taking card game for two

taking card game for two

Not for nothing is it said that good things come in small packages. Take, for example, the card game Triumvirate, designed by Travis Worthington. The box is about as big as the palm of your hand and contains a deck of 27 cards, along with a collection of 13 wooden, colored disks that are used for game play (three each of red, yellow and black), scoring (three purple) and to remember an individual round's dealer (one green). There is also a durable piece of artwork cardboard, called a 'scoring tableau,' which is virtually useless in terms of actual game play.

Triumvirate is strictly a two player game and puts a unique twist on the general idea of taking tricks. Normally, in trick taking card games like Hearts, a player's objective will be accomplished or not when a trick is taken. In Hearts, for the most part, you're trying to avoid taking tricks. In a game like Rowboat, you want to win as many tricks as possible. With Triumvirate, a trick is not technically won or lost by a player. Instead, the trick is won by a color red, yellow, or black. A 'hand' is played out until one of those colors has won three tricks, at which point, a colored disc (matching the 'winning' color) is placed on the scoring tableau. A round of play consists of a number of hands and ends when one of the colors has three discs in the scoring tableau (in other words, has won nine tricks; each three of which earns that color a disc).

All right, let's back up a little. The 27 card deck consists of three suits (colors), each with nine cards, numbered 0 through 8. If theme is important to you, the red cards represent Caesar, the yellow cards represent Pompey and the black cards represent Crassus. What you're trying, generally, to accomplish in a round of this game is to accurately determine which of these three emperors is going to win that round (be the first to have three matching colored discs in the scoring tableau). If you do so, you receive a purple game scoring marker. The idea is to play three rounds, and win two of them. The purple markers, like the scoring tableau, are sort of superfluous.

At the start, each player is dealt 11 cards. The five that remain are set aside for this opening round of play. The dealer lays out a card of a certain color, and the opponent, operating under the rule that he/she must, when possible, follow suit, plays another. Highest card of the two played wins that trick for that color. The "0" card is a trump card, and, in the parlance of the game, represents the Mob; a civil disturbance. The "0" (Mob) card is the lowest card in its own color, but will win versus any numbered card of a different color. Leading with the Mob guarantees a win for its color, because it will either lose to a higher card of the same color, or win against any numbered card of another color. When two cards of different colors are played (not to include a Mob card), the highest ranked card of the two wins the trick for the higher numbered color. The player who placed the winning trick card leads with the next card.

So, this goes pretty rapidly, and as soon as one color has 'won' three tricks, the hand is over. A colored disk, matching the 'winning' color is placed on the scoring tableau. Now (forgive the pun) comes the tricky part. Once a 'color' has won a hand of play (taken three tricks), players will 'Pledge' one of the cards remaining in their hand. This is accomplished by taking the chosen card and playing it face down near the scoring tableau. During a given round, you will be allowed to Pledge up to three cards this way (one per hand until the maximum of three is reached). Playing a 'Legion' card (3, 5, or 7; any color) as a 'Pledge' is a direct means of achieving victory in a round of this game. Playing any other card as a Pledge Mob, or 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 may fulfill other strategic objectives, but the Legion cards are key.

Cards played in the opening hand are gathered, to include the five initially set aside, shuffled and dealt out again; this time (and in future hands), three are set aside. These hand and Pledge activities are repeated until a color has attained three discs in the scoring tableau. At this point, players reveal their Pledged cards. The player with the highest point total of Legion cards (3, 5, or 7), matching the color of the 'winning' Emperor wins the round of play. He/she takes a purple disc and a second round of multiple hands is initiated.

Game play is really straightforward and rapid; almost silly simple to learn. Figuring out a clear path to victory is a lot harder. Say, for example, you start out with a lot of Caesar (red) cards in your opening hand. You happen to have the 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4, which, at first glance, would seem to give you the opportunity to score a quick victory for red in the opening hand. At most, your opponent has four red cards (3, 2, 1, and 0), all beatable with your cards in that color. But what if he only has two of them (say, the 3 and 2; the other two might be among the five that were set aside initially). If this happens, your opponent is what they call short suited, and though you will win with the 8 and 6 (saving the "7" to Pledge), you could lose playing the 4, because your opponent may have the Mob card of another color or a higher than 4 card of another color, which he/she will play when he/she runs out of red cards in their hand.

For the sake of argument, let's assume you do win a quick victory for red (Caesar) in the opening hand, and in anticipation of winning the round, you Pledge the red "7." Red's got one disc in the scoring tableau now; one down, two to go, and you, with a lot of points (7) pledged to that color. Now, though, the played cards are shuffled, and re dealt, to include the five set aside. If you won the opening hand with three quick tricks for red, you've only got one left in your hand; you played the 8, 6, and 4, and pledged the 7, leaving you with only the five. Now, your opponent sees that red has won the opening hand, and decides to institute other proceedings, designed to give yellow the victory in the current hand of play; or black. Either way, your opponent, in any set of circumstances, is going to be working at odds against your objectives.

The combination of re shuffling and cards that are set aside at the beginning of each hand, make it hard to predict how a given hand is going to play out. Pledging has some subtleties to it, as well. You may think that Pledging a "7" card would pretty much guarantee you the round win if the round is won by the color of the card you pledged, but what if your opponent pledges the "3" and "5" of that same color? (remember: up to three can be pledged each round) Eight beats seven every time. There are lessons to be learned along the way, and it's unlikely that you'll learn them in the first few games of this. If, for example, you do pledge a "7," it might not be a bad idea to hold on to the "3" or "5" in that color (assuming you get them). This would guarantee that your "7" could not be beaten (bearing in mind that only Legion cards 3s, 5s, or 7s count when it comes to determining the round winner).

Short suiting yourself in a hand to gain a 'trick' advantage with either the Mob card or higher numbered card is difficult to do, because in any given hand, there are going to be either 22 (five set aside in the first hand) or 24 (three set aside in later hands) cards in play. Divided by two (players), that's 11 or 12 cards, split among three suits, and normal, random distribution is going to give you three or four of each color. Random distribution doesn't always work out that cleanly, of course. Not to mention the fact that if, by chance, you do end up with a short suit in a given color, it requires the cooperation of your opponent to get that color out there for you to trump.

All in all, Triumvirate is a tricky (again, with the pun) little card game that'll get your brain functioning at a higher level than you expected after someone has explained its simple process. It'll take a time or two (as all good games do) to figure out its subtleties and work towards any sort of winning plan. The components are top notch; good, sturdy card quality, wooden scoring discs, and the cardboard scoring tableau. Rules are fairly straightforward and easy to follow. There are, as noted, some superfluous materials here. The three purple scoring discs are not strictly necessary, nor, for that matter is the green 'who's deal is it?' disc or the cardboard scoring tableau.

Published by Indie Boards and Cards, Triumvirate is recommended for ages 13+ and can be played in about half an hour; a maximum of three rounds. It retails for under $15 in a variety of locations, and can be had for less with a little shopping.