In the vein of many great card games, here is my attempt/variant of an existing one. A lot of classic card games have a one word title, so that’s how I went with mine. Different Suits/No Trumps is a trick taking game for 3-5 players built off the foundation of the classic trick taking card game of Hearts. It is simplistic enough to be learned by any who can understand the game.
Details:
- Players: 3-5
- Ages: 10+
- Length: 25-40 minutes
Components Needed:
- Standard deck of 52 playing cards – 1x
Object of the Game:
Win the most tricks.
Set-Up & Deal:
This game does not use jokers, so remove those from the playing deck.
Set-up instructions vary depending on the number of players. In a 3 player game, remove the 2 of clubs from the deck. With 4 players, the entire deck will be used. In a 5 player game, remove both the 2 of clubs and the 2 of diamonds.
Separate the remaining cards by suit. Shuffle the individual stacks of suits into four face down piles.
Beginning with player one, each player will take turns drawing two cards from a face down pile of their choice to form their hand. Cards may be drawn from different piles or the same one. In a 3 player game, each player will have a hand of 17 cards. In a 4 player game, each player will have a hand of 13 cards. In a 5 player game, each player will have a hand of 10 cards. During a 3 or 4 player game, the last round will consist of players drawing a single card instead of two. Once there are no cards remaining then play will begin.
Gameplay:
This game does not feature trump suits.
Player one will begin the opening hand by playing the lead card, or the first of the sequence. The next player will follow this by playing a card from their hand, and so on and so forth until all players have played during the round.
Each player can only play a suit that has not yet been played. Under these conditions, the winner of the trick is the person who plays the card of the highest value. That person will collect the cards and are said to have “won the trick”. However, if a player does not have a card of a different suit, then they may play a card of a suit that has already been played.
If there are two or more cards of the same suit out, then the lowest card of that suit becomes the winner.
End of Round:
After everyone has played out their hands, then the game is over. Count up the number of tricks that each player has won. The person with the most tricks is the winner.
Variant:
Alternate Shuffling – Evenly distribute the cards in their suits, and the only choice that players get is one of the left overs.