Top 10 Trick Taking Card Games - our BEST as of 2023!

[@ClaudeAndTaylor]

What a lovely list!!! Great surprises and i love to see the crossover!! Thanks so much for the awesome video and for highlighting these gems!!!

[@afrank525]

My favorite content creators + my favorite genre = heaven!

[@losfp]

Aaaaaaaand that's 7 new entries on my BGG wishlist. Great video guys, I'm always on the lookout for interesting small box card games. They're great for travel and provide good bang for buck, or at least bang for space!

[@derekbuzan4386]

Yesss! I love Boast or Nothing! This was an amazing video. You came in swinging with a ton of fun sounding games that I never heard of.

[@thomhall7904]

Lovely list with a reasonable disclaimer on which games were included. Well done, thanks for the suggestions!

[@AndrewRStiles]

Another great video, and some very good choices! glad you are exploring this underrated genre, but it's also growing quickly. I adore trick taking games.

[@darlene7165]

An awesome video as usual! Love trick taking! I am a "way back when" player. We use to play Spades and Hearts at work during lunch hour back in the 1990's! Whew....I haven't played those two games in probably 20 years! But love the new modern trick taking games. My faves are (in no order yet), Cat in the Box, Fox in the Forrest (one of Laura's favorite games so it gets played a lot), Jekyll vs Hyde, Claim, and The Crew. I also enjoy Diamonds as it is an easy one to teach new gamers and Three Dragon Ante: Legendary Edition. A new favorite of mine is "For Northwood”, which is a solo trick taking game. You wouldn't think it would work but it does and I do enjoy playing it. I haven't played most of the games on your list but am looking forward to it. Nokosu Dice and Marshmellow Test both sound great and are on my list to find! Trick Taking games that I own but haven't played yet are: Skull King, Yokai Septet (from watching Monique and Naveen), and Ghosts of Christmas. Can't wait to play some Trick Takers with you girls at the next DTW in the Outback !

[@jameskirk4692]

Thank you for this top list! I love trick taking card games, you gave me lots of suggestions I will probably like and should get them.

[@TheBoardGameDojo]

Fantastic list! Lots of great games on there from the harder to find ones to ones frequently at FLGS and OLGS.

[@xandermichael78]

I love adding games to the ever growing grail game list! Thanks for a few more! 😆

[@xandermichael78]

Just saw Nokosu Dice added to the Spiel list!! So excited!!

[@monicamurphy6552]

This was a GREAT video!! My absolute favorite mechanic. A few games I've been looking for and a few I haven't heard of. My favorite on your list is Cat in the box. Soooo different.

[@blore217]

great job guys, I just love the content and the delivery of the content

[@sintrader1581]

A few of these games are playable in Trickster’s Table, including Yokai Septet; which just released a pocket edition that includes 2-player rules!

[@drunkenflamingo]

Some of my favorites: Tindahan (Filipino Fruit Market), Joraku, American Book Shop, and The Bottle Imp

[@whataboutki]

Great list. I had Gudetama and Marshmallow Test on watch list already but now have a bunch of new games that I'll be keeping an eye out for also.

[@noizeemama3697]

My favorite two trick taking games are Nyet and Rage. My family played a lot of Rage. You have to get the number of tricks you bet or lose points. It can be quite mean when you all gang up on whomever is in the lead, but all in fun. Favorite part is we played with 8-10 people most of the time so it gets quite competitive and much harder. My friends and I love playing Nyet on TableTop Simulator. Great but hard to find. You choose variables at the beginning of the game, but others can ruin your plans. Again, it can be quite competitive and mean, but fun. We laugh at the theme. It feels so wrong.

[@FrogOnBoards]

Glad to see you doing another top 10!

[@izzybee6438]

Love this list! I grew up playing whole evenings of trick- taking games with my family and love them. Some of my favourites are Marshmallow Test, Bottle Imp and Fox in the Forest. I didn't know that Yokai Septet plays well at 3 so will try that one out next. Have had a friend in Japan keeping an eye out for me for Nokusu Dice but no luck so far. Hope they reprint that one soon. Thanks for all the recommendations :)

[@TeamCGS2005]

I love The Crew and the sequel even more. Subscribed!

