Top 5 Trick-Taking Card Games
- Jim Gamer
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
I love card games, and I have always had a particular soft spot for trick-taking ones. If you search this site for “trick taking” or “trick taker”, you will find reviews of quite a few games in the genre. It is one I return to again and again.
Over the past few years, the genre has absolutely exploded. New trick-taking games seem to land on the table every few months, each one trying to bring something fresh to a very old idea. That is the challenge, really. With so many trick-takers out there, a game needs a clever twist or a standout feature to truly make an impression.
After playing more than 50 trick-taking games at this point, I decided to go back through them and pick out a handful that really stood out. Originally I thought about doing a traditional “Top Five”, but the truth is there are simply too many good ones for that to feel fair.
Instead, I have picked five trick-taking games that each shine for a different reason. Think of this less as a ranking and more as a celebration of what makes this genre so endlessly enjoyable.
So rather than simply choosing the “best”, I have highlighted:
• The classic trick-taker – no wild gimmicks, just brilliant core gameplay.
• The best cooperative trick-taking game.
• The one with the most wonderfully chaotic twist on the genre.
• The one that stands out the most for theme.
• And finally, the one I think works best for solo play. Not necessarily the best solo mode, but the trick-taking game that shines when played alone.
If you enjoy trick-taking games even half as much as I do, there is a very good chance one of these will earn a permanent place in your card game rotation.
The Classic Trick-Tacker: Skull King
And the best to play if you want to shout as you play.
Current BGG rank: 296
Published by: Grandpa Beck's Games
Designed by: Brent Beck, Jeffrey Beck
WBG Rating: 8
Skull King is the trick-taker I reach for when I want the table to get loud. The structure is brilliantly simple: rounds one through ten, everyone bids simultaneously on how many tricks they’ll take, then you try to hit your number exactly for points. But watch out, misses sting big. That single decision, made before a card is played, creates instant tension. You’re not just playing the hand, you’re defending a promise you made out loud five seconds ago.
The pirate theme does real work here, because the special-card hierarchy is where the drama lives. The Skull King, mermaids, pirates, and escape cards turn “standard” tricks into proper moments, the sort where a confident bid starts wobbling and suddenly everyone is shouting advice they’re not allowed to give. It’s high interaction in the best way: bluffing, table talk, and those swingy momentum shifts that make even a bad hand feel like it might be salvageable with one perfectly timed escape.
It can be chaotic, and the scoring and special-card order can take a game or two for complete newcomers to internalise, but that volatility is part of the charm. It scales ridiculously well from two to eight, packs down tiny, and stays fresh because no one ever plays it politely. That mix of easy teach, huge table energy, and constant “did you really just do that?” moments is exactly why Skull King sits among the best trick-takers. Classic simple fun!
The Top-Ranked Campaign Co-op: The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
And the best for playing over several sessions.
Current BGG rank: 43
Published by: KOSMOS
Designed by: Thomas Sing
WBG Rating: 9
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is proof that trick-taking can be cooperative without losing its bite. Instead of trying to outplay each other, you’re trying to complete mission objectives as a team, under tight communication restrictions. You’re playing cards silently, hoping other players understand your strategies, earnt game after game through your own groups dynamics. The game makes this feel tense rather than gimmicky. When it works, it’s one of the most satisfying “we did it” moments you can get from a deck of cards.
What makes Mission Deep Sea stand out over the original (this is a sequel) is how flexible and varied the objectives feel. It’s still recognisably The Crew, but it’s more elegant in the way it asks you to coordinate, and it can be more challenging too. The best sessions are the ones where your group slowly starts reading each other through play patterns and timing, building a shared language of leads and sacrifices without ever having to break the silence. And the progression over various missions becomes alarmingly addictive!
Yes, the luck of the deal can spike difficulty, and the “no talking” pressure can frustrate some groups. But the design is so clean, the replayability so high, and the portability so good that it earns its place on this list effortlessly. If you want a trick-taker that feels like a campaign of little shared victories, this is one of the best because it turns teamwork into the main mechanic, not an afterthought.
The Mind-Bending One: Cat In The Box
And the best for trying something new.
Current BGG rank: 370
Published by: Bézier Games
Designed by: Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸)
WBG Rating: 8
Cat in the Box is the trick-taker I recommend to people who think they’ve seen every twist the genre can offer. The “quantum” idea is the hook: suits aren’t fixed until you play a card and declare what it is, with a central board tracking which numbers and colours have already been claimed. Each card can be any colour, but once a colour has been claimed for a specific number, that's it. You cannot play that card again. That would create a paradox.
