Trick-taking game

A trick-taking game is a card- or tile-based game in which play of a hand centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks (or, in some settings, books), which are each evaluated to determine a winner or taker of that trick. The object of such games then may be closely tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as contract bridge, whist, and spades, or to the value of the cards contained in taken tricks, as in point-trick games such as pinochle, the tarot family, briscola, and most evasion games like hearts.

Trick-and-draw games are trick-taking games in which the players can fill up their hands after each trick. In most variants, players are free to play any card into a trick in the first phase of the game, but must follow suit as soon as the stock is depleted. Trick-avoidance games like reversis or polignac are those in which the aim is to avoid taking some or all tricks.

The domino game Texas 42 is an example of a trick-taking game that is not a card game.

History

The earliest card games were trick-taking games, as evidenced by the rank-and-suit structure, originating from ancient China and spreading westwards during the early part of the second millennium. Michael Dummett noted that these games share various features. They were played without trumps, following suit was not required but only the highest card of the suit led wins, rotation was counter-clockwise, they were plain-trick games, and the pip cards of one or more suits were in reverse order so that the lower cards beat the higher ones.

Two revolutions in European trick-taking games led to the development of ever more sophisticated card games: the invention of trumps, and the requirement of following suit to constrain their power, in the 15th century; and bidding in the 17th century.