Games - Trick-taking game

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	Games - Trick-taking game

Trick-taking games are card games with a distinct and common play structure: Each round of play is divided into units called tricks, during which each player selects one card from his or her hand. These games compose one of the most diverse and prolific genre of card games — they are played on every continent, and have existed for centuries. One theory regarding the prolific nature of the genre is that they are popular because of the relatively intense play complexity — including both psychological and mathematical elements — that emerges from a relatively simple structure.

Essential building-block: the trick

All trick-taking games use the concept of a trick. During each trick, every player puts one card from his or her hand into play-- there is no option of playing multiple cards, or of abstaining from the trick. Once each player has played a card to the trick, they are turned face down and removed from play: typically the winning player or partnership takes them, but in duplicate play, as at Bridge tournaments, the face-down cards remain in front of each player so the hand remains together for reuse.

For each trick, one player will have the lead, the right and obligation to play the first card of the trick. The others play in order according to their physical position, typically clockwise in games originating in English-speaking countries, counter-clockwise in some other countries.

Playing last to a trick is usually the most advantageous position, because the last player can react to the other players' decisions and can compute exactly the outcome of the trick for each of his possible plays. However, leading can be advantageous as well, since it determines the suit which other players, if able, must play.

In some games, such as Bridge, the lead to the first trick (the opening lead) is made by the player next in rotation after the contractor, so that the contractor plays last to that trick. Other games feature a fixed initial lead: in Hearts as commonly played in North America, the player holding the 2 of Clubs must lead it on the first trick. Subsequently, the lead for each trick is made by the winner of the preceding one.

Domino games analogous to trick-taking card games are the Chinese Tien Gow and the Texan 42 (dominoes).

Variations in trick-taking games

Many variations exist among trick-taking games, and these dimensions of variance, in fact, determine the character of the game.

Objective

Trick-taking games are usually classified, firstly, according to the objective of the players.

In positive trick-taking games, players seek unambiguously to take tricks. There is no penalty for taking as many tricks as possible. Examples of this include Bridge, 500 and Euchre
.

In evasion trick-taking games, players seek to avoid tricks. An example of this is Hearts
.

Exact-prediction trick-taking games, always involving some sort of contract (see below) reward players for predicting (usually after knowing their hands) how many cards they will take. Oh Hell
and Spades
are exact-prediction games, but also positive in that they are biased in favor of one's taking more tricks (i.e. it is better to predict taking 5 tricks, and do so, than to accurately predict taking 4 tricks.)

In final-trick games, such as Cắt Tê
, the object is to take the final trick of a game. Winning the initial trick or intermediate tricks is of little consequence (although in Cắt Tê, one must win at least one of the first four tricks in the round to stay alive).

Some point-trick games contain features of both positive and evasion games. For example, in the Omnibus variant of Hearts, the Jack of Diamonds is actually counted as -10 points (where negative scores are to a player's benefit) and therefore Omnibus Hearts is not strictly an evasion game. Alternatively, in 500, while most rounds are positive, in misère rounds, the aim is to lose all tricks.

Scoring

As far as scoring goes, trick-taking games are usually classified as either:

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