Power Tricks
Power Tricks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- A deck of 45 playing cards in 4 asymmetric suits, with values from 1 to 15.
- A power deck of 11 numbered cards, from +1 to +11.
- Gem cards.
- Chapter cards (referenced by the rules; their contents are not covered in this document).
Setup
- Place the power deck face down in descending order, with the +1 card on top and the +11 card at the bottom.
Editor's note on the source: the printed text says "descending order" but also places the +1 card on top and the +11 card at the bottom. The rest of the rules (the +1 card is revealed before the first trick, the +2 card before the second, and so on) only work if the deck runs from +1 on top to +11 at the bottom, so that is the order used here. The printed wording has been kept above as it appears in the source.
- In a 3-player game, remove the "axe" suit from the deck before dealing.
- Shuffle the gem deck and reveal a number of gem cards equal to the number of players plus 1.
- Shuffle the playing deck and deal:
- 11 cards to each player in a 3-player game (0 cards left over);
- 11 cards to each player in a 4-player game (1 card left over);
- 9 cards to each player in a 5-player game (0 cards left over).
- For the first game, use the rules on the chapter 1 card. For later games, choose a chapter card.
- Find and reveal the trump, power bonus, trick points and bid cards that match the chosen chapter. You may change chapter at the start of each round or keep the same chapter for the whole game (3 rounds).
How to Play
- The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick of a round. After that, the winner of the previous trick leads the next one.
- Power Tricks is a game in which players must follow suit. If a player has a card of the led suit, they must play it. Otherwise, they may play any card.
- Each trick is a mini-game that repeats during a round. Once every player has played a card, the cards are compared to determine the winner of the trick. Depending on the chapter, this may be the highest trump, the highest card of the led suit, or simply the highest card, ignoring suits.
Power Cards
- Before each trick, reveal the card on top of the power deck. It always matches the trick number (+1 on the 1st trick, +2 on the 2nd, and so on).
- If the power card is still available, a player may declare "I TAKE POWER!" when they play a card. They take the power card and place it in front of them. They add its bonus to the card they played and to all of their subsequent cards for the rest of the round.
- For example, if they take the +2 card on the 2nd trick, they add 2 to every card they play from that point on.
- If several cards are tied for winning a trick because of the bonuses, they cancel each other out. The next highest card wins the trick. If that card is also tied, it is cancelled too. It is possible for a trick to have no winner. In that case, the trick is discarded and the same player leads a new trick.
- A player may take only one power card per round.
- When a player takes a power card, they also take a gem card from those available.
- If no player takes a trick's power card, it is discarded. Before each trick, reveal a new power card.
- At the start of a new round, all power cards return to the deck in their original order, and all gem cards are shuffled. New gem cards are revealed.
Objective
- All players must reach the same target number of tricks in each round, as shown on the bid card of the chosen chapter.
End of the Game
- The game ends after 3 rounds. The player with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the player who took the highest power card in the last round wins.
Scoring
- Keep a cumulative score from one round to the next with pencil and paper or another method.
- At the end of a round, each player scores points for each trick they won, according to the trick points card.
- In addition, if a player won exactly the number of tricks matching their bid, they earn bonus points equal to those shown on their power card and the power bonus card.