Trick and Trade
Trick and Trade Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Trick cards: 40 (58mm × 89mm)
- Trade cards: 42 (44mm × 63mm)
- Lead Player card: 1 (44mm × 63mm)
- Rulebook (single sheet): 1
Trick Cards
Each Trick card shows:
- Rank — the card's strength, shown as a number from 1 to 10.
- Value — the card's value, shown as a number from 9 to 0.
- Suit — the card's currency type, shown by an icon: Nev, Zeus, Octo, or Ratcoin.
Trade Cards
Trade cards display a combination of one or two currency icons. When multiple Trade cards are stacked, all of the icons on them can be seen at a glance (each card shows the count of each currency icon it carries — for example, a card showing Ratcoin ×3, Zeus ×1, Octo ×2, Nev ×1).
Lead Player Card
Holding this card shows that you have the right to lead — the right to play the first card of a trick. The player holding the Lead Player card (the Lead Player) changes as the game progresses.
Setup
Trick cards: Shuffle and deal them evenly to the players as their hand (13 cards for 3 players, 10 for 4 players, 8 for 5 players).
Trade cards: Shuffle and adjust the number used according to the player count, then form a face-down draw pile (39 cards for 3 players, 40 for 4 players, 40 for 5 players). Any leftover cards are not used and are returned to the box.
Next to the Trade card draw pile, set up an auction row and reveal Trade cards into it:
- 3 players: 6 cards (3 cards in two rows)
- 4 players: 8 cards (4 cards in two rows)
- 5 players: 10 cards (5 cards in two rows)
The auction row has a front row (bottom) and a back row (top). When 4 are playing, for example, 4 cards are revealed for the back row and 4 more for the front row.
Also set aside space on the table for a won-cards area in advance. As described below, Trick cards that are won are placed into the won-cards area, sorted by suit.
Finally, decide the first Lead Player (for example, with rock-paper-scissors) and give that player the Lead Player card. Setup is complete.
About Trick-Taking
Before getting into the detailed rules, here is an explanation of the trick-taking mechanism used in Trick and Trade.
Starting with the Lead Player and proceeding clockwise, each player reveals one Trick card from their hand to the table. Once every player has revealed a card, the ranks are compared. This comparison of card strength is called a trick. A number of tricks equal to the number of cards in hand are played (if each player's hand has 10 cards, 10 tricks are played).
Higher rank is stronger; if ranks are tied, the card played later is considered stronger.
May-follow is the rule applied during tricks. Under may-follow, the suit led by the Lead Player is treated as stronger than every other suit. However, there is no restriction on which card a player may play (any card in hand may be played).
Tricks are contested for placement/rank order. If there are 4 players, the cards are ranked 1st through 4th place by strength.
Example: Taro, Rieko, Kenta, and Megumi play cards in that order.
The Lead Player's suit is Ratcoin. Among the Ratcoin cards, the highest rank is the "2" card, making it the strongest of the four cards played. Next strongest is the "1" card, followed by Octo's "8". The resulting trick placement is:
1st: Megumi 2nd: Taro 3rd: Kenta 4th: Rieko
Rules
The game proceeds by repeating the following flow:
- Trick-taking and placement of won cards
- Acquiring a Trade card
- Replenishing Trade cards
Repeat the flow for the set number of rounds; the game ends once all of the prepared Trade cards have been distributed to the players.
Trick-Taking and Placement of Won Cards
Following "About Trick-Taking" above, determine the placement order of the players. At this point, the card of the player who placed 1st in the trick becomes a won card, and is placed into the won-cards area, sorted by suit. All other cards are set aside face down together.
The Value shown on won cards accumulates. In the example above, the accumulated Value for each suit would be:
Nev: 5 Octo: 4 Zeus: 0 Ratcoin: 0
Acquiring Trade Cards
Once the placement order of the players has been determined by trick-taking, starting with the 1st place player, each player in turn acquires one Trade card from the front row of the auction row, or the Lead Player card (the Lead Player card sits with whoever was the Lead Player for the trick just played). A player who acquires the Lead Player card gains the right to lead the next trick. Once the Lead Player card has been acquired by another player, only Trade cards can be acquired from then on.
The player who acquires the Lead Player card also receives whichever Trade card is left over in the auction row at the end. Also, if no one acquires the Lead Player card, the last-place player receives the Lead Player card.
Example: Acquired in the order Megumi, Taro, Kenta, Rieko.
- Megumi: acquires the card worth Ratcoin ×2.
- Taro: acquires the card worth Nev ×2.
- Kenta: acquires the Lead Player card.
- Rieko: acquires the card worth Zeus ×1 and Octo ×1.
- Kenta: acquires the last remaining card, worth Nev ×1.
In this way, Kenta becomes the Lead Player for the next trick.
Replenishing Trade Cards
Once the Trade cards in the front row of the auction row run out, drop the back row down into the front row, and reveal a number of new cards from the draw pile equal to the number of players to form a new back row. Once the draw pile is exhausted, no further Trade cards are replenished.
Scoring
When the game ends, look at the Value totals of the won cards sorted by suit, and determine each suit's multiplier. Multipliers are assigned in order from the highest Value total: ×3, ×2, ×1, ×(-1). If multiple suits are tied on the same total, the multiplier drops for the next value down.
Example 1
| Suit | Value total | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Ratcoin | 5 | ×3 |
| Zeus | 4 | ×2 |
| Octo | 3 | ×1 |
| Nev | 1 | ×(-1) |
Example 2
| Suit | Value total | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Ratcoin | 5 | ×3 |
| Zeus | 4 | ×2 |
| Octo | 4 | ×2 |
| Nev | 1 | ×(-1) |
Example 3
| Suit | Value total | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Ratcoin | 5 | ×3 |
| Zeus | 5 | ×3 |
| Octo | 2 | ×1 |
| Nev | 2 | ×1 |
Example 4
| Suit | Value total | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Ratcoin | 4 | ×3 |
| Zeus | 4 | ×3 |
| Octo | 4 | ×3 |
| Nev | 1 | ×(-1) |
Once each suit's multiplier is determined, multiply it by the number of matching icons on the Trade cards you've acquired.
Worked example
Won cards give: Ratcoin: 9 (×3), Zeus: 7 (×2), Octo: 6 (×1), Nev: 5 (×(-1))
Acquired Trade card icon counts: Ratcoin: 3, Zeus: 5, Octo: 5, Nev: 4
- Ratcoin: 3 × ×3 = 9
- Zeus: 5 × ×2 = 10
- Octo: 5 × ×1 = 5
- Nev: 4 × ×(-1) = -4
Total: 20
Sum the scores for each suit; the player with the highest total score wins. If the highest totals are tied, compare the number of icons acquired at the higher multiplier — the player with more of those icons wins. If still tied, the players share the victory.
Hints
- Play while comparing the current Value totals against the available Trade cards.
- Taking the lead makes it easier to control both trick placement and which cards are won.
- Winning a trick with a low rank card causes the Value to jump sharply.