Xander and the Dog Circus

Xander has always loved the circus, now that he’s seen a dog circus he plans to train his own pup to learn how to stand on its hind legs, walk a ramp, even jump through a hoop! Players will be creating the best dog circus they can to impress Xander, but in order to do so, they will need to win tricks. In this trick-taking game the trump suit changes each hand, with 4 total hands being played. Players must follow suit, play a card from the matching suit of the original card that led the trick if possible. After all players have played a card the trick ends. Winning the trick: The highest ranked card matching the original suit played wins the trick and that player takes the cards. The player fills in a value of card onto a dog trick on their sheet. Tricks are worth points. Losing the trick: The player(s) who lost the trick will count the number of cards from one suit they have in their hand, they will write down the total number (or less as players can bluff) in the left most box of the matching suit on the player sheet (left side). When the boxes for the suit are full, the player can no longer count that suit. Scoring: Players add up the numbers for each dog trick on their player sheet, X counts as a 0, and write the total value of the numbers in the larger boxes. Players also add up the numbers they have written for each suit on the left side of the player sheet. The player who has the most total points is the winner. Play your cards as cleverly as possible to maximize your points! —description from the designer