward: must follow trick taker with a trump suit. The most tricks won gets a gold crown, whilst zero tricks won gets a black crown. That's all straightforward. Then comes drafting powers, what those powers do, how those powers score, and how the next round of drafting goes. And none of this is hard on its own, but most of it needs to be internalized prior to ever playing a hand. This game is irresponsible and almost overstuffed with good ideas. I love it.

I heard about this from the DOAM (Dads on a Map, highly recommend!) podcast Tricky #1 (it's tricky, tricky, tricky!) When they described it as Tricktaker meets Root and actually works, I was instantly sold! Got lucky enough to find a copy, found pasteups from the awesome Portland Game Collective discord server (another high recommend!) and put my copy together and have been loving it. Fantastic game, now I just need to get my hands on a copy of the expansion!!

Wow! Fantastic trick taking game! I absolutely love the asymmetric powers each character has. The is such a pleasant surprise. Thank you Mike DiLisio for recommending it.