RAMSEN: A Unique Trick-Taking Game for All Ages

Welcome to Ramsen—a one-of-a-kind card game where the objective is to win as many tricks as possible. But here’s the twist: if you’re not confident about winning the required number of tricks, you have the option to drop out. Ramsen is suitable for players of all ages, which means it’s the perfect game for some family fun!

Getting Started

To set up the game, the dealer shuffles the deck and deals five cards to each player. The cards are divided into two groups: a group of three and a group of two. To determine the trump suit for the current hand, the dealer flips over the last card. The remaining cards are placed face-down in the center of the table, forming the talon. Now, it’s time to begin!

How to Play

When it comes to Ramsen, it’s all about exchanging, bidding, and trick playing. First, we have the exchange phase where I can swap cards from my hand with cards from the talon. However, we can only exchange five cards in total, and not everyone will get a chance to do so.

Next, we move on to the bidding phase. Here, each player gets to decide whether they want to pass or play. If I participated in the card exchange, I have to play. But if I don’t think I can win enough tricks, I can choose to pass and avoid getting punished.

Now it’s time for the trick playing part. The player to the right of the dealer takes the lead and plays the first card. We have to follow suit if we can, but if we don’t have a matching suit or a trump card, we can play any card we want.

Before the game starts, each player draws two crosses. After winning a trick, the player adds a bar to one of the arms of their crosses. The fifth trick won allows the player to draw a bar in the middle of their cross, completing it.

The first player to complete both crosses is the winner!

The End of the Game

The game ends when a player completes both crosses. That player is declared the winner!

The game ends when a player completes both crosses. That player is declared the winner!