Trick-taking game

A trick-taking game is a card- or tile-based game centered on a series of finite rounds called tricks, each evaluated to determine a winner. The object may be tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games like contract bridge, whist, and spades, or to the value of cards contained in taken tricks, as in point-trick games such as pinochle, the tarot family, briscola, and evasion games like hearts. In trick-and-draw games, players refill their hands after each trick; initially, any card may be played, but following suit becomes mandatory once the stock is depleted. Trick-avoidance games, such as reversis or polignac, aim to avoid taking some or all tricks. The domino game Texas 42 is an example of a trick-taking game that is not a card game.

The earliest card games were trick-taking games, originating from ancient China and spreading westwards during the early second millennium. These early games lacked trumps, did not require following suit, awarded the trick to the highest card of the led suit, rotated counter-clockwise, and sometimes had pip cards in reverse order so lower cards beat higher ones. Two major revolutions in European trick-taking games occurred: the invention of trumps and the requirement to follow suit in the 15th century, and the introduction of bidding in the 17th century. The oldest known European trick-taking game, Karnöffel, was mentioned in 1426 in Bavaria, roughly half a century after playing cards first appeared in Europe. Karnöffel featured specific ranks of one suit with special privileges, but these were not trumps in the modern sense. Around 1440 in Italy, special cards called trionfi were introduced, forming a fixed hierarchy of trumps as a fifth suit; this method, originating with triomphe, is still used in games without an auction. Bidding for a trump suit was invented with ombre, the most popular card game of the 17th century. In the 20th century, whist, with bidding and a dummy hand, evolved into contract bridge. Point-trick games, at least as old as tarot decks, likely predate trumps; most are played with tarot or stripped decks and belong to the ace–ten family, including pinochle, belote, and skat. Chinese trick-taking games did not develop trumps or bidding, instead diverging into multi-trick games where melds beat other melds of equal size, later evolving into draw-and-discard games like khanhoo.