How to Play Speculation
Description
An eighteenth-century betting and trading game where the most valuable card is the one that hasn't been turned yet. The highest visible trump wins the pot — and anyone can buy it from under you.
Objective
End up holding the highest trump card at the table.
Setup
Any number of players. Everyone antes into the pot.
Deal three cards face down to each player — kept in a squared stack, unseen even by you. Then deal one more card face up in front of each player; the suit of the dealer's own face-up card sets trump.
Rules
Players reveal their top card one at a time, going around the table.
Whenever a trump card is revealed, anyone at the table can offer to buy it from its owner — the owner decides whether to accept or hold on to it.
The current highest trump showing keeps its owner in the lead — and vulnerable to being bought out — until a higher one appears.
Winning
Once everyone's revealed all their cards, whoever holds the highest trump takes the pot — whether they were dealt it originally or bought their way into it.