Draft a character each round — then win exactly the tricks it asks for
TRICKTAKERs (トリックテイカーズ) is an asymmetric trick-taking card game by Hiroken for three to five players. Every round each player drafts a character, and the character card overrides the rulebook wherever the two disagree: it changes how the player sets up, what their cards can do, and above all how many tricks they want. The King wants all five; the Hermit wants none; the Resistance wants exactly one, and only the last. Five cards, five tricks, three rounds — and three ways to end the game early.
A deck of 40 cards: four suits — red, blue, green and black, which is trump — numbered 1 to 9, plus two Rare cards and two White Flags, which belong to no suit. Two more groups only ever reach a hand through a character: the King’s extra Rare card and the seven-card Berserker deck (the Berserker card, a 10 of every suit, a Rare and a White Flag). Five character cards for the basic game, gold and black crowns, and a score track that starts everyone on 30 points.
Deal five cards each. Then the characters are chosen in priority order — from the lead player round the table in round one; from then on last round’s King first (who may not take the King again), then everyone without a gold crown from fewest points up, then everyone with one. Each player takes a different character. Every character then sets up as its card says, and five tricks are played.
After the fifth trick: any character that has met its win condition wins the game on the spot. Otherwise the player with the most tricks (if nobody ties them) takes a gold crown, up to two players with no tricks take a black crown, and everyone scores their character’s points. Two gold crowns or three black crowns win the game immediately; if nobody has won after three rounds, the most points does, and a tie goes to the higher-priority character.
The lead player plays any card; the others must follow the led suit if they can. Rare cards, White Flags and the Berserker card have no suit, so they may always be played and never have to be followed. The trick goes to the highest trump (black) if any was played, otherwise the highest card of the led suit — unless a Rare is on the table, which beats every numbered card. A White Flag beats nothing. The winner leads next.
Two exceptions come from the Berserker deck: when a 10 is in the trick, the 1 of that suit counts as an 11; and when the Berserker card itself is in the trick, every 1 beats it.
The advanced game adds the Collector, who scores poker-style combinations from the cards it collects, and the Ruler, who sets tasks for the table.
The last round changes the ladders: the King’s points are doubled, the Resistance scores 30 per trick on top of the Revolt, the Berserker wins outright on zero tricks, and the Gambler may stake up to 100. Before the deal, any player may spend a black crown to discard any number of cards and draw replacements.
Three to five. Five characters are on offer every round, so with five players nobody has a spare; the browser version seats three, four or five with AI opponents filling the rest.
That depends on your character. The King wants every trick, the Hermit none, the Resistance exactly one — the last — and the Gambler exactly as many as it bid. Reading what the others want is most of the game.
The Resistance’s ability: it may declare the fifth trick a Revolt as it plays its card. In a Revolt trick the lowest card wins and Rare cards are the weakest; winning it with a black card wins the whole game.
A gold crown goes to the player with the most tricks in a round, if nobody ties them; black crowns go to up to two players who took no tricks. Two gold crowns or three black crowns win the game at once.
Immediately when a character meets its win condition, when someone holds two gold crowns, or three black crowns; otherwise after three rounds, when the most points wins.
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no signup and no payment, against trained AI opponents or online with friends through a room code, in English or German.