[@dallaskirkpatrick]

Another somewhat unknown trick taking game I'd definitely recommend is Prophecy (which a reimplementation of Raven). It has a unique gameplay element of bidding using cards from your hand (which then are removed from your hand and can't be played).

[@martinfreire86]

Marshmallow Test is AMAZING. So simple, but one of the most tense trick-taking games I've played. I haven't tried Voodoo prince.

[@danielakalinouski]

Amazing list. I'd love to know about your best 2 players' trick-taking games.

[@craigsomerton2359]

You guys really need to try Texas Showdown, which is being re-released soon as Seas of Strife. 8 different asymmetric suits ranging from 11 cards through to 4 cards. Must follow, but if If you are off-suit you can play any card, and players following can choose to follow any suit now in play. So many hilarious moments. Plays best at 5-6 players.

[@downward_facing_dad]

Tournament at Camelot and the standalone expansion Tournament at Avalon are some of my favorite games, and they have been a hit with any group I've introduced them to. (Two couples have even picked up copies for themselves because they liked it so much.) It's the chaos of Cosmic Encounter wrapped into a trick-taking game, themed to an Arthurian brawl with killer artwork to boot. They've actually replaced Cosmic Encounter for us. Definitely give them a try if you haven't played them yet!

[@VoicesofHonour]

Great video, thank you for these wonderful trick taking games. they really are one of my favorite mechanics. I am not a native speaker, but I am enjoying your struggle with die and dice. Somehow it seems that everybody (both in UK and US) are using dice for both plural and singular. And it always annoys me even though it's not my language xD. Anyways, got my future hands on Marshmallow test and Yokai Septet (pocket). Only one that is still on my list is Nokosu Dice, but it seems that it will stay on my list for a while xD.

[@VoicesofHonour]

ow and I really enjoy ghost of christmas both on a thematic and mechanical level

[@Bblaubaer]

Amazing list! Cat in the box is definitely a big thing. We had so much fun when someone accidentally created a paradox ("oh no, not me again!"). Have not heard of dikitto, but it looks sooo delicious! Great artwork. Nokosu dice seems to be reprinted and sold at Essen 2023 (on which you gonna be, too?). Will try to get my hands on it as it sounds like the game I need to have! Thanks again for this great video. So much fun watching you ☀️🥳🌈😎

[@rebekamiller9953]

Have you guys watched Deadloch yet? One of the characters, Cath, has the same sweater as Maggie (the blue one with the colorful coral looking shapes). It’s a great show, my wife and I love it - we have a feeling you will like it too. Cheers from Ann Arbor!

[@flamtzer]

Amazing list, there are so many that I've been looking for in a while... SOMEDAY! At home we really enjoy American Bookshop and 9 lives, they are pretty straightforward so they are way easier to teach and introduce to people. We made our own copy of Nokosu Dice, it really is amazing, we just have to get more plays of it. ❤🌈

[@jdhouse6563]

Cat in the Box is my 2nd favorite trick taking game. Tichu is by far my group's favorite. It's a 4 player partnership game with very deep play, especially if the group agrees on a passing convention similar to how bidding conventions are used in Bridge We've been playing it very regularly for 20+ years and never tire of it.

[@topazhk]

Thanks so much for this top 10. I totally agree with your high opinion of Nokosu Dice - which rewards good card play rather than with other factors. Right from the dealing of the cards and two allocated dice, the drafting of the three remaining dice is interesting even before the game has started. And what a rush when all the dynamic planning pays off. The other games on your list look cool too so I must check them out. My favourite trick-taker is an old game called Was Sticht! by Karl-Heinz Schmiel. If you like competitive, interactive card play that (again) rewards good play with a win, it’s an all-time favourite of mine. I think it was available in a Japanese printing. It’s so much fun! Thanks again!

[@ShuffleUpandDeal32]

Marshmallow Test was already widely available before through Gamewright before they discontinued it.

[@davidwitzany5852]

That's a real shame. I'm glad I nabbed it while it was available in the U.S.

[@MadMark118]

Interesting list, though I'm not sure how many of these I'll get to play. Cat in the Box is very fun, but I think I prefer Ghosts of Christmas. I don't know if you've played, but each trick is 3 tricks in one (past, present and future) and you're playing into all 3 together, but they execute in order. Whomever wins each trick ends up leading the next part. Finally, have you tried Joraku? It's an area control game where what you can do is determined by the card you happen to play, but if you win the trick, you score the area where your daimyo happens to be.

