trick-taking

Any card or tile game in which one card/tile captures those played by your opponents. Generally, one player “leads” a card or tile from their hand, which the other player must beat if possible.

This might simply be a higher-ranked card, such as in the children’s game, War. Many games, however, force you to “follow suit” if possible – that is, play a card within the same suit as the one led. After one time around the table, where each player has played a card or tile, the highest qualifying card wins the “trick.”

Some games include a “trump” suit that always beats whatever was led, though there may be restrictions on when a trump may be played.

Later games introduced the concept of “bidding,” where players would examine their hands and guess how many tricks they would win before playing their first card. Many bidding games are played in teams.