It’s instantly intriguing, and after a couple of hands you realise it’s also quietly brutal because every play changes what will be legal later. The tension comes from the paradox risk. If you paint yourself into a corner and can’t make a legal play, you trigger a paradox and take a chunky penalty. That means you’re not only trying to win tricks and hit your prediction, you’re managing space and availability like it’s a puzzle. Watching the board tighten over a round is delicious, especially at four or five players where the state shifts constantly and every confident plan has a chance of collapsing.
It’s not a gentle onboarding for beginners, and it demands more brainpower than your average trick-taker, but that’s exactly the point. The strategy is deep, the decisions feel fresh, and it rewards sharp planning and observation in a way few games in the genre manage. Cat in the Box is one of the best trick-takers because it doesn’t just add a twist, it changes how you think about suits, risk, and control.
The One With Theme: Origin Story
And the best to play if you want a longer single game experience.
Current BGG rank: 2,299
Published by: Stonemaier Games
Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier, Pete Wissinger
WBG Rating: 8.5
Origin Story feels like someone asked, “What if a trick-taker actually had a story arc?” and then committed to the bit. Underneath, it’s classic 52-card trick-taking with the Love suit as trump, played across five rounds of eight tricks. All very familiar. The twist is the tableau: each round you draft a Story card and use stamina to charge abilities, building an engine over the game. You’re not just surviving hands, you’re developing a character, and it’s rare for a card game to make theme feel that intertwined with the mechanics.
The hero/villain dial is the secret sauce. Every round you choose your alignment in secret and reveal simultaneously: heroes want to win tricks for points, villains are trying to lose everything for a big pay-out. Suddenly your “best” play isn’t always the highest card, it’s the card that fits the role you’ve chosen and the powers you’ve charged. Throw in the one-off event in round three and the superhero reveal in round five with a huge points opportunity based on the engine you have built up tot his point, and the whole thing has a tidy rhythm and a genuinely satisfying payoff.
It’s longer than many trick-takers and could overwhelm casual card players who just want something like Hearts, and the solo mode (while solid) loses the warmth that comes from reacting to other people’s evolving engines. But when it clicks, it absolutely sings: clever, tense, and bursting with personality. Origin Story is one of the best trick-takers because it turns progression and character-building into the reason you care about every trick, not just the points at the end.
And the best to play if you to feel part of a story.
Current BGG rank: 173
Published by: Office Dog
Designed by: Bryan Bornmueller
WBG Rating: 9
If you care about solo mode, Fellowship immediately jumps a tier, because it actually has one. You run four characters at once, each with a simple win condition. It sounds like a lot to manage, but in practice it’s surprisingly clean because the characters are straightforward and the goals do the heavy lifting. And in essence, it is no different to the multi-player version of the game. Simply that you can see four hands at once and need to figure out how to achieve each players round goal.
The campaign structure is also a natural fit for solo play. Each chapter is short, the listed 20-minute playtime is pretty true for a single game, although some will be quicker, and the “keep going until you win” campaign loop makes failure feel like a quick reset rather than a brick wall. The big win is how easy it is to start and stop. This is the kind of solo game you can play when you’re tired or distracted, because the decisions are engaging without being exhausting. You’ll still have plenty to chew on, but you won’t need to hold a million conditional rules in your head to make progress.
As a solo trick-taker, this offers a rare thing: thematic, approachable, and genuinely replayable solo fun. If you want a campaign trick-taker you can actually enjoy alone, that’s why Fellowship earns its place among the best.
Top 5 Trick-Taking Games
If you’ve read this far and just want the “tell me which one to buy” answer: pick Skull King if you want loud, competitive, easy-to-teach chaos for three to eight and don’t mind a bit of swing; pick The Crew: Mission Deep Sea if you want the smartest co-op, mission-by-mission, where the table learns a shared language in silence; pick Cat in the Box if you want your trick-taking to feel like a tense brain puzzle with a delicious risk of blowing up in your hands (best at four or five); pick Origin Story if you want a longer, meatier one-and-done experience with real powers; and pick Fellowship if solo play is king and you want a Middle-earth campaign in a small box.
Different flavours, same goal: a trick-taker that actually feels memorable the moment the first card hits the table. Which one is right for you?