[@RynoKenny]

Please do this series every year! I just made my Tokyo hunting list much longer >.

[@malexander4094]

No Taiki Shinzawa!? I really love American Bookshop for the blackjack-esque busting & how you must play on defense to be good. I might prefer it (slightly) to 9 Lives, because I don't love the latter with 3 players as much. But 9 Lives was my trick-taker gateway, somewhat by accident. It's wonderful. I hear lovely things about Ghosts of Christmas, too.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Ooo we own all three of these but none of them quite made it into our top 10s! Fun games though, there's just too many to choose from :) may the tricktaking moment long continue

[@SGFlicksify]

Very pleased to see Nokosu Dice and Cat in the Box at the top of your lists! Both Trumps games with extra ingenious twists! I think if Nokosu Dice was ‘repackaged’ as well as CitB it would be a big hit. Like others, I’ve cobbled together my own version, using Battle Line cards (with no. 10 cards counting as zero), which works really well. I def put these 2 games in a league of their own. Cheers! 😎

[@corynardin]

I love cat in a box! I’m surprised that for Northwood wasn’t on the list, at least as an hindrance mention. Although this video is a bit older.

[@chofmann]

What about the "almost cooperative" trick-taking game "inside job"? One day we played with a player that openly announced to be a traitor in every round, and everybody else started to doubt that he is, but he was like 5 our of 7 times or so. It was hilarious. Also, similarly in the realm of trick-taking x social deduction is "Shamans" which I didn't yet play, because it is a pretty big box.

[@5ammy13]

The Crew, Fox in the Forest, Cat in the Box and Inside Job are in my collection 😃

[@Shelby-xz4qk]

Are the instructions in english for the shock game??

[@Naru-Maki]

I am curious have you played Schadenfreude at 3 or less players? I've just stumbled on it recently and saw on Taylor's Trick Taking Table Channel that at 3 you remove cards 9, -1 & -2 and was curious to know if you both noticed a difference and if you had a preference at 3 or more players. Thanks for the video!

[@oscararias6052]

From All play easy to get: 9 lives(spacial biding), Sail(coop), Mori(dice as cards) Not necessarily easy to get: Joraku(area majority), Twinkle starship(card number can be modified when played + modifier "segments" left determines bid), wizard(classic), for Northwood(solo), Jekyll vs Hyde(duel)

[@andreaferraglio2025]

Hi, nice list, what you think about King Tricktakers at two? Most trick taking game doesn't work well at this player count? Have you evere tried Tricktakers?

[@aba_dab_o]

Thanks for the video! Apologies if I have repeated comments before. · I don't own too many track taking games (just *Diamonds* and *Wizard* I think) as I felt bored out of them after being in night owl online Spades leagues for almost 20 years. (Longer than I should have.) I'm still open to playing them, just not as immensely eager as before. · *Marshmallow Test.* If I knew it was a Reiner Knizia game, I would have looked into this long ago. _Easily_ a game that I could introduce to and play with friends and fam. It had been published in North America by Gamewright, but it is now out of print according to their product page. Yet Knizia's games often get rereleased, so crossing fingers this game does so. · *Skull King* is a signature trick taker, simply on the bidding of tricks to take like in Spades and the increasing hand size like in Wizard. I'm more intrigued to the all-dice Würfelspiel version of the game, which I believe has been reimplemented as *Mino Dice* (published by Playte of South Korea). · *Nokosu Dice.* Moreover, I have been intrigued on trick-taking games where dice are or can be used in each trick. So this one I definitely want to give a go. The name is also familiar: BGG tweeted a week ago that a new English/Japanese edition of the game will be available at SPIEL '23. So yes, this game will be a hot commodity come October. twitter.com/BoardGameGeek/status/1679526135049191426

[@CoUNtryForEva]

the best trick taking game i played so far is called wizard

[@beakerkell]

Played cat in the box recently and it was so good! Solid choice. Also, do you know where they got Nokosu dice? I live in Japan and haven't seen it around. Hopefully I can find my own copy! :)

[@Jeff_Pusch]

Cat in the Box is one of my favorite games in the last 12 months.

