Top 10 Trick Taking Games - with Tom, Zee, and Timm 

I really like Timm as a guest. Fantastic

Please bring Timm back... great addition to the video. Just loved his personality

Timm’s infectious laugh reaches right out of the phone and slaps me on the back. Looking forward to meeting him at the game table one day. More Timm!

Timm is fabulous. Wonderfully eloquent and great positivity. More please!

Top 10 Request: Top 10 house rules that improve a game

500 (the trick taking game) has always been a big hit in my family as I was growing up with extended family playing too. I recently taught this to my wife who has never played trick taking games and while it took a few plays, she is now loving it! Fantastic game

Hey Rodney Smith, meet the second nicest guy in gaming, Timm.

Skat. One of the truly great games. Hard to wrap your head around at first, but worth the effort.

This was one of the most delightful top tens i've watched. Trick taking games are great as "talking games," as Zee put it. They have a perfect balance of engagement and casual atmosphere. Hearts is a favorite and, as a midwesterner, I grew up playing euchre for sure.

'she'll marry me, but she won't be my partner in rook' - that's gold, tom!!

no mention of Grandpa Becks "Skull King"

I subscribed to Timm's channel in a heartbeat. He's a delight

When I was in high school, we used to play a lot of a game called Thirteen. It is a Vietnamese card shedding game called Tiến lên.

FYI guys, David Parlett is an author who has written a bunch of books about card games. I bought one of them ages ago when I was in to card solitaires, but I think he has compendiums that cover a massive spectrum. I don't know if you could arrange a chat with him easily, but it would be interesting to learn what he felt about the modern trick taking designs

Skull King has been a hit in my game groups. Not mentioning it here is a shame

Loved this too 10, especially Timm's. I grew up playing trick taking games with my uncle, who was a professional bridge player (btw, he played against Omar Sharif in one of the tournaments, and always said this was one of the coolest parts of bridge tournaments -- everybody's gets to play against everybody). I never fully mastered the complex bidding system, but loved playing Blackout (Oh Hell), Spades, King, Hearts, etc. Trick taking games will always be close to my heart for all the memories with my uncle and my family. (I love The Crew btw, it blew my mind, it's so good!). Thanks, guys! :)

As someone who has never played a trick taking game, this was way more interesting than I thought it would be. Good job folks!

Skat (for three players) and Doppelkopf (for four players) are very popular in Germany. Both you play in two teams, where the actual pairing is not known from the start, which is what makes the game interesting for most players.

Thank you for having Timm join you. I was a pleasure to see him. I love trick taking games. Thank you for making this video. I have a large game group, but I played trick taking games growing up 1-2 times per week. Don’t really have anyone my group that has the same level of skill/understanding with trick taking games. I definitely miss them. Your explanations bring back memories of finishing a trick taking game and disectng the game as group afterwards about what went wrong and right. “OHHH!!! If only I had that Ace of Hearts”.

Timms astonishment of Zee saying "Cholo" gave me a great amount of Joy!

I wish more people knew about and played Skat in America. It is the best trick-taking game in the world, by far. It's for 3 players and the partnerships shift around based on who wins the bid. I love the game. Side note (and shameless plug) if anyone wants to play a great solo trick taking game, check out ECK in the bgg 2020 pnp solitaire competition.

Great Timm! Great guest and the right one for this topic... first bridge and second the crew is just as it has to be

And...had to quickly pause video to subscribe to Timm’s channel! Looks like awesome content! I can’t wait to check out his videos! When I’m out and about again I’d definitely love to stop by the cafe as a point of interest when visiting Las Vegas in the future!

Will have to try some of these. High Low Jack was the one we always played with a regular deck of cards

I thought at least Zee heard of “Joraku” before. I guess my memory is lying to me because if he had he’d know that’s the best trick taking game!! Great video as always gents!

one of my favorite trick taking games is played with dominoes instead of cards... forty-two (also called Texas 42.) it has quite a few variants and optional rules, and the first time i played it was with a group that used just about all of them. i especially liked that the trump 'suit' is variable and is set by the bids.

Great episode! Love seeing these chats about trick-taking, especially when they discuss games I haven't heard of. Timm was a great guest, and his point about loving Bridge despite "sucking" is wise and applies to most "lifestyle" games that reward practice (golf, poker, Magic: The Gathering, etc.). You just have to find people who take a similar approach.

Hearts was a family game growing up, some nice memories of my early days of gaming

this was awesome! thank you, guys!

Awesome video! Love trick taking games! Probably one of my absolute favorite genres…

Crazy some great trick taking games not mentioned. Texas Showdown, & Sticheln, Scharfe Schoten are my top 3 hands down.

Timm was great, looking forward to seeing him in future Top 10's.

Timm, have you tried Turn the Tide? It has a tournament bridge feeling because everyone has to play the same hand in a game. That’s what I love about bridge the most is the tournament scene where each east/west and north/south teams play the same hands and you see who plays them better.

How did no one say Skull King? I got 3 and only one was mentioned here. The Crew, Custom Heroes, and Skull King.

