Top 10 Trick Taking Games - with Chris Yi 

What a list!! I adore trick-taking, obviously, and this is a wonderful take of classic and modern trick-takers. I do wish Hearts was on here ;), but I'll live! I'd recommend Shadenfreude and American Bookshop!

I am a trick-taking fanatic. Probably one of my favorite board game mechanism out there. My list is the following: 13. All trick-takers played with a standard deck of cards 12. Gudetama 11. Tichu 10. Turn the Tide 9. Ghosts of Christmas 8. Claim 7. Bridge City Poker 6. Wizard (similar to Skull King but superior) 5. The Crew (either one) 4. The Fox in the Forest 3. Dealt / Krass Kariert 2. Shamans 1. Brian Boru: High King of Ireland I'm so obsessed with them that I've got 3 trick-taking games pre-ordered: Maskmen, Yokai Septet, 9 Lives.

What a list!! I adore trick-taking, obviously, and this is a wonderful take of classic and modern trick-takers. I wish Wizard was here. One of the best ones out there. Crown Battles also. It's a kinda new trick-taking game that just came out. What's cool about it is that there are these Special Power cards that are part of the game, and sometimes you can even team up with other players.

Surprised to see Spades mentioned, but not Wizard, which is clearly the best version of this sort of game. I grew up on Wizard and I'm always surprised when people haven't played it. Still one of the best trick taking games of all time.

Tournament at Camelot/Avalon is my #1 by a lot. Everyone I know has grown up playing trick-taking games for ages. Every one of them that I taught it to absolutely adored it. And I am finally teaching most of them The Crew tomorrow!

Surprised to see Spades mentioned, but not Wizard, which is clearly the best version of this sort of game. I grew up on Wizard and I'm always surprised when people haven't played it. Still one of the best trick-taking games of all time. Crown Battles also is another version of Wizard!

Trick-taking is my favorite genre! Great list Chris! Here's a few of my favorites you might enjoy: The Bottle Imp Schneeble Eternity Black Spy Trump, Tricks, Game! Druids

Skull King doesn’t end there, the mermaid card trumps the Skull King but is beaten by the pirates! I love that card! Also, Brian Boru is a trick taking game id like to try. Great list Yi!

Shocked there was no mention of Fox in the Forest. Wonderful 2P game!

A complete classic and still best trick taking game to me: French Tarot. plays with a deck of 78 cards, from 3 to 5 players. I learned the rules around 5-6yo with my parents, learned basically how to count fast with it, and still playing to this day. Makes me not like most other trick taking games like The Crew as nothing compares to it!

I tend to bring Claim and Marshmallow Test (a reimplementation of Voodoo Prince) everywhere I go. Claim for 2p and MT for 3+. Nyet! and both of The Crew games are still on my shelf of shame, but I look forward to getting them to the table at some point soon. Nice list!

I need to play more trick taking games they seem really interesting! thank you for the list Chris! this will give me a lot of options to see what I like, by the way amazzing job on the top 100 stats! awesome job.

The bottle imp is one of my favorites that wasn't mentioned.

The Crew Mission Deep Sea is so legit. Huge fan !

CHRIS VIDEOS ARE THEE BEST

I'm working on a design for a trick-taking game with a Boy Scout theme where you earn merit badges and other rewards by taking tricks and you build the coolest merit badge sash. (My Scouts love playing trick-taking games when we go camping.)

Great list - thanks for doing it! I agree on most and learned about a couple I need to try out.

One of my earliest memories of playing games with my granddaddy in the South, in addition to checkers and dominoes, was Rook. Later, in college, I would play many hands of it in our common room. Over the past few years, I’ve learned the Midwestern staple that is Euchre (a modified standard deck game) and have found the nuances of the convertible nature of the Jacks for the trump suit, or, even how the trump suit is often random, to be very challenging.

Interesting list! Some I have played, and to check out. I may have added Fox in the Forest too. I'm a little surprised though, because I thought for sure Brian Boru would have made your list....unless it's because it's not a pure trick taking game.

For trick taking enthusiasts I would recommend Stich-Meister (I don't think there's an official English version, but translations exist), which is like a trick-taking game on steroids. More on the chaotic side, but very entertaining. The main point is that the rules change each round, determined by rule cards that are secretly selected by the players (one each) after seeing their hand for the round. So if you got a lot of cards from suit A, and you have a rule card that makes this suit trump, you could add that to the rule set (and hope that nobody else adds the rule card which makes trump cards score -1 point).

