Recently, while playing Hearts, I heard people referring to rounds as tricks. I’ve never been into a game enough to use words like tricks, and so I just avoided ever using the word. I knew generally what a trick was, but I wanted a better understanding. So, like so many times before, I decided to do a bit of research, and this is what I came up with.
So what is a trick in card games? In card games, a trick is a round of cards played by each player, face up in succession. The cards in a specific trick typically come from a set of cards that each player possesses. The player that plays the highest value card typically wins the trick and a new trick starts with that player as the lead.
If you’re like me, that definition gives you just enough to be a little more curious. Let’s drill down some more into the details of what a trick is and what it looks like from a practical perspective.
Detailed Explanation of a trick
A trick in trick-taking card games is simply a round of play. A lead player usually plays a card of his or her choosing. The next player, which is usually the player to the left or right of the lead player, then plays the next card in the trick. Each other player continues the trick by playing a card until each player has contributed a card. After all the cards have been played, the highest value card wins the trick; the player that plays the card takes the trick.
Normally, whatever suit or category the lead player chooses to play identifies which suit the rest of the players must also use. Even if they don’t want to, they must play a card from their hand that follows the lead suit (with a few exceptions). Sometimes this can be harmful to the player who is forced to follow the lead suit by playing an unfavorable card from the lead suit. If they do not have any cards of the lead suit, they can usually play any card they want.
The highest card in a trick usually wins the trick and the associated points—whether positive or negative. The highest card has to be from the lead suit though. If a player plays a high card from a different suit, it is disqualified. So if a player has the highest card, an ace of diamonds, for example; but the lead suit was a club, the player that played the highest club card wins the trick. The ace of diamonds is ignored and the associated player receives no points.
Trump suit exception
There is a major caveat to the general rule that the highest card of the lead suit takes the trick; and that is when the game includes some sort of a trump suit. A trump suit is when one uniform type of card (usually a suit like clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades) ignores the usual rule and becomes the highest ranking card on the table. It will immediately become the “trump card” and it will take or alter the trick. The player that would have otherwise taken the trick in the normal order forfeits his claim to the trick. The player that played the trump card and takes the trick, will usually become the lead player for the next round.
Trump suits and trump cards can both be advantageous and detrimental to the player using the cards because they alter the normal way tricks operate. They can allow a player to take control of the game and lead the tricks with the cards they want to play. Similarly, they can also cause players to collect tricks at inopportune moments, causing problems and derailing plans.
Categories of trick-taking games
Trick avoiding games
Trick avoiding games are games where the players are attempting to play cards that cause others to collect the tricks. They may be avoiding certain tricks that would force them to collect points, or they may be avoiding all tricks throughout the entire game. The player that collects the most points or tricks throughout the game loses. This often happens when a player hits the point threshold, or when a certain number of rounds are completed.
A few examples of trick-avoidance games:
- Hearts
- Black Lady
Point trick games
Point-trick games are those where the value of points taken within each trick is the measurement for success or failure. The actual number of tricks taken is far less important—most of the time it’s not measured at all. Many points might be obtained from just a few tricks in the game, which is dependent on which cards players use and when; and other tricks within the same game may not award any points at all. Players total the points they earned throughout the round or game; the player with the most points gained from the tricks wins.
A few examples of point-trick games:
- Sixty Six
- Skat
- Trappola
Plain Trick games
Plain-trick games are the opposite of point-trick games. A player’s success or failure is determined by the number of tricks he or she takes—and not the points taken within those tricks. In fact, in plain-trick games, points usually aren’t awarded from tricks at all. The only thing players are concerned with is how many tricks they obtained. Sometimes that means getting the most tricks they can, and the player that takes the most tricks wins. While other times it means getting only the number of predetermined tricks—and getting more or less than that causes problems for players.
Here are a few plain-trick games:
- Bridge
- Piquet
- Whist
Related Questions
What is a trick in hearts card game? A trick in hearts card game is the same as tricks in other card games. It is a round of card play within a game. The player leading the trick chooses a suit or category to play from the cards in his or her hand—and all players must follow that suit. A player to the lead player’s right or left plays a card next, and that continues until all players have played a card. If they don’t have a card of the lead suit, they are usually allowed to play any suit they like. The player that plays the highest card of the leading suit takes the trick. This process continues until all cards have been played.
What is the best trick game? Though this is highly subjective, my favorite trick taking game is easily hearts. It is a trick avoidance card game that does an awesome job mixing strategy perfectly with luck. Players are lucky or unlucky with the cards they are dealt, but they must figure out the best way to avoid taking tricks that have points. Sometimes the entire game is reversed, though, when a player has such high cards that they try to shoot the moon and take all the points—which ultimately reverses the result and gives all the other players points instead. Player with the fewest points by the time a player reaches 100 points wins.