How to Play Trix
Description
A Lebanese five-in-one trick-taking game. Each player picks the round they want to play — avoid the King of Hearts, avoid queens, avoid diamonds, avoid every trick, or build up and down from the Jacks in the fifth. Every round is a different game.
Objective
Score the fewest penalty points across a set of rounds, each played under a different contract that punishes a different thing.
Setup
Four players, using a standard 52-card deck, playing individually.
Deal thirteen cards to each player. Whoever holds the seven of hearts on the very first deal "owns the kingdom" — they choose which contract is played first, and keep dealing until all five contracts have been played once, then the kingdom passes to the next player.
Rules
The five contracts each set a different goal for that round: avoid taking the trick with the King of Hearts; avoid taking Queens; avoid taking any diamonds; avoid taking any trick at all; or — the odd one out — race to empty your hand by building up and down from the Jacks in a shared layout, more like Sevens than a trick-taking game.
In the four trick-taking contracts, follow suit if you can; highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner leads next.
Winning
Whatever you were trying to avoid in a given contract costs you points if you end up taking it.
After every player has had a turn owning the kingdom (twenty rounds total), lowest total penalty score wins.