Welcome to Stortok!

I’m here to tell you about an exciting card game called Stortok. It’s a fun game that can be played with 3 to 5 players. The goal of the game is simple: don’t be the last player to empty your hand. There’s no winner in this game, just a loser who doesn’t complete the goal.

Getting Started

First things first, we need to set up the game. To do that, we have to modify the deck. We’ll remove all cards that are 5 or below, so we end up with a deck of 36 cards. Anyone can be the dealer, so it’s up to you to decide.

The dealer will shuffle the deck and give each player a hand of 5 cards. The rest of the deck becomes a pile in the middle, facing down. The top card of the pile is flipped and placed next to it to start the discard pile. This card will also determine the trump suits for the game, which we’ll talk about later.

Card Rankings

The ranking of cards in Stortok goes like this: Ace (high), king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 (low). Additionally, there are two trump suits determined by the flipped card from the stockpile. The high trumps are the suit of the flipped card and are considered the most powerful cards in the game. Meanwhile, the low trumps are the other suit of cards that match the color of the flipped card. These low trumps beat non-trump cards but are not as strong as high trump cards.

Let’s Play!

The game begins with the player sitting to the left of the dealer, and then it continues in a clockwise manner. When it’s your turn, you can play a card as long as it has a higher rank than the top card of the discard pile. If all players manage to beat the top card on their turn or when everyone has played a card to it, the trick is completed. At that point, the last player to play a card gets to start a new trick by playing another card to the pile.

If you can’t or don’t want to, take the top card from the discard pile. But if you do play a card from your hand, you’ll need to draw a new card from the stockpile. Once the stockpile runs out, we stop drawing cards and play with what we have in our hands.

Sooner or later, players will start dropping out of the game as they get rid of all their cards and become safe from losing.

GAME OVER

The game comes to an end when only one player is left with cards in their hand. That player is the loser, known as the Stortok or “the great fool”. You can play more games to see who keeps losing or find a “winner” who has lost the least.

Amber (They/Them) is an Austin writer and gaming enthusiast. They consider themselves a gaming expert and have a passion for dogs, plants, and D&D.