Play Tricksy Little Hobbitses in ‘Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game’
You might not think of a trick taking game as having a narrative element, but Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game makes it work!
For whatever reason, I’ve never been able to fully wrap my head around trick taking games. It’s a simple concept, but I just can’t figure them out. It seems like it should just be a matter of matching the suit, but every time I play a game, I get destroyed. I’m clearly doing something wrong.
So what if, instead, it was a cooperative, narrative campaign? Well then, I might have a chance.
Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game Overview
Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game is, as you might expect, a trick taking game. A trick taking game is a style of game like Hearts or Euchre; two games I’ve never played since I’m not 85 years old. In trick taking games, a deck of cards is fully dealt out to all players.
Each round, a player plays a card the center of the table, then each player, in turn, plays a card matching that suit. Highest card wins and takes the pile. If a player can’t match the suit, they can play any card, but it won’t win the trick. Unless it’s the trump suit, in which it always wins. Something like that, I think. Like I said, I’ve never fully understood trick taking games.
Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game plays exactly the same but with extra mechanics. For example, each player has a specific character role, Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, etc. Each character has their own win condition. But, players are working together, and they only collectively win if all character’s win conditions are met at the end of the round.
Plus, there is only one trump card in the game. I’m sure you can guess what the one card is.
Plus, each chapter of the 18 chapters introduces new mechanics and characters as well. It’s up to the players to work together to complete each chapter in order to move onto the next. There’s also rules for playing with just two players, or even a solo mode as well!
Personally, I’m probably going to pick up a copy of Lord of the Rings: Trick Taking Game and give it a shot, even though trick taking games have never been my strong suit! (peak comedy)
