Four Dragons

About this board game

Four Dragons is a 3–4-player partnership trick-taking game that plays in about 30 minutes, combining traditional tricks with card actions and a brain-bending oriental theme.

The game is played over three days as animals, children, and adults are sent on to the afterlife. Although the foundation is a basic trick-taking game, most cards add an action that can alter the flow of play or create new information for your partnership.

1. Send animals onward during the first day.
2. Send children onward during the second day.
3. Send adults onward during the third day.

Partnership play is central. When your side wins scoring cards—representing the dead or food—you exchange a card with an opponent. Other cards can let you swap cards with your partner, ask a question, cancel another card, and more, making every trick a potential puzzle.

Reading the game is as important as winning individual tricks. Players who enjoy Bridge may appreciate working out what a partner is signaling through a card swap, or reconstructing the deck from cards already played. The result is a compact contest that rewards careful observation, communication, and timing.

Expect a learning curve in the first game: you may spend time checking the rules and crib sheet while remembering when exchanges happen. After a couple of hands, the system becomes clearer and the focus shifts from learning the mechanisms to making decisions.

The original game featured native graphics and a variant for three players; the reissue as Four Dragons uses an oriental theme. With its unusual actions and partnership decisions, it is best suited to players who enjoy challenging trick-taking games and don’t mind a little rules overhead before the strategy clicks.