Sweet Takes
Sweet Takes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
Sweet Takes is a trick-taking card game played in 12 rounds. Each round, players play a card from their hand or secret stash. The first player's card determines the suit all others must match—if they can! Play the highest card in a suit, and you take that trick and add all cards of that suit to your scoring pile. Score the most points after 12 rounds and claim sweet, sweet victory!
What Is a Trick?
In card games, a trick is made when each player plays one card faceup in the middle of the play area. The player with the highest card in a suit wins the trick and takes all cards in that suit. The more cards you take, the more points you earn!
Suits
Purple Rings, Pink Buttons, Yellow Bears, White Swirls, Green Bursts, Blue Worms
Set It Up!
- Determine how many Sweet Takes suits to use. Return all unused suits to the box.
| Number of players | Use this many suits |
|---|---|
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 6 |
- Shuffle the suits and deal 9 cards to each player. Players may look at their cards—but don't show them to others!
- Deal each player 3 cards facedown in front of them. This is their secret stash. NO ONE may look at these cards until they are played!
- After dealing, you may have leftover cards – if you do, return them to the box.
- Players start each game with 9 cards in their hand and 3 in their secret stash. After 12 rounds, all cards will have been played.
Play!
How to Win
You earn points by taking tricks and collecting cards each round. All cards have values and points.
To take the trick, play the highest value card in a suit. Collect all cards played in that suit and put them in your scoring pile. The highest card in that suit goes faceup. All others in that suit go facedown. After 12 rounds, add the faceup card points and the number of facedown cards. The player with the most points wins!
Who Goes First?
The player who last ate a sweet candy treat starts the first round, and play proceeds to the left. Give the turn tracker to the first player.
How to Play a Round
If you're the first player in the round:
You'll decide the starting suit. All other players MUST play a card that matches that suit—if they can! If they have a card that matches that suit, but don't want to play it this round, they can play a card from their secret stash instead.
Play a card from your hand OR from your secret stash by placing it faceup in the middle of play. Do not look at your secret stash card before you play it!
If you are the second player:
Play a card from your hand OR from your secret stash.
If you play a card from your hand, you MUST match the starting suit—if you can! If you can't match the starting suit, then play any card of your choice. This is the secondary suit.
If you play a secret stash card, do not look at it first!
If you're the third, fourth, or fifth player:
Play a card from your hand OR from your secret stash.
If you play a card from your hand, you MUST match the starting suit. If you can't match the starting suit, you MUST match the secondary suit. If you can't match either, then play any card of your choice.
If you play a secret stash card, do not look at it first!
The Round Ends
The round ends after all players have played one card.
Collecting Cards for Points
More than one player may collect cards at the end of each round. All cards collected are added to the player's scoring pile. The highest card in a suit is placed faceup in the scoring pile, and all other cards of that suit are placed facedown.
Collect cards in this order:
- The player with the highest value card in the starting suit collects all cards played in that suit.
- The player with the highest value card in the secondary suit collects all cards played in that suit.
- If any cards remain, the players who played the highest cards in those suits now collect those cards.
Play the Next Rounds
If only one player won cards, they start the next round—even if they started the last round!
If more than one player won cards, the last player in turn order who won a trick goes first. Pass the turn tracker card to that player.
If you run out of cards in your hand but still have secret stash cards, you must play one from your secret stash. If you run out of secret stash cards but still have cards in your hand, you must play one from your hand.
The End of the Game—Who Won?
The game ends after 12 rounds and all cards have been played. To find out who won:
- Add up the points of each faceup card in your scoring pile.
- Each facedown card in your scoring pile is worth one point. Add these points to your score.
- The player with the highest score wins sweet victory!
Note: In case of a tie, the player with the most cards in their scoring pile wins.
Other Ways to Play
Play according to the rules above except: Play 3 sets of 12 rounds instead of 1 set of 12 rounds!
- Collect all cards after each set and separate into suits. If you're not using all suits, you can swap one or more for unused suits.
- The player with the highest overall score wins.
- In case of a tie after 3 sets, the player with the most points in the third set wins.
- If that doesn't break the tie, the player with the most cards wins.
- If the tie still isn't broken, the players share the sweet victory!
Contents
60 Sweet Takes cards (10 purple Rings, 10 blue worms, 10 green bursts, 10 yellow bears, 10 white swirls, 10 pink buttons)
1 turn tracker card