they are, then the winner of the trick must claim all the At any time, the trump
rump suit is the smallest suit of which claimed during the hand. However, if any single player
Brett J. Gilbert & Matthew Dunstan
2–5 players | 30 min | Ages 10+
Good Little Tricks is made possible by the
generous support of our patrons. If you enjoy
this game and would like us to create and
publish more free games, please consider
becoming a patron and giving your support.
patreon.com/goodlittlegames
COMPONENTS
The game contains 27 cards. The deck is made up of 6
coloured suits. The suits contain 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 cards
respectively, and the cards in each suit are numbered
sequentially (always starting at 1).
In addition to the cards, you will need paper and pencil
or some other way to keep score.
AIM OF THE GAME
The game is played over a fixed number of hands.
Players will score points as the end of each hand, and
the the winner of the game will be the player with the
lowest cumulative score at the end of the game.
HOW TO PLAY
Good Little Tricks uses many of the conventions of
standard trick-taking games such as Whist, so if you are
familiar with these games, playing this game should be
straightforward.
The main difference between Good Little Tricks and
other trick-taking games is that the winner of each trick
does not automatically claim the cards in the trick.
Instead, all cards played in a trick are first put face up
into a ‘Display’ beside the play area.
Then, before the next trick is played, the players look to
see if all the cards of any suit are now in the Display. If
cards in this suit (which will not necessarily be all the
cards that were played in the trick).
At the end of each hand, each player scores a number of
points equal to the number of cards they have claimed.
However, if a single player claims all 27 cards they
have ‘swept the board’ and each other player receives a
penalty of 27 points.
Remember: It is the player with the lowest score at
the end of the game who wins.
GAME LENGTH
The game is played over a fixed number of ‘hands’.
With 2 or 3 players, play two hands per player. With 4
or 5 players, play one hand per player.
• 2 players: Play 4 hands
• 3 players: Play 6 hands
• 4 players: Play 4 hands
• 5 players: Play 5 hands
Choose a player to shuffle and deal the cards in the first
hand. The player to the dealer’s left is always the start
player and leads the first trick.
Players take turns clockwise to be the dealer during the
game, so that all players are the start player and lead the
first trick an equal number of times.
Changes for 2 players are explained below.
DEALING
At the start of the each hand, the dealer shuffles all 27
cards and then deals them out evenly to the players so
that each player receives the same number:
• 3 players: Each player receives 9 cards.
• 4 players: Each player receives 6 cards (3 spare).
• 5 players: Each player receives 5 cards (2 spare).
Put any spare cards face up in the Display beside the
play area.
Adding cards to the Display
When cards are added to the Display, arrange them so
that the cards of the same suit are placed together.
Overlay cards of the same suit in a vertical stack so that
the numbers in the corner flashes are all visible.
Trumps
Unlike most regular trick-taking games, the suit that is
trumps can change during the game, so watch out!
at least one card remains in the players’ hands. Once all
the cards in this suit have been played, the trump suit
for the next hand shifts to the next smallest suit of
which cards remain unplayed.
Therefore, at the start of a hand, the Orange suit will
almost always be trumps, unless in a 4- or 5-player
game both Orange cards were dealt to the Display. In
this rare case, the Mauve suit will be trumps.
PLAYING TRICKS
The player to the left of the dealer is the start player and
leads the first trick.
When you lead a trick, choose one card from your hand
and play it face up in front of you. You cannot lead a
trump unless you only have cards of that suit in your
hand and so have no other choice.
Going clockwise, each other player must now play one
card in turn and must ‘follow suit’ if possible: that is,
you must play a card of a suit that matches the suit of
the card that was led.
If you cannot follow suit, you may play any other card
from your hand, including a trump if you have one.
Once each player has played one card, the winner of the
trick if determined. If no trump was played, the winner
is the player who playe the highest-valued card of the
suit that was led. If one or more trumps were played,
the winner is the player who played the highest trump.
After each trick, move all the cards played into the
Display, arranging them by suit.
Claiming cards from the Display
After each trick, check whether any suit is ‘complate’:
that is, whether all of its cards are now in the Display.
The winner of the trick must claim all cards from every
complete suit. Leave all cards of incomplete suits in the
Display. Keep any cards you claim in front of you.
Remember to keep track of which suit is trumps. The
trump suit is always the smallest incomplete suit.
Leading the next trick
The winner of each trick must now lead the next trick.
SCORING
Continue playing until everyone has played all their
cards and all cards have been claimed from the Display.
Each player’s score is equal to the number of cards they
claimed all 27 cards they have ‘swept the board’: they
player receives no points, and each other player
receives a penalty of 27 points.
Write down the scores, and keep track of each player’s
cumulative score from hand to hand. The game ends
after the set number of hands have been played.
The player with the lowest total score is the winner.
CHANGES FOR 2 PLAYERS
Deal 9 cards face down to each player, plus 9 cards to
an imagnar third player called the ‘Dummy’. Place the
Dummy’s cards in a face-down stack between the
players, as if the Dummy was seated to the dealer’s left.
Flip the top three cards from the Dummy’s stack face
up and arrange them, going from left to right, in suit
order, starting with cards from the smallest suit and
placing cards from larger suits to the right.
If there are 2 or 3 cards of a single suit, place the lower-
valued cards first. Always keep the Dummy’s face-up
cards arranged in this way. This is the Dummy’s ‘line’.
After each trick, flip a new card and add it to the line.
Playing Dummy cards
The Dummy takes their turn as if they were a third
player, playing one card from the line automatically.
• The Dummy must follow suit if possible, and will
always play the highest valued card of that suit if
they have a choice.
• If the Dummy cannot follow suit, they always play
the leftmost card in their line. Note: This card will
be a trump if they have any face-up.
• The Dummy can win tricks and claim cards from
complete suits in the Display just like a regular
player. If they win a trick, they lead the next trick by
playing the rightmost card in the line.
Special thanks to our Developer patrons!
Tony Carr, Alvin Chen, Mark Delgarno,
Chris Dunstan, Andrea Gilbert, LudiCreations,
Norman Ma, Brian Richards, David Studley
www.goodlittlegames.co.uk
© 2017 Brett J. Gilbert & Matthew Dunstan | v1.0