Are you ready to brave the waters to become a true pirate king? In the trick taking game Skull King, players will compete to spot the treasure [points] and “X” [your bid] marks! Skull King is a fairly common trick taking game with a bidding mechanism. Of course, we know this kind of concept from the (now) classic games Wizard and Oh Hell! Skull King has also been navigating the waters of games land for a while now.
Skull King contains a deck consisting of 66 cards including some special cards with special actions. This reissue from Ravensburger also includes a number of special cards that advanced players can add to their game of Skull King. The game lasts ten rounds, and in each round each player gets as many cards as the number of the current round. That means that in round 8, you also get 8 cards in hand. In that respect, it is very similar to Wizard.
After players are able to analyze their hand of cards, they simultaneously start bidding how many tricks they think they will win this round. Players can also indicate here that they think they will win zero tricks.
The play of a round follows the standard principles of a trick taking game in which one player plays a card and the other players, if possible, follow suit (as in play the same color card) and play something else if that is not possible. The player who plays the highest card in the followed color wins the stroke and gets to play a card first on the next stroke.
What makes many trick taking games different from other trick taking games are the cards with special effects. During a stroke, one may always (instead of a regular numbered card) play one of the special, unnumbered cards. These special cards and their effects influence the course of a trick and can therefore cause you to win or lose a trick. In this way, players have more direct influence on the course of the game. Skull King stands out precisely because of these special cards. The concept of special cards is not new, also Wizard and other trick taking games use this concept, but Skull King has many special cards with effects you do not see in other trick taking games.
Players earn points for correct bids, but can also earn minus points. Players therefore do well to make realistic bids. Skull King is not original, but it is a classic for trick taking game lovers with a beautiful design and a theme that appeals to a wide audience.
