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This Trick-Taking Life: The Future
My wife introduced me to modern board games. Oh, not totally — I’d played The Settlers of Catan to exhaustion, and eventually I discovered Philippe Kevaerts’ Small World on my own. But meeting Somerset introduced me to an entire world of tabletop games, one that was wide and wonderful and only in its infancy. The trick-takers, though, those I didn’t get. Wasn’t it just, we all put a card down and someone gets all the cards?
This is the last part of this letter to my younger self. We’ve already discussed the history and appeal of the genre, from its inherent simplicity to the innovation of the triumph suit to the important hurdle of contract bidding. Today, there’s only one last piece of history to explore. It’s the year 2021, and a handful of trick-taking games are about to change the format forever.
This Trick-Taking Life: The Contracts
I remember the first time I was asked to make a contract bid. You don’t forget a trauma like that. I’d played maybe two trick-takers — ever — and suddenly I was being asked a question for which there was no right answer. “Dan,” she said, “Now tell us how many tricks you’ll win.” I stared at her like she was nuts. She was nuts, right? What did she think I was, a precog? The only prediction I could make for my future was that I was about to lose yet another trick-taking game.
My personal journey with trick-takers has been fraught. In part one of this letter to my past self, we discussed the innate simplicity of the genre. In part two, things took a darker turn with triumph suits. Both of those experiences pale in comparison to today’s topic: contract bidding. Or, how trick-takers are secretly the toughest genre of card game in existence.
This Trick-Taking Life: The Triumphs
Why are trick-taking games having such a moment? Last time in this series about my personal journey with trick-takers, I proposed an answer: because the things are so dang simple that learning the rules to one immediately opens the door to a hundred more. But that’s not all! Far from being simplistic time-wasters, there are untold depths and ranges to the system. In fact, one of the best things about cracking open a new trick-taker is that you’re almost certain to discover an approach you haven’t seen before.
Today, though, we’re tackling an aspect of trick-taking that initially put me off the genre altogether. I’m talking about the triumph, also known as the trump, also known to my friend Rob as the “super-suit.”
This Trick-Taking Life: The Suits
“I never understood the appeal of trick-taking. Isn’t it just, we all put a card down and someone gets all the cards?”
Thus spake someone on social media this past week. I’m keeping their identity anonymous. Not so much because it’s a wrong opinion. Because it’s an opinion I shared not all that long ago. Growing up in a family where playing cards were an endowment from the devil, there wasn’t much room for anything more complicated than UNO. When I married into a trick-taking family, the appeal was lost on me. The processes seemed random. Yet the same people won no matter how poor their hand. Maybe, just maybe, there was something more to these games than first met the eye.
This series is written for my past self. One layer at a time, I want to talk about what makes trick-taking special. Today, we’re starting with the barest of basics: the suits.
SPACE-BIFF! 