I absolutely LOVE Nyet! Every time I play it, I always have such a great time! I like the way that it isn't the same scenario from round to round and that you constantly have to be evaluating your hand and strategically play every card. Definitely a higher barrier of entry into trick taking, but very worthwhile. Also have a soft spot for Pitch and Euchre. In my area, the local fire station had weekly Pitch nights. Sometimes for money.

I love Hearts - probably since I started playing it on Windows 95. I’ve always wanted to try Whist ever since reading Around the World in 80 Days.

I like Claim a lot! I have an expansion and a couple promos...and I only ever play the base game.

Trick of The Rails is an interesting trick taking gsme you might like. Basic trick taking except you alternate between stock and operating rounds where suits represent both stocks in that suits company and potential stops on that company's route. It's only a one handed game, so I recommend at 3, maybe 4 players, never 5.

Amazing, that trick taking mechanism is played since middle ages. BTW, I love Claim too.

This Le Truc inspired (or was inspired?) to a very popular Trick Taking game in Brazil, specially among college students, called Truco.

Fun list! Makes me really want to try out Claim and Nyet. My favorites not mentioned are probably Jekyll vs Hyde and Nokosu Dice

Great video!! Pups is a fun trick taking game , though I think out of print. Also enjoy Moons, where you collect planet tokens ,when you win tricks, that score in a variety of ways at the end of the game. Thanks!!

Thanks for the insight Chris. I grew up playing Knockout Whist with my family and love trick taking card games. “Oh Hell” is a brilliant card game with a normal deck of 52 playing cards and is essentially Skull King without the art work and additional options. However many families over the years have created their own “House Rules” to make it unique to them…which we have done and will be handed down the generations! Agree with The Crew….different level and a new direction!

My favorites are Jekyll vs Hyde and Claim. Fox in the Forest is fun too but JvsH has mostly replaced it for us. Out of the standard deck classics I like Schnapsen a lot.

No mention of The Fox in the Forest, which is my favorite trick-taking game so far. I also like California Jack (aka French Fours) with a standard deck.

Thanks, Chris! Well delivered.

Some great games there! I'll add three more, these are older games which I can't recommend enough - Was Sticht? Sticheln (play with the 6x20 deck) Mu.

Grew up in NW MT playing pinochle all through the long winters. Community pinochle nights, and belonging to pinochle clubs. 💕💞💕 Euchre, Pitch & Skull King are my latest learned in the past 5 years (Euchre was released) our game Shop Pips & Meeples is currently hooked on Skull King 😉. We also have been playing a lot of Tournament of Camelot....tons of take that!

Trick taking definitely doesn't have as big of a following as it used to, but it's really cool to see that people are still innovating in the space! Your number 1 is my favorite too

Have you ever tried Joraku? It is an excellent small box, trick taking, area control game!

A lot of solid games. =^) You might enjoy Pitch.

Listening to your explanation of “Le truc” I am pretty sure that it is a variation of the game “Truco” played in Argentina for a hundred years now (it’s played in teams (though it can be played 2p) and using a Spanish deck. It plays a little bit different but it’s a great game of bluffing and there are even tournaments of it. If you want to know more let me know.

I really like trick takers, it's just a shame some of the really good ones published in Japan are almost impossible to get in the UK. My Top 3... in no particular order, The Bottle Imp, Jekyll vs Hyde and, of course, Cat in the Box. I don't have Marshmallow Test, but I do have Voodoo Prince, a really good game but for some reason it seldom gets played. I've no idea why I haven't got The Crew, it looks a fantastic game and I keep telling myself I have to buy this one, but so far it just hasn't happened. Great video, very interesting selection with quite a few games I haven't heard of before, thanks for posting.

Dear Chris: would you consider making a video of how to play Le Truc?

Great list! I fell for Voodoo Prince after first play and I am glad it's around as Marshmallow Test

Thanks for the list. Definitely some I'd like to try. I would be very interested in your take-so to speak-on Euchre, The Fox in the Forest. and Jekyll vs Hyde.

I'd love to track down Nyet! It's been on my radar since viewing Zee's review last year. No luck so far, but glad to see another positive review.

shamans looks really unique and interesting

Love Skull King! Probably bc I grew up on Spades. Really like The Crew. Ugly Christmas Sweaters is great at Christmas time. But by far my favorite is Tournament at Avalon! Gorgeous cards, great thematic tie-ins, and almost a Monty Python like zaniness to it. So Fun!!

