What is a trick-taking game? A game in which everyone plays rounds hoping to have a hand of cards with high numbers to lead you to victory?!
For the longest time, trick-taking games gave me anxiety and frustration. I didn't grow up with the mechanism, so my brain had a hard time wrapping itself around the concept when I was first starting to design. Even now, I hate getting stuck with dumb low numbers, and I hate that designers create a lot of rules to fix the problem of luck dealing you a low-valued hand.
This is where the core idea of Tricky Kids came in. I wanted to make a trick-taking game in which you write in your own numbers so that you have only yourself to blame if the hand isn't great.
Now, as a non-trick-taker, I thought it would be important to have a co-designer who had played a lot of this game genre. I had come up with the idea of a "write your own number" trick-taking game while on vacation in Malaysia, walking around the Penang Botanic Gardens watching the long-tailed macaques that roam freely within the gardens. They're cute monkeys that you shouldn't feed and that will steal your wallet. I had gone to Asia to visit family and to reset myself since my mental health wasn't so great after my first winter alone — but traveling immediately perked me up and began to inspire me.
An inspiring long-tailed macaque.
Eric Lang just happened to be in the same location as my cousins Sean and Lexi, so I got to spend a lot of time talking with him about what kind of designer I wanted to be and what I wanted to make.
As I walked around on my own watching the monkeys, the idea for Tricky Kids popped into my head. I texted my co-designer on Caution Signs, Scott Brady, the idea, but he was focused on boop the Halls! at the time, which is fair. I have a tendency to design really fast when I'm excited about an idea, so next I messaged Steven Ungaro, who I knew was familiar with a lot of trick-taking games.
As I walked around on my own watching the monkeys, the idea for Tricky Kids popped into my head. I texted my co-designer on Caution Signs, Scott Brady, the idea, but he was focused on boop the Halls! at the time, which is fair. I have a tendency to design really fast when I'm excited about an idea, so next I messaged Steven Ungaro, who I knew was familiar with a lot of trick-taking games.
Me, my cousin Sean, and his fiancé Lexi in Malaysia
Steven and I met in 2019 when I was first getting into gaming. He was a part of one of the game design groups in the Chicago suburbs hosted by Randy Ekl. This group was so inviting to me as a new designer that I showed up to basically every meetup.
Steven and I quickly realized we clicked as friends, and I knew I enjoyed playtesting his designs. We stayed friends even after I moved to Springfield, Massachusetts from the Chicago area. I've found through co-designing that I tend to like having a more development-leaning brain be my partner, and Steven always had amazing feedback and didn't always tack on an unnecessary mechanism to make something work. He understood my need to streamline and make games accessible, so I started messaging him over Instagram as I was flying home from Asia because free messaging, why not?!
Steven and I quickly realized we clicked as friends, and I knew I enjoyed playtesting his designs. We stayed friends even after I moved to Springfield, Massachusetts from the Chicago area. I've found through co-designing that I tend to like having a more development-leaning brain be my partner, and Steven always had amazing feedback and didn't always tack on an unnecessary mechanism to make something work. He understood my need to streamline and make games accessible, so I started messaging him over Instagram as I was flying home from Asia because free messaging, why not?!
The OG Chicagoland Designers Group (L-R: Steven Ungaro, me, Brian Cable, Randy Ekl, Maxine Ekl)
Quickly we thought of the idea of kids making things up on the playground. There would be three suits — originally pet rock, yo-yo and candy — a hand of seven cards, and 21 points that you can split across those seven cards.
I had only two days in between my trip to Asia and four back-to-back conventions starting with SaltCON — but something about this idea made me want to make a prototype. I quickly created cards that I sleeved so that dry-erase markers would work, then took the spreadsheet suggestions of points Steven had made and turned them into tokens that I printed and used tape on to make them dry-erase, too.
I stayed up later building the prototype than I should have since I had a 6:00 a.m. flight to Salt Lake City the next day...which meant I ended up sleeving the cards on the flight in the morning. I always joke I do some of my best work in the air being trapped on a plane with no internet.
I had only two days in between my trip to Asia and four back-to-back conventions starting with SaltCON — but something about this idea made me want to make a prototype. I quickly created cards that I sleeved so that dry-erase markers would work, then took the spreadsheet suggestions of points Steven had made and turned them into tokens that I printed and used tape on to make them dry-erase, too.
I stayed up later building the prototype than I should have since I had a 6:00 a.m. flight to Salt Lake City the next day...which meant I ended up sleeving the cards on the flight in the morning. I always joke I do some of my best work in the air being trapped on a plane with no internet.
The first hand of cards I wrote at SaltCON 2024
On day 1 of SaltCON, I pulled out Tricky Kids with my friend Ryan Bruns and his local gaming group and playtested the game. I made some tweaks to the rules, then played again, and again, and again. My prototype actually got taken by others to be played, with people teaching the instructions by word of mouth during the convention. By the end of the weekend, the game had been played around fifty times by 2-6 players at a time, and the rules were locked in!
You play three rounds, with seven cards played each round to gain seven point tokens. One player leads the round by playing a card that they wrote on. Going clockwise, all players follow suit if they have it, aiming to have the largest number of that suit to win the trick — and the winning suit determines which point value you circle on the point token claimed. These points range from 0-5, so you can intentionally try to lead people into low points, knowing that you won't win. Other fun twists were added throughout development!
