Tricky Kids Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Round 1
    • Taking a Trick
  • Round 1 (continued)
    • Ties
  • End of Round 1
  • Setting Up the Next Round
• Winning
• Advanced Play
  • Tricky Rules
  • The Tricky Rules Cards
  • Super Extra Mega Tricky Rules (for big kids only!)
• Glossary

Components

• 54 Dry Erase Cards (18 Cards of each Suit)
• 21 Dry Erase Point Tokens
• 6 Dry Erase Markers
• 18 Tricky Rule Cards (see Optional Rules below)

Overview

This rulebook uses terms associated with trick-taking games. If you are unfamiliar with trick-taking games, there is a glossary on the back that contains definitions of these terms.

Tricky Kids is a must-follow trick-taking game, played over 3 rounds, each consisting of 7 tricks. You begin a round by writing numbers on each of your 7 cards so that they can be added together to equal 21. To take a trick, you must play the highest-ranked card in the same suit as the leading suit. The player who takes each trick wins a point token, so try to win as many tricks as possible. However, because the winner takes the leftmost point token in the row, try to time your victories to claim the highest-valued point tokens. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Setup

1. Place 7 random point tokens face-up in a horizontal line in the center of the table. Place the remaining tokens nearby to be used in later rounds.

2. Give each player a dry-erase marker.

3. Shuffle the deck of cards and deal 9 cards face-down to each player. Place the rest of the deck face-down near the point tokens.

   You do not need the deck of Tricky Rule cards unless you plan to add them to this game (see Advanced Play).

4. Players look at their cards and choose 2 to discard from their hand, placing them face-down on top of the deck.

5. All players simultaneously use their dry-erase markers to write numbers (ranks) on their remaining 7 cards. The numbers a player writes on their hand of cards must add up to equal exactly 21.

   • You may only use whole numbers and no negative numbers.
     • 0's are allowed, but they cannot win a trick.
   • For example, writing 7, 5, 4, 3, 1, 1, and 0 on the cards would create a valid hand because 7+5+4+3+1+1+0=21.
   • The numbers 2, 1, 2, 4, 0, 1, and 11 would also create a valid hand because they add up to 21.

6. As explained in How to Play, each time a player wins a trick, they collect the leftmost face-up token from the row and circle the point amount next to the suit that won the trick. Keep this in mind while deciding which numbers to write on which cards.

7. Have a player spin their dry-erase marker on the table. The player the eraser points at will be the Leader and gets to lead the first trick. The player the other end of the marker points to is a Booger Eater.

How to Play

Round 1

The Leader starts the first round by leading the first trick, playing a single card from their hand face-up.

In clockwise order, all other players must follow suit, playing a card from their hand that has the same suit as the Leader's card. If they do not have that suit in their hand, they may play any one of their cards instead.

Once all players have played a card, the players determine who takes the trick. The player who played the highest-ranked card with the same suit as the Leader's takes the trick. If no one was able to beat the Leader's card, the Leader takes the trick.

The player who takes the trick collects the leftmost point token in the row, circles the point amount next to the suit of the card they played, and places the point token in front of themselves to be scored at the end of the game.

If this player took the trick with a 0, they do not take a point token. Discard the leftmost point token from the row.

If there is a tie for the highest-ranked card in the leading suit, the cards cancel each other out. Neither of those players takes the trick, and the next highest-ranked card in the leading suit is the winner.

If there isn't another card in the leading suit in the event of a tie, the next winning suit is the highest-ranked in the following hierarchy: Stuffie > Controller > Soccer Ball > Stuffie.

If all of the players are tied or there are multiple ties so that all cards are canceled out, no one takes the trick. Discard the leftmost point token from the row. In this event, the player next to the Leader clockwise will be the new Leader (unless it's the end of the round).

All players take back their cards and place them in front of themselves face-up, so everyone can see each other's previously played cards.

The player who took the trick is now the Leader and plays a new card to start the next trick. Repeat steps 1-6 until players have played all 7 of their cards.

