What is a Trick-taking Game?
Trick-taking is a sub-genre of card games where participants take multiple turns to win tricks.
Played across several rounds, an individual, who produces the highest card, wins a trick, which is also the main objective of these games. Of course, there are additional in-game rules, but this is the gist of what the players play for.
Trick-taking games are notorious for their endurance, but they are a perfect choice if you have a ton of time to kill. Games such as Hearts, Oh Hell, UNO, and Euchre, to name a few, are renowned for their gameplay duration.
Since these games take more than one player, you can bring your friends and family members together and engage in friendly competitions.
Once you understand their rules, they are easy to play. A large number of money earning websites even offer membership to play these games for cash rewards.
You can compete against local players as well as international gaming aficionados, all the while learning new skills as well as making money.
Why Are They Called Trick-taking Games?
The main objective of trick-taking games is to win tricks, which is where the genre derives its name from. To win tricks, a player must hold the highest card out of all the players present at the table.
What are the Different Types of Trick-taking Games?
If playing different varieties of games is something you like to do, you will be pleased to know that trick-taking games have their variants, details of which are highlighted below –
Point Trick Games:
While playing point trick games, your objective is to get your hands on certain cards by winning tricks
Plain Trick Games:
In plain trick games, you try to win as many tricks as possible or the number of predefined tricks
Trick Avoidance Games:
Trick avoidance games require you to play in such a way that you prevent capturing certain cards or tricks
A Guideline to Playing Trick-taking Games
By now, you must have got the overall essence of playing a trick-taking game, which revolves around winning tricks.
A game commences after the dealer has dealt everyone their cards. The first player can play a preferred high-value card from their hand by throwing it on the table.
The remaining players must as per the rules, play a card belonging to that particular suit until there comes a time when one of them has run out of cards belonging to that suit.
In that case, they can play the trump card.
In most trick-taking games, one specific suit is designated as the trump suit, meaning any card from that suit will beat a card from the other three suits.
For example, in Call Break, the Spades suit is the pre-decided trump, so, even a 2 of Spades will beat an Ace of Diamonds.Generally, players start the next round when they win a trick.
Trendy Trick-taking Games to Try Your Hands At
Here is the list of popular trick-taking card games that you can play with your close ones and even online to earn cash rewards
Spades Card Game
Spades is a trick-taking card game that is played in partnerships, so, you need 4 players. Each player must decide how many tricks they can win after looking at their 13 cards.
Using these cards, they must win the committed number of tricks or more; if they fail, there are negative points as penalty in place.
UNO Card Game
UNO is one of the most intense card games ever invented. Players can play this individually to discard all their 7 cards in hand. The game set comes with customised cards and is played in turns.
Everyone at the table must match either the colour or the value of the topmost card on the discard pile. They must pick one card from the draw pile if they do not have either.
Special Cards and Wild cards are in place to intensify the atmosphere within the game.
Call Break
Call Break is a variant of Spades and its rules are more or less similar to it, with the major difference being that it is played individually instead of in partnerships.
All players must make bids and match them with an equal number of tricks or more to win. Call Break is played across five rounds.
It is also known as Lakadi Game or Call Bridge game
Hearts
Hearts is a trick avoidance game and is played without trumps wherein your goal is to avoid capturing cards of the Hearts suit and the Queen of Spades.
Queen of Spades and cards belonging to the Hearts suit are valued at 13 points and 1 point apiece, respectively.
In the end, points are tallied for holding the aforementioned cards. Make sure that you are the player with the lowest points.
Euchre
From a standard deck, Euchre uses only 24 cards comprising Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, and 9s; all cards of values 2 to 8 are omitted.
The objective of this trick-taking game is to win three out of five hands using 5 cards each dealt between the players. A random card is put face up to determine the trump suit.
Oh Hell
In Oh Hell, you are required to bid and win that many tricks – no less, no more. You earn points by winning the number of tricks you committed to before the round began.
There are deductions in points levied if you score fewer or even more tricks.
Bridge Game
The bridge is another trick-taking game that is played in partnerships. Here, the game involves an auction, wherein players of both teams mutually agree on the number of tricks they can win.
Furthermore, one hand is played traditionally, while another is placed face up on the table. Both teams must try to prevent each other from reaching their committed number of tricks while attempting to reach their own goal.
Conclusion
Trick taking is a great alternative if you desire a change from traditional card games. In addition to playing these games with friends and family, you can compete with strangers online for cash rewards.
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