KNAVES

Welcome to Knaves, a thrilling trick-taking game designed for 3 players. The objective of the game is simple – be the first player to earn 20 or more points and emerge as the victor!

When playing Knaves, every player is on their own, but keep an eye out for possible temporary alliances between losers. It’s a delicate balance, trying to triumph in as many tricks as possible while avoiding winning any jacks!

SETUP

Let’s get started with the setup: the first dealer is randomly chosen and the duty of dealing cards will rotate to the left with each new round. A well-shuffled deck of cards will be used, and each player will receive a hand of 13 cards. The cards are dealt one at a time, in clockwise fashion.

Before the game begins, the next card is revealed, and it will determine the trump suit.

Card Ranking and Values

Knowing the card ranking and values is crucial to your success in Knaves. Here is the traditional ranking order: Ace (the highest), followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (the lowest).

In this game of jacks, if you win, it will give you a penalty and add points to your score. The jack of hearts is the worst card, worth negative 4 points. The jack of diamonds is worth negative 3 points. The jack of clubs is worth negative 2 points, and the jack of spades is worth negative 1 point.

How to Play

The game starts with the player to the left of the dealer. You can play any card you want, and the other players have to follow suit if they can. If they don’t have a card of the same suit, they can play any card, including trumps. The person who plays the highest trump card, if there is one, or the highest card of the suit that was led, wins the trick. They add the trick to their score pile and get to lead the next trick.

Penalties

There are two types of penalties that can happen in this game. One is called a revoke, and the other is a call.

If I play a card that doesn’t match the suit of the trick, even though I have a matching card, I can get into trouble. It’s called a revoke. But if I realize my mistake before the trick is revealed, I can fix it without any consequences. Once the trick is revealed, if another player notices my mistake before the next trick starts, they can call for a revoke. And if they do, I lose 3 points!

Now, let’s say I accidentally reveal a card that I shouldn’t have played. That card has to be placed face-up in front of me. But here’s the twist – at any point, another player can demand that I play that card to a trick if it’s a legal move for me to do so.

Let’s Talk Scoring

After each round, we’ll tally up the tricks we’ve won. For each trick, I’ll score 1 point. And I’ll keep adding those points up as we play more rounds. Oh, and don’t forget about the penalties for jacks! If I won any jacks in my tricks, those are worth additional points, too. But here’s the thing – my score can go negative if I haven’t been doing so well.

The End Game

The game comes to an end when one of us reaches 20 points or more. And guess what? That lucky player is declared the winner!