Spades is trick taking in spades🤠👍🏽 Teaching my son yesterday, we would have won but he failed to comprehend that the Ace of Spades can not lose and bid Nil. 😩 Good times 😊

You didn’t mention Bridge. Spades and Hearts are the foothills of trick taking games. Bridge is the Himalayas and the Alps of trick taking games.

The new tidal blades banner festival sounds very interesting with its trick taking-like mechanics

Very much enjoyed this video BUT how can you leave off Tichu.

Nokosu Dice... yeah? You know. It's good.

I grew up playing Euchre and never played Bridge, Hearts, or Spades. I was told Euchre is fairly regional to parts of the Midwest and NY area so I don’t know whether it doesn’t get a ton of love in discussions about trick-taking games because it’s not as good as the other classics or because it’s not as ubiquitous as if was for me growing up

Mines will be Tournaments at Avalon had a lot of fun with that

Fox in the forest is the best too!

My #1 before it was replaced by The Crew is The Bottle Imp. Fantastic trick taking game...

I played spades for years (it was a favorite of the students in high school and trade school) and then in my older years beat the hell out of several copies of Skull King. Can't find a copy of David and Goliath to save my life tho. Love this list.

Hearts and Euchre HAVE to make top 10! Shocking!

Chronicle's a great trick taking game with some variety. Rowboat from Moostache games is a pretty interesting bidding game that I believe can be played with a standard deck.

Wizard and Euchre would be on my list.

Potato Man is one of my favorites…

#8- you mean Euchre. ;)

Wizard is pretty good also. I've played it many many times

Pack it up Ethan

Skull King is my favorite but Nyet! looks interesting and Eye My Favorite Things if it gets a US printing.

If you like "le truc" you should try Truco (classic spanish/latin american card game) very similar but can be played with 2, 4 or 6 (there's a variant for 3 "truco gallo"). I imagine that they are the basically the same game, but (like many antique trick taking games) there have been variations along the years and regions.

How is Tichu not on here?!

Great list. How are euchre and fox in the forest not on here though?

A genre of card games I genuinely and generally dislike... except for The Crew... that one broke the rule for me and I was amazed how much I enjoyed it. :-) Really solid game... and that is coming from someone who doesn't like trick-taking games, as a rule.

Nice list, Chris, but the #1 right answer is Hearts!! 😍

I was waiting for crew to be mentioned. I absolutely love that game

My top 5 - the crew, bridge, potato man, voodoo prince, cobras

No 500, Hearts, Bridge, or Euchre on the list?

I grew up playing Pitch with my family, so that is the standard trick taking game to me before Spades and Hearts, both of which I also like. Gorus Maximus is a fun cross between Pitch and Uno that accomodates higher player counts. Another I'd recommend is Ghosts of Christmas (or Time Palatrix) where you're playing 3 tricks at the same time. The Crew is great. I recently managed to get my hands on a copy of Voodoo Prince but haven't gotten to play it yet, and now I'll be keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced copy of Nyet!

*7 Signum* is the best one. It's very skill based because you need to correctly predict what tricks you're gonna win or lose. So there's not really such a thing as a bad hand.

You played Jekyll Vs. Hyde? It's my favorite two player trick taker for sure. Love Claim as well, though!

I don't even like trick taking games but you got me to add, NYET, to my purchase list. 😅

Papayoo and fox in the forest would be on my list.

Why not mention Claim 2? Both Claim and Claim 2 are similar, and you can mix and match sets.

I Wonder how they feel about Tournament at Camelot trick taking game . I think it's by wizkids and it has a part 2 also .

I only have one trick taking game and it’s because of Ricky Royal’s solo variant. Brian Boru. I absolutely love it.

Interesting list. For me this is one of two genres of board games, with dexterity games, that I cannot eke any fun out of whatsoever.

I think I was one of the only people that enjoyed Time Chase. I never hear about it anymore.

Hey! Triolet!

Skull King is a very good game... It ramps up nicely as the rounds go on and there is a lot of absurdity in it. When you have a 5 card trick round and people have promised to take 9 tricks or an 8 card round where people have promised to take 2 tricks and Chris here forgot to mention the mermaids that trump the Skull King and the way the game is scored makes it really interesting... Did play the Crew once, but it was kind of meh, either you succeed or fail and try again. It all depends on the cards dealt... But I like my trick taking games with a little "take that" in them which utterly goes away with a game being "co-op"...

