Trick-taking Game

A trick-taking game is a card game or tile-based game in which play of a "hand" centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks, which are each evaluated to determine a winner or "taker" of that trick. The object of such games then may be closely tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as Whist, Contract Bridge, Spades, Napoleon, Rowboat, and Spoil Five, or on the value of the cards contained in taken tricks, as in point-trick games such as Pinochle, the Tarot family, Rook, All Fours, Manille, Briscola, and most "evasion" games like Hearts. The domino game Texas 42 is an example of a trick-taking game that is not a card game.

Trick-and-draw games are trick-taking games in which the players can fill up their hands after each trick. Typically players are free to play any card into a trick in the first phase of the game, but must follow suit as soon as the score is depleted.