How crazy! I just started a Trick-Taking channel! Some other great trick-takers not mentioned: Relationship Tightrope(Zen Master) American Bookshop Nosoku Dice

The way we played Hearts was that the Jack of Diamonds (rather than clubs) would cancel 10 points and if you got it, you couldn't shoot the moon. Of course, we played that if you successfully shot the moon (all hearts and Queen of Spades, NO Jack of Diamonds), you outright won the game.

I'm with Timm on bridge, but it is definitely a 'lifestyle game', so I can see being reticent to get into it if you don't want to do that.

I enjoy the introductions to other content providers. Timm was a nice addition this week. Of course, I also enjoy the Dice Tower crew. Off topic, but I'd enjoy watching the DT crew playing Gloomhaven.

I dont think Joraku gets enough love. Amazing little trick taking/area control game.

Was going to comment on how much I like Timm, I subscibed to his RU-vid channel as a result. Bring him back for additional features please! He fit right in immediately.

My favorite is probably Bourré. But it is also the one I played the most of growing up. Played every thanksgiving with my extended family and it was just a lot of fun. I actually had not played any non general domain trick taking games so now I have a few to look into.

Timm is great! I'm surprised he hasn't done one of these before, as I found him super entertaining on this. More Timm! TEAM TIMM!

Oh hey, I've actually been wanting a really good trick taking game to add to my collection.

My favorite trick taking game today is Tournament at Camelot. Most of these I've never heard of though, so now I have some more options to look into.

Mü is my favorite, and I played a lot of trick taking games e.g. Gang of Four, Skull King, Spades, Bridge, 500, Hearts, The Crew, etc.

Grew up playing lots of canasta with my mom. She'd beat me like a rug. In college played tons of hearts, spades, whist, bridge n pinochle. Love running hearts.

29:56 broke me too. lol Tom.

500, it’s similar to bridge and we got next level with it. The bidding was our table talk and you’d call your trumps like Timm was saying with Bridge. Another fun one was Up & Down the River.

I'm not a native English, so I had to check why you mention so many times the name of the president of your country. :)

Yes! 99 is a favorite of mine as well. Timm had a lot of great picks for my taste!

I know Tom and Zee have come across David Parlett before (designer of the brilliant trick taking game Ninety-Nine), because they have reviewed Hare & Tortoise (first Spiel des Jahres winner), its re-theme Around the World in 80 Days, and Katarenga. As commenter "IShoot" mentioned already below he has written many books on card game rules and history, but he also has a web site which has all of his other original card games besides Ninenty-Nine. Another good trick-taking game he created, this one for 2-players, is "Duck Soup".

I love when zee praises games you can't buy anymore.

Need your top 10 talking games - what zee said...games where its something to do while chatting.

Tournament at Avalon and The Crew...for me, these two are the best, by a mile.

I have every single game Zee mentioned (just got Eternity) in a trade. Timm reminded me that I need to teach my daughters the classic card games. Our favorite trick taking game is a variant of Barbu. This a game often played at Bridge tournaments as a palette cleanser.

Timm, I love that Big 2 was mentioned... It's an extremely popular game out here in South East Asia, especially during Chinese New Year!

Losing missions in The Crew is HOW you teach beginners. It may seem frustrating to long time gamers but there is a really satisfying feeling when that beginner finally gets it and has their "aha!" moment. Of course that's when the Crew changes the rules on you hahaha.

Top 5 in no particular order: Sticheln (Stick'em), Njet, Skull King, The Crew, Tichu. Not mentioning them is therefore wrong😉

Given the “trick taking renaissance” I think this list needs an update! And with Mike of course!

So I tried finding info on the game that I want to suggest here, but I couldn't find anything online. So I was taught and I really like a variant on Spades that my friends just call "Bid". So major differences is that you don't deal the entire deck out each round rather you start off with dealing 1 card out to each players and playing out that round and work your way up to 13 (in the case of a 4 player game) and then back down to 1. The scoring is not first person to 500, rather just person with highest score at the end of the game wins. As far as scoring, you get negative 10 pts per trick bid if you don't get the amount that you bid, positive 10 pts per trick if you got the exact amount tricks bid, and if you get any additional tricks you get 1 pt per. I really like spending an evening playing a trick taking game, and this is what I will always suggest.

Tournament at Camelot is a good one!

Pups is such a fun little trick taking game. I backed it on Kickstarter just because I love dogs but it ended up being a great game!

I don't understand why everyone finds Pikoko so confusing. Because you don't get any points for winning tricks, just accurate bids, you aren't really playing someone else's cards for them. It's just that your cards are on the rack in front of the person to the left of you. And you can see everyone's hand, except the person to the right of you. The racks being to your left is the only realistic way to make that concept work without trading hands the whole game to look at em again.

Thank goodness someone had the sense to say Bridge.

