Skull King

Some games need the right group. At the very least, some games require the right group to learn with. The first night I played Skull King was not an… ideal… group. We struggled with the rules a fair bit, and the smaller group size didn’t help improve the understanding of some of the eccentricities of the bidding and scoring process.

After playing it a few times, with a few other groups (including a tournament that messed with the rules a bit in between games) I found I really enjoy this game. It’s a witty trick-taking game that leans nicely into the pirate theme, without negatively impacting the game mechanics. Once players have made sense of the basic gameplay, there are ways to change things up by introducing a variety of more advanced Expansion Cards into the game. To make life easier, the following explanation comes directly from Uncle Beck Games:

Skull King uses a 66-card deck that consists of five Escape cards, four suits numbered 1-13, five Pirate cards, 1 Tigress card, and 1 Skull King card. The game lasts ten rounds, and in each round, each player is dealt as many cards as the number of the round. All players simultaneously bid on the number of tricks they think they’ll take by holding out a fist and on the count of three revealing a certain number of fingers (or possibly a closed fist for a bid of zero tricks).

Standard rules apply for the playing of cards, with one player leading off a card and other players following suit, if possible, and playing something else if not; however, a player may always choose to play one of the special, unnumbered cards — and the power of those cards might let you win a trick that otherwise would have gotten away. In more detail, the black Jolly Roger suit trumps the other three suits, a Mermaid trumps all numbered cards, a Pirate trumps the Mermaid, and the Skull King trumps everything — except if he appears in the same trick with a Mermaid, in which case she captures him and wins instead. An Escape card loses to any other card, and the Tigress card serves as either a pirate or escape card as desired by the player. Whoever wins a trick leads in the next trick.

Also included in the edition of the game that I have are some player aids, including Bid Reminder cards and a scorepad. It also includes the previously mentioned Expansion Cards:

The Kraken: When played, The Kraken consumes all. All cards for the entire trick are discarded and no one wins. This is a great card to mess with everyone’s plans.

The White Whale: When played The White Whale affects all other cards. Special Cards become Escape cards, and all numbered cards all become the same suit/colour (white), meaning the highest card played will win, regardless of the suit. Someone trying to sluff off a high card could win, while that almost-sure-to-win Pirate King runs away and loses.

Loot: Whoever plays a Loot card enters an alliance with the player that wins the trick. If both players get the number of tricks they bid, both players are awarded 20 bonus points for the round.

After the first night, I wasn’t sure about Skull King. But after playing it a few more times I REALLY enjoy it. I’ve already got it packed up for a BBQ over the weekend and I may even pull it out with my parents (who usually think the games I play are too weird). 

You can find Grandpa Beck’s Games online at grandpabecksgames.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/GrandpaBecksGames.