Schadenfreude

A weird trick-taker that really bends players' minds. It has a strange crossover appeal, it feels extremely chaotic to me but eurogamers are okay with this. Maybe it's the title, reassuring players to not take things too seriously? Or maybe because it "reinvents" a lot of assumptions. Okay sadly that's it, they like it because it's different and has no theme. But whatever, I like getting it played! In 5p, it's almost always over in two rounds. I like how swingy that gets, but it can be alarming to others so beware.

I am fascinated by this game. The winning by being second in all aspects of this game is so trippy and I want to play it again and again. So much adrenaline at the end of the game. So many great moments that result in everyone laughing at one players misfortune. My favorite trick-taker, hands down. Only critique is that the blue and purple colors confuse a lot of people in the OG version’s artwork - get used to calling out swords vs shields. The new artwork I like less because it’s less practical when playing (I like the numbers being large in the middle of the card.)

[microbadge=33173] Trick-taking Game Schadenfreude is a beautiful shakeup of the genre by focusing on being second-best on everything. The second-high card would win each trick, and at the end of the game, whoever had the second highest score would win the game. There's a lot of instinct to unlearn in your head, which I found delightful.

The greatness of this game lies in its emerging asymmetry. Most tricktakers, every round all players want the same thing – points. This one, in round one you just play to get some points… and then asymmetry kicks in. Everybody now has a different goal, and trick by trick you may have to adjust your aims. One minute you were trying to give somebody enough points to push them over the edge, the next you’ve been overtaken and need to save somebody else because you can’t afford for the game to end. Tension, drama, and laughs abound. A masterpiece.

My current favorite pure trick-taker, Schadenfreude mixes up the genre with a single twist: second place wins. Oh, there are other wrinkles, but they revolve around that initial presumption. This one never fails to get me laughing. Read my review here: https://spacebiff.com/2023/07/20/schadenfreude/ After being so difficult to acquire for many years, the new edition of Schadenfreude is every bit as good as the original. Read my review here: https://spacebiff.com/2026/08/19/schadenfreude-2/