Added some new titles to my evergrowing trick taking collection :)

My number one: BRIDGE! HANDS DOWN

Surprised i didn't see Wizard's card game on here

Played and beat The Crew, and if addiction is a rating mechanic then it's a solid 10/10. Reflecting back it's about a 7/10 with a ton of luck on the dealt cards, where it's just an efficiency puzzle mitigating that opening hand.

What trick taking game is best for two players that have never played a trick taking game?

Meepleville is the greatest board game store in the world. Timm is the nicest dude and super helpful. If you're ever going through vegas, check his place out!

Did monster trick ever hit the US, been looking for it off and on for a while... Never saw it pop up...

The best trick taking game is (in my opinion) Tarock (Piatnik cca. 1905 ;) ) (not to be confused with Tarot) - but I like your choices also (I really like Claim and Niet, Fox in the forest too)

Nokosu Dice (complex) and David And Goliath (simple). Both can be played with a Stick 'Em deck. Hund (Ebbes) looks fun, and 9 Lives looks to be complex and fun. I will be getting those.

Euchre should be top 5 in every list. It's got everything. It's easy, fast, cooperative, betting, fun, and deep if you want it to be.

Suprised Zee didn't mention Blend Coffee Lab or Taking the A Chord.

Love Timm, more Timm, love the cat! lol this video put games on my list to buy.

I'm with you Tom on the Pinochle! That's one heck of a spelling.

Dear god!! No skull kings???

I’m surprised no one mentioned Cahoots by Mayday Games. This is a great trick-taking game where alliances are always shifting, but only 1 player wins. Check it out!

Black Spy by Alan Moon of Ticket to Ride fame. A super good evolution of Hearts.

I thought I'd match more of Zee's list but I don't even own his Top 5 (yay, Trumpet!). But I could probably take 5 from Timm's and add it to Zee's bottom 5 and I'd have my list.

Try Ultimate Hearts - its the version where all the Queens have extra abilities. Queen of Spades is normal. Queen of Clubs Negates the Queen of Spades. Queen of Hearts doubles the Heart values of your hearts you take in, and Queen of Diamonds is worth -10 points.

My top 10 Trick-Taking Games: 10 - Druids 9 - The Dwarf King 8 - Trump, Tricks, Game! 7 - Black Spy 6 - Hearts 5 - David & Goliath 4 - Spades 3 - Eternity 2 - Schneeble 1 - The Bottle Imp These are all in my top 100 games of all-time (trick-taking is my favorite mechanism) along with 5 Cucumbers, Skull King, and Anansi & the Box of Stories...I have yet to play The Crew, it's next on my list! :)

1. The crew 2. Skull king. Where is Skull King? How does it not make this list? Especially the reprint’s art and expansion. Zee, you’re wrong. Why are you anti-fun? ;-)

Bridge is my #1 game on BGG.... It is the game I have spent the most time on of all games.

I’m with Tom on playing as long as you feel like it

regarding the Spanish trick taking games, I remember playing one with a normal deck that had 3 rules and I do not remember how it is called. Anyone? the rules were: A. the classic, if you have a card of the same color/shape as the one played by the first player you need to play it. If you do not then you can through whatever you like (so this is also a trust/cheat issue) B. Classic rule also. Winner of the round is the one that played the higher valued card of the same color/shape as the first card played in the round/ C. The victory point system: in the beginning of each round the first player declares if he is going to win or not this round and then all players in order do the same. The ones who get it right get the point. So only one can win but many can get the point by loosing.

whoa i love that new logo thing

The Hearts variant Royal Hearts puts a great twist on the classic game.

Hearts was a game we played in 6th form, we called it Black Queen.

Talking about Argentina games, we have one that is part trick taking. It is called TRUCO. Look for it. You can play it one on one, but all the bright of this game comes in two against two. You can make signs to tell your couple the cards you have, and you have to lie every single time. Look at it if you can.

I just subscribed to your channel, Timm. Billions plus one.

Strange. Surprised that Mu, Sticheln, and Mit List und Tuche didn't make it in the list. But I guess they're all older games. Relieved that 99 did - it's the best 3-player tricktaking game, whereas Mu is the best 5-player and Sticheln the best 6-8 player.

I waited the whole video for Tricked Out Hero, sad to see it not even mentioned. A fun, fantasy themed game that does theme well.

My Dad taught me Hearts when I was a kid. Hearts and cribbage.

Bargain Hunter is great 3p. Schnapsen is excellent for 2p!

I'm surprised you haven't heard of David Parlett, author of "The Oxford Book of Board Games". He's a renowned expert on traditional board games as well as a designer of abstract games.

WHAT? No Skull King! For SHAME! Actually, they are great picks. I own most of them. Zee, where can I get Eternity without spending the 60 bucks Amazon is asking for?

1-8 players. Changing trump mid suit. Sometimes not wanting to win tricks due to getting negative points. Gorus Maximus by Inside Up Games for me.

I'm in my 40s and have no experience with trick taking games. I had a friend try to teach me Pinochle. It makes....no....sense. I also can't wrap my bread aroung trick taking. I agree with Tom saying maybe you need to learn when you are young.