[@2bearnest]

The Crew, Cat in the Box, Fox in the Forest

[@bookaddict777]

Thanks for the video, ladies. I wish I could say that trick taking games are favorites here, but sadly they are not.

[@RobertHovakimyan55]

Some recent favorites are Pumafiosi and Shamans. Pumafiosi is another Knizia trick taker like VP/Marshmallow Test and it has another ingenious twist! Shamans incorporates a really cool social deduction system where only 1 player wins at the end.

[@academicosdoboardgame2907]

Try to get to know Sronks, a game recently released here in Brazil that combines trick taking with stock market fluctuation.

[@ChrisLowResDream]

thanks🎉

[@renatechandler9375]

Nokosu Dice should be available in Essen. After this video I hope I can get a copy.

[@waldemarcordero5932]

Can you write the names of the card games you share in this video specially those from Japan. I could not see the names from the video. And...Do you know where I can buy those games online?

[@numberswoman4224]

My friend has Nokosu Dice, must get her to bring it to game night! Love Cat in the Box too but don’t own it

[@johns6177]

the ice cream game now on my must buy list.

[@stevekingswell9143]

Nice list, did you ever get to play Shaman?

[@attmay82]

I am a tiny bit sad but not at all surprised that Time Chase isn't on here. It is not as good as Cat in the Box. But it's a fun brain bender as you use time crystals to decide if you want to travel back in time to previous tricks at the end of each round to change who won. Or even change what trump is by going back before the start of the game

[@robertjackson8246]

Heavy nodding.... "It's DELUXIFIED.... it's fancy as..." (pause).

[@Vonkater]

I have skull king with different art . 😊 great game ! Do you have Nevermore ? It has nice art and theme.😉👍🇺🇸

[@trig656]

For what it's worth, Boast or Nothing is actually a Korean design.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Yesss that's what my brain was telling me as I stumbled!!! Thank you!!

[@ShuffleUpandDeal32]

Wish other people could find Nokosu Dice

[@shortydancer]

Wait, how can Maggie have any these as favorite is they are essentially themeless?! As the Themer, she should get the same feelings as abstract games, as these are all essentially abstract games!

[@truelifetales]

Watch the video featuring their favorite abstract games or Amy talking about theme in Hegemony if you REALLY want your mind blown. 😆

[@jp6v]

So many impossible to get games on the list 😢

[@findoutthehardway]

What is a trick taking game lol

[@Warriorking.1963]

Great video ladies. Cat In The Box: awesome... AWESOME, I just love this game, so much so it at least equals my other favourite on my top ten list, and indeed at times might even surpass it. Fox in the Forest: not a bad game. It isn't one I reach for every time someone says they would like to play a trick taker, but when I do bring it to the table, it's always a fun game. Skull King: no idea as I haven't played it yet. I only got this game a couple of days ago and haven't had a chance to try it, but it looks like a lot of fun on the videos posted on KZbin, so I think I'm gonna like it. I've never come across Marshmallow Test, but I own Voodoo Prince, and have to give it a 9.9 out of 10.. I can't give it 10, because nothing can score more than my own favourite, speaking of which... Wait a minute... what about The Bottle Imp?? This is an absolutely fantastic game and sits alongside Cat... on my top 10 list. Obviously you two are smart, so I presume you simply forgot to add it to your lists! 🤣🤣 One trick taker I DON'T recommend is Haggis! This game is hugely popular, and believing all the praise I searched and searched until I finally got a copy. A few of us got together one Saturday and started playing, and thought we must be doing something wrong so little entertainment value were we getting from it. We played for several hours, reading and re-reading the rules to find the one we had missed that would bring this game to life, but no, it isn't there. Finally it went into the games cupboard, probably never to see the light of day again, unless I sell it to someone. Mind you, that's definitely a minority opinion, most people think this game can walk on water. It's a real shame those Japanese games are so hard to get, I'd love to get my hands on some of them, Shock, Knights With Poison for example.

[@ThinkerThemer]

The Bottle Imp is one we've been trying to find!!! Now based on your comment we want it even more!!! Sorry for the delayed reply but thanks for taking the time to comment 😊