Ninety-Nine

Three-player trick-taking game in which players discard three cards from their hand as a bid and then try to win an exact number of tricks. The discarded cards’ suits encode the target (clubs=3, hearts=2, spades=1, diamonds=0), and players score one point per trick plus bonuses for making the bid exactly. Optional declarations let a bidder turn the bid cards face up for an extra bonus, and a further reveal exposes the bidder’s entire hand before play for a larger bonus. The game uses a shortened standard deck (6–A in each suit, plus an optional Joker); variants adapt the deck and player count for four, two, or five players.

Players: 2–4 best 3
Playing time: 60 min
Age: 8+
Complexity: 2.1 / 5