Here's a trick taking game no one has ever heard of really bit very popular to those I play with Clubs trump It's very similar to spades where you day how many tricks you can win. Clubs is trump. Can be played at pretty much any number. Game is 10 rounds long with each round one card less than the previous round (although things have to be adjusted if you have 6 or more players). Last round is always just one card. Bid total for a round can never equal the number of cards in a hand (so dealer can get forced to bid a number they don't want). +1 point per trick one and +10 if you make your bid.

Hmmm....we never played Spades as a team game, it was always everyone for themselves...just like in Hearts.

Haggis is number one

The Crew? Number One? Who'da thunk??? It's mine as well. My favorite before this came out was probably Trumpet. You REALLY need to find this and try it - Zee named it in his Top Ten so go steal it - as I think you'd really like it. Mostly because it has a board and it's very beige!! You move your token along A TRACK (!) with each trick you take, trying to be the one who lands on the spaces where you can name trump. The next time someone chooses trump, the named suit is placed ABOVE the previous suit - on a different TRACK (!!) - so now there's a #1 trump and a #2 trump. Yes, two trump suits. Eventually all six suits will be trump - woe is the person who "chooses" the sixth trump - and after that, calling trump means switching two trumps on that track. But WHEN you do that makes the game very tactical. Say, you're one trick away from naming trump, but everything you have is low on the trump track. You do have one shield card - there are three in the deck and they trump all the trumps - so do you want to play that and call trump for the two low-number hearts in your hand, or do you hold onto it until the last trick, allowing you to call trump AFTER the next hand is dealt? Have the other two shields been played, or is someone planning on doing the same exact thing? (It's a popular play.) This jockeying can lead to some of the lowest lows in trick-taking - you can be sitting there with a hand full of the #2 trump, waiting for the #1 trump to exhaust itself, when someone decides to switch out #2 for the bottom trump! Then again, when this happens to someone else, it can lead to some of the highest highs! I think Trumpet is a good game for people who don't like the luck of the draw in card games. The tactical portion alleviates some of this because calling trump can often turn a bad hand into a good one. Also, only 7 cards are dealt each round, so the bad luck doesn't tend to last long. I've seen people in dead last leap into first after just a couple well-played hands. Nobody is EVER out. It also plays up to six people, which sounds horrific, but those tend to be the wildest as everybody has to be way more tactical about when to call trump. Also, no two people can share the same space so some tricks can move you six spots if everyone is bunched together.

I can’t believe Euchre did not make this list. It is the quintessential trick taking game!

Mu!

Wizard? Hearts?

I think The Crew is far too group dependent and would not recommend it for noobs. I have played online and in real life with people who become dicks if you make a mistake...not good experiences. Did you mention Diamonds?

Sheapshead! :)

For the last time: DAVID & GOLIATH IS OUT OOOOFFFFF PRRRIIIIIINNNTTT !!. STOP RECOMMENDING IT ;-) Damn. Trying to get this for years

Sheepshead and Euchre are superior trick taking games.

I'm not a big fan of trick taking games. Possibly because I played Bridge competitions for many years before I got into the modern board gaming hobby. So Bridge will easily be my #1. Here are a few more than I enjoyed: Tichu - I learned this just a few weeks ago at a convention. A fun game. Oh Hell (it has many names, we call it Plump here in Sweden). We normally played from 10 down to 2 and back up to 10. With the double zero rule for extra fun. A game I learned back in the 80s, don't remember where I got it from but it was called Cykel (Swedish word for bicycle). It was a quick trick taking game with a normal deck of cards and 5 cards each. But because it had player elimination and the waiting could be long for the knocked out players, we changed the game to go from 6 cards down to 5,4,3 and finally 2 cards until there was a winner. If you didn't win a trick in the round, you would have to play blind ("cykla" or "ride the bike") for the next hand. If you didn't win a trick while playng blind, you are knocked out. The game has a random trump suit for the first round, then the winner will choose a trump suit for the next round. I've tried The Crew, but didn't enjoy it much. Probably because my background as a Bridge player, and the others I played with were not experienced card players (I even had to explain how the trump suit works). So most trick taking games I've played during the years has been with a normal deck of cards (or 2).

Skat is the best trick-taking game. This is not an opinion, but an objective fact. 10 million Germans can't be wrong.

Chris missed some of the obviously greatest ones but okay...clearly he's only played a dozen or so trick takers (or the wrong ones) :D

Yes but… where is the tick taking game?!

The Crew is the Wingspan of trick taking games. Game just isn’t for me. Love me some Wingspan oddly enough.

2 player Le Truc ? If I propose a 2p game game with my father ge would ask me if Im mentally ok kkkk. We only play 4p games, much Better, the way people play competitions in Brazil.