Taking a Trick

Red is the Leader and leads with a 5 Soccer Ball. All other players must play a Soccer Ball if they have one. Green has multiple Soccer Balls, so they must choose which they would like to play. They play their 2 Soccer Ball. White does not have any Soccer Balls, so they decide to play their 0 Controller. Red takes the trick because no other player was able to play a higher-ranked Soccer Ball.

Red collects the leftmost token, circles the "3 points" next to the Soccer Ball icon, and places the token in front of themselves. All players retrieve their cards and place them face-up in front of themselves. Red took the trick, so they will be the Leader for the next trick.

Round 1 (continued)

Ties

Red leads with a 10 Soccer Ball. Purple has no Soccer Balls and plays a 2 Controller. White also has no Balls and also plays a 2 Stuffie. Green plays a 10 Soccer Ball. The two 10 Soccer Balls cancel out for the highest-ranked card in the lead suit. White's 2 Stuffie is ranked higher than Purple's 2 Controller in the suit hierarchy, so White takes the trick. White takes the leftmost point token, circles the points next to the Stuffie icon, and places the point token in front of themselves. All players retrieve their cards and place them face-up in front of themselves. White will be the next Leader because they took the trick.

In another example, Red leads with a 10 Soccer Ball. Purple has no Soccer Balls and plays a 2 Controller. White also has no Soccer Balls and also plays a 2 Controller. Green plays a 10 Soccer Ball. The two 10 Soccer Balls cancel out for the highest-ranked card in the lead suit. The two 2 Controllers also cancel each other out, so nobody takes the trick. The leftmost point token is discarded. All players retrieve their cards and place them face-up in front of themselves. No player took the trick, so Purple will be the next Leader as the player next to the Leader clockwise.

End of Round 1

After 7 tricks have been played, check to make sure the numbers on the cards in front of every player add up to 21.

• If a player's cards total LESS than 21, nothing happens.
• If a player's cards total MORE than 21, any point tokens they gained that round are discarded.
  • If this happens in Round 2, the offending player must also discard 1 of the point tokens they won in Round 1 from the game.
  • If this happens in Round 3, the offending player must leave the playground early to catch up on their math homework and cannot win the game.

Players keep all their point tokens in front of themselves for final scoring at the end of the game.

Setting Up the Next Round

1. Erase every number written on the cards that were played. Shuffle these cards together with the rest of the deck (which should then contain every dry-erase card again).

   Make sure not to erase your point tokens between rounds!

2. Place 7 new random point tokens face-up in a horizontal row the center of the table.

3. Deal 9 cards from the newly-shuffled deck face-down to each player.

4. Players look at their cards and choose 2 to discard.

5. Players write numbers on their 7 cards that total 21 when added together.

6. Have a player spin a dry-erase marker. The player the eraser is pointing at will be the Leader first in Round 2. The player the other end of the marker is pointing at has cooties.

7. Repeat all How to Play steps for Round 2 and Round 3. The game ends after Round 3.

Winning

Play 3 rounds of 7 tricks. After all 21 point tokens have been awarded (or discarded in the event of an unwinnable round), the player with the most points is the winner! If there is a tie, the player with the most point tokens is the winner. If there is still a tie, players share the victory. If players are not good at sharing, they can settle things with the ultimate playground tiebreaker: rock, paper, scissors.

Advanced Play

Tricky Rules

After your first play, consider adding the Tricky Rule cards, which change the rules of the game.

When playing with Tricky Rules, shuffle the deck of Tricky Rule cards and reveal one new card at the start of each round. The rule on this card will apply for this round. Players only get to keep their point tokens at the end of the round if they have followed the active rule, so check each other, and don't be afraid to tattle. Once all players have confirmed their scores, discard the Tricky Rule, then draw a new one to start the next round.

The Tricky Rules Cards

Double Dutch Change two cards in your hand to a dual suit. Write a SB (Soccer Ball), S (Stuffie) or C (Controller) in an unused corner while writing your numbers. When you play a dual-suit card, you must declare what suit the card is.

Sharing is Caring All ties are friendly (tied players both get the points). In the event of a tie, the most recent Leader stays the Leader (unless it is the last trick of a round).

You're It! The role of Leader passes around the table clockwise after each trick.

