It may sound like sacrilege, but I’ve never liked trick-taking. I grew up around Bridge and Euchre and Hearts, but they never really did anything for me. As a result, I’ve ignored all the “modern” trick-taking games like Wizard, Skull King, and The Crew. Something changed the other day when I watched a video of Cat In The Box, and suddenly I realized that there were interesting things happening in this space and I should pay more attention.
Now I’m on a quest to buy up all the greatest trick-taking games out there! My only caveat is that they should work with 2 or 3, as I’m not really a fan of team play and I don’t often have 4 available.
The biggest gap I see in your picture above is Robotrick!
Absolutely awesome game for exactly 3 players, where a 4th robot player follows a card of instructions. The scoring is built off of what cards you win from the robot, or what cards the robot wins off of you, but with fairly “standard” rules for following, trump, etc.
It’s just brilliant, and always the game I suggest if we have 3 people and are looking for a filler card game.