Stitch master

Stitch master
Game data
author	Friedemann Friese
graphic	Lars-Arne "Maura" Kalusky
publishing company	Amigo
Publishing year	2010
Art	Card game
Teammates	3-5
Duration	about 45 minutes
Age	from 10 years on
Awards
	2011 à la carte card game award: 2nd place

Stich-Meister is a card game by Friedemann Friese , published by Amigo in 2010 . Lars-Arne "Maura" Kalusky was responsible for the graphic design . The game reached 2nd place in the “ à la carte card game award 2011”.

Game idea and material

Trick Master is in principle a classic trick card game , but before each round the trump suit and some game and scoring rules are redefined or changed. As usual in trickery games, the game is played for points.

The game material includes:

60 stitch cards in four colors, each with the values 1–15
60 control cards

A Japanese theme was chosen for the design of the cards, the playing card colors are coins (yellow), koi (red), fans (green) and torii (blue).

Game flow

At the beginning of a game the rule cards are shuffled and each player is dealt three cards in hand, the remaining rule cards are laid out in a face-down pile. Next, the trick cards are shuffled face down and distributed evenly to the players. After the players have looked at their trick cards, they choose from their three rule cards the one that they think is most suitable. The two remaining cards are placed face down, they are not used in the rest of the game. The chosen rule cards are laid out face-up by the players at the same time and form the special rules for the coming round. There are three types of control charts:

Trump rules determine which cards (values or suits ) are trumps . If several trump cards are on display in a round, they together form the trump suit. If there are no trump rules, there is no trump suit in the round.

Basic rules influence the course of the game: For example, some cards change the order of play or the value of certain cards, others require a trick that has been won to be passed on to another player.

Scoring rules determine for which cards there are additional points or, conversely, point deductions.

The actual trick-taking game follows. If there are no basic rule cards, the game is played according to the classic rules: The player to the left of the dealer plays the first card, then the other players in turn also put a card into the trick. The first color played must, if possible, be used (compulsory color). If a player cannot use the suit played, he may discard any card or take a trump card. In the case of a trick with trump cards, the highest trump wins the trick; in the case of a trick without trump cards, the highest card in the suit played. Whoever takes a trick plays the next trick. The rule cards can, however, change the rules of the trump and the rules of the game considerably.

When all tricks have been played, scoring for the round follows. In principle, each trick counts one point, and bonus and minus points are given according to the scoring rules.

For the next round each player receives three new rule cards from the deck and chooses one of them again. The stitch cards are shuffled again and redistributed. A total of as many rounds are played as there are players. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins the game.

reception

The reviews of Stich-Meister were very different, but mostly positive. There was general praise for the quality, the design and the scope of the game material, and many reviewers also found the basic idea with the variable rules of the game to be very appealing and interesting. The implementation of this concept, however, met with divided opinions: Due to the sometimes very strong influence of some control cards on the course of the game, planning and tactical procedures are hardly possible. The game also requires a certain training period and a higher degree of concentration in order to be able to understand the sometimes complex interplay of the rule cards. Some reviewers found the gameplay to be too random and frustrating to be fun, in the opinion of others, this "chaos" would add to the entertainment value.

In the vote for the “ à la carte card game award 2011”, Stich-Meister came second, and first place went to 7 Wonders by Antoine Bauza .