At My Old School... The role of Leader passes around the table counter-clockwise after each trick.

Peek-a-Boo Play cards face-down. Simultaneously reveal them after all players have played a card.

Take Backsies After all players have played a card, go around the table again in the same order before resolving the trick. Players may swap out the card they played for another in their hand.

Heads Up 7 Up After everyone has written their numbers, shuffle the 7 point tokens and lay them out again.

Fractions Are Hard You may write "1/2"s on your cards.

I Could Have Won if I Wanted to At the start of the round, write numbers on all 9 of your cards so that their combined value is 21. Then discard 2 cards face-down in front of yourself. At the end of the round, all players reveal their discards, and the player with the highest combined discard value wins a bonus of 5 points. In the event of a tie, no one receives the bonus.

Stop Showing Off Instead of 21, the combined ranks of your cards can equal up to 50. However, players compare the totals of their cards at the end of the round, and the player(s) with the highest total cannot keep the point tokens they won this round.

Smalls You must always play your lowest-ranked card. You must still follow suit when possible. If you cannot follow suit, you must play the lowest-ranked card of any other suit.

Rotten Egg Off-suit zeros trump any number. If multiple 0s are played, ties are broken using the suit hierarchy. If there is still a tie, the tied cards cancel each other out.

Rich Kids Instead of 21, the combined ranks of your cards must equal 42 this round. All penalties for going over the maximum still apply.

Your Other Right After writing numbers on your cards, pass all of them counter-clockwise. No card may be higher than 10. You cannot write a 0.

Ring Around the Rosie Arrange the point tokens in a circle instead of a row. Spin a marker in the center of this circle at the start of each trick. The token the eraser is pointing to is the one the player who takes this trick will win.

Pass It On After writing numbers on your cards, pass all of them clockwise. No card may be higher than 10. You cannot write a 0.

Simple Addition Keep all 9 of your cards at the start of the round. Their combined ranks must equal 30. On two tricks, you may combine two of your cards (9+10=19). If these two cards are not the same suit, you must declare which of their two suits you want to use.

Yoink! At the end of this round, collect all the point tokens the player to your right scored this round.

Super Extra Mega Tricky Rules (for big kids only!)

After you have learned how to play with Tricky Rules, try this mode for a bigger challenge.

In this mode, Tricky Rule cards are not discarded between rounds. Instead, you add a new card each round, whose rule will apply in addition to all previous ones. Draw a card at the start of round 1 that will apply to that round. At the start of round 2, draw another card, which will apply in addition to the card used in round 1. At the start of round 3, draw another card, which will apply in addition to the cards from round 1 and 2.

When drawing Tricky Rule cards, check that each new rule doesn't directly conflict with any other rule in play. If this happens, simply discard the conflicting new rule and draw another.

Players only get to keep their point tokens at the end of the round if they have followed all active rules, so check each other to make sure no one is a cheater cheater pumpkin eater.

Glossary

Rank: The number on a card that shows its value or place in the hierarchy within a suit. In Tricky Kids, you write these numbers on your cards.

Suit: All the cards featuring the same color and/or symbol. Standard playing cards have the suits Hearts, Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds. The suits in Tricky Kids are Controllers, Stuffies, and Soccer Balls.

Trick: Going clockwise around the table, each player plays 1 card face-up from their hand.

Leading a trick: The first player to play a card in a trick is said to be "leading" that trick. In Tricky Kids, this player is known as the Leader.

Following suit: This is when a player plays a card of the same suit as one that has already been played. In Tricky Kids, players must follow suit, playing a card with a suit that matches the card the Leader played.

Taking a trick: After all players have played a card, the player who played the highest-ranked card in the same suit as the Leader's "takes" the trick. In Tricky Kids, this means they win a point token.

Round: A round is a series of tricks. After someone takes the first trick, a new trick is started. After someone takes that trick, another new trick is started. This process continues until the end of the round. A round in Tricky Kids lasts 7 tricks.

Trump: A card that is ranked higher than any other card. Trump cards only appear in Tricky Kids if you are playing with the Tricky Kids rules.