You play three rounds, with seven cards played each round to gain seven point tokens. One player leads the round by playing a card that they wrote on. Going clockwise, all players follow suit if they have it, aiming to have the largest number of that suit to win the trick — and the winning suit determines which point value you circle on the point token claimed. These points range from 0-5, so you can intentionally try to lead people into low points, knowing that you won't win. Other fun twists were added throughout development!
Setting up a demo at Unpub 2024
I also learned from playtesting that left-handed players needed to spread the cards differently, so to be more accessible my next prototype (after my back-to-back trips) had spots on the upper right and upper left of the cards for people to write on. This graphic design choice carried into the final product. On my flight to GAMA Expo, I added the game to my pitch deck because I felt it was ready.
I relayed the success of the design to Steven, and he said he couldn't wait to give it a try next time he got the chance. At GAMA Expo, Unpub, PAX East, and The Gathering, people played the game, and I pitched it to publishers. I had publishers that had never given me the time of day reach out to play the game. It was really cool.
At the third convention of the five, we got our first offer on the game. I was playtesting it at Unpub, and my friend Alex Cutler came by with another player, who turned out to be Nathan McNair, the co-owner of Pandasaurus Games. Nathan enjoyed the game so much that he had Alex extend an offer to us on his behalf.
I relayed the success of the design to Steven, and he said he couldn't wait to give it a try next time he got the chance. At GAMA Expo, Unpub, PAX East, and The Gathering, people played the game, and I pitched it to publishers. I had publishers that had never given me the time of day reach out to play the game. It was really cool.
At the third convention of the five, we got our first offer on the game. I was playtesting it at Unpub, and my friend Alex Cutler came by with another player, who turned out to be Nathan McNair, the co-owner of Pandasaurus Games. Nathan enjoyed the game so much that he had Alex extend an offer to us on his behalf.
Playtesting at UNPUB 2024 and not realizing it was with Pandasaurus co-owner Nathan McNair
I excitedly jumped on a call with Steven to discuss this and all the other opportunities, as well as which publisher made the most sense for our game. I was always a huge fan of Pandsaurus' products, and it turned out Steven was, too. Between the artwork and the materials, their games always wowed me. I felt they could make Tricky Kids stand out, and it was an additional perk that Alex would be my developer and Raina would help market the game — two humans I admire professionally and call my friends.
Playtesting at Nandos with Elizabeth Hargrave after Unpub 2024
Through all those playtests, I found that our game became a bit of a mind game in which players would figure out how they wanted to split their numbers in order to take the lead on the tricks. Some minor changes we made before signing the game was having the same numbers knock each other out, not being able to claim a point tile with a 0, and giving each player nine cards at the start of a hand, after which they would discard two.
We created "Tricky Rule" cards for more replayability, as well as Steven's awesome idea that came after signing when I visited him in Chicago: spinning the marker after you'd written your cards to determine who leads the first trick. This removed the possibility of setting up your numbers to try to bully people in the way my boss Rob did in one playtest.
We created "Tricky Rule" cards for more replayability, as well as Steven's awesome idea that came after signing when I visited him in Chicago: spinning the marker after you'd written your cards to determine who leads the first trick. This removed the possibility of setting up your numbers to try to bully people in the way my boss Rob did in one playtest.
Me, Steven, and his son Charlie after playtesting in-person for the first time — and Charlie beat me!
I had already played the game over a hundred times when Pandasaurus signed it, and what I had learned was that every group made the core game unique — but as the same people played over and over together, they'd adapt to each other's strategies, which is why creating the Tricky Rules cards became necessary.
Alex hopped on a call with Steven and me to discuss making better versions of the ones we had started playtesting. These cards came after the original offer, but before we signed the contract, so we wanted to make sure they understood it was the least playtested factor. Part of our agreement to sign the game with them was that the game needed to come out fast, so it could stand out and be unique. Alex came in as the developer and playtested and adapted the list of ideas we built for the Tricky Rules. Those cards and the core game mixed with the updated art made the version people can play today!
Alex hopped on a call with Steven and me to discuss making better versions of the ones we had started playtesting. These cards came after the original offer, but before we signed the contract, so we wanted to make sure they understood it was the least playtested factor. Part of our agreement to sign the game with them was that the game needed to come out fast, so it could stand out and be unique. Alex came in as the developer and playtested and adapted the list of ideas we built for the Tricky Rules. Those cards and the core game mixed with the updated art made the version people can play today!
I was incredibly thankful that Pandasaurus let us be as involved as we were with the design and art direction for the game. When I received the initial look at the art, I liked it but had many notes, which they incorporated into the final game. Steven's idea of a notebook look mixed with me wanting stickers for the suits — and they looked great together. I especially loved them adding the axolotl plushie over my cat suggestion.
I'm really hopeful everyone else sees what was so special about this game when they play it, but the coolest part about this game was that I got to see my friend I've now known for years become a published game designer for the first time! If he didn't have a toolbox of trick-taking knowledge for me to bounce ideas off of, I wouldn't have been able to make that first prototype so quickly. I will be forever grateful for the doors that the Tricky Kids prototype opened for me as a designer. Totally worth the lack of sleep at SaltCON 2024!
- Danielle Reynolds
I'm really hopeful everyone else sees what was so special about this game when they play it, but the coolest part about this game was that I got to see my friend I've now known for years become a published game designer for the first time! If he didn't have a toolbox of trick-taking knowledge for me to bounce ideas off of, I wouldn't have been able to make that first prototype so quickly. I will be forever grateful for the doors that the Tricky Kids prototype opened for me as a designer. Totally worth the lack of sleep at SaltCON 2024!
- Danielle Reynolds
