1995 · Novel-based

The Bottle Imp

Players play a card-driven trick-taking game built around a transferable “bottle” whose current price determines trump. The full deck of numbered cards in three colours is dealt, cards are exchanged, and each trick is played with players following suit if possible; highest card wins unless one or more cards are lower than the bottle price. Any card below the bottle price acts as trump, and the highest such card wins the trick and takes ownership of the bottle; the bottle’s price is then replaced by the winning card, making future trumps rarer. After all hands are played, players score the point values on won cards while the player left holding the bottle suffers the negative penalty for cards played to the bottle. Play continues over multiple hands until a target score is reached.

groupPlayers

2–4 best 3

schedulePlaying time

30 min

cakeAge

10+

psychologyComplexity

1.9 / 5