Magic Trick

About this board game

Magic Trick is a deduction-driven trick-taking game for 3–5 players, played in about 40 minutes. Using a deck of seven suits with eight cards in each suit, players compete to win tricks while working out which cards they hold.

The unusual challenge is that players cannot see the faces of their own cards. They can see only the suit on each card’s back, while a neighbor sorts the cards sequentially by rank at the start of the hand. From there, players must deduce their hidden card values as quickly as possible and plan their play accordingly.

Players must follow suit whenever possible, and Hearts are trump. The winner of each trick leads the next one, creating opportunities to control the flow of the hand and pursue a carefully chosen target.

At some point during the trick, each player places one card “up their sleeve.” The face value of that card becomes the player’s bid: the number of tricks they are betting they will take, as well as the number of suits they are aiming to capture.

• Deduce card values you cannot see.
• Follow suit and use Hearts as trump.
• Set your trick and suit targets with a card up your sleeve.
• Score for hitting your bid and matching your target number of suits.

Players score points for hitting their trick bid. They also gain bonus points when they capture a number of suits equal to their bid, but only if they successfully hit the trick bid; missing it means losing points. Play a number of hands equal to the number of players, and the highest score wins. With its blend of hidden information, deduction, and trick-taking decisions, Magic Trick rewards players who can read the situation and commit to the right bid.