Lunar Trick

About this board game

Lunar Trick is a 3–4-player trick-taking game with 20-minute rounds of shifting trump suits, lunar phases, and precise scoring. To win, you must collect exactly one, three, or five tricks in a round—not simply take as many as possible.

In a three-player game, each player receives ten cards. The deck includes rising-moon cards numbered 1–15, falling-moon cards numbered 16–30, and a lunar eclipse card. Players simultaneously reveal a numbered card to determine the round’s trump and its three suits. The moon phase with more revealed cards becomes trump, while the revealed numbers divide the deck into three suit ranges.

The highest card among the three revealed cards wins that opening trick and leads the next one. During each trick, players must follow suit when able, or play the lunar eclipse card. If a trump is present, the highest trump wins; if no trump is played, the lunar eclipse wins; otherwise, the highest non-trump card takes the trick. The lunar eclipse counts as a trick by itself, separately from the other cards won.

• Win one or five tricks to score 2 points.
• Win three tricks to score 1 point.
• Play rounds until a player reaches at least 5 points.

With four players, add the solar eclipse card. Whoever holds it must play it during the first trick, wins that card as a trick, and then the trump and suits are determined from the other three revealed cards. The highest card wins that trick.

With its changing suit structure and exact trick targets, Lunar Trick rewards careful timing, flexible card play, and close attention to the moon’s phases.