Wicked & Wise
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Dragons compete in a variety of ways, but one of their favorite ways to compete is by playing trick-taking games.
In Wicked & Wise, players are either the dragons who are playing a trick-taking game OR they're a mouse allied with a particular dragon to help manipulate the trick-taking game. Over the course of three rounds, each team of mouse and dragon fight over tricks, treasures, and coins to see which team ends up on top!
The game isn't all about wining tricks; it's about setting goals and utilizing magical treasures. If you can make enough of your goals or sabotage enough of the other team's goals, you'll have the most coins at the end of the game and be crowned king of the caves!
Dragons compete in a variety of ways, but one of their favorite ways is by playing trick taking games. In Wicked & Wise, players are either the Dragons that are playing a trick taking game OR they're the Mouse that is allied with a particular Dragon that's helping to manipulate the trick taking game.
Over the course of three rounds, each team of Mouse and Dragon fight over tricks, treasures, and coins, to see which team is the winner! The game isn't all about winning tricks, either, it's also about setting goals and utilizing magical treasures. If one can make enough of their goals or sabotage enough of the other team's goals, they'll have the most coins at the end of the game and will be crowned king of the caves!
Wicked & Wise is an asymmetric, team versus team card game for 2 - 6 players that runs between 45 and 75 minutes, depending on how many teams are playing.
The playmat isn't a necessary addition to the game, but it does make things a bit easier! Plus, it can help players expediate gameplay and setup! The playmat is currently 14 x 24 inches and the in-progress image is below:
Below is a How to Play video:
Wicked & Wise Overview
Wicked & Wise is a strategic card game that uses trick-taking mechanics to determine the winner of a hand, or, a trick. Click here if you'd like to know more about how trick-taking games work.
Game Setup
Wicked & Wise is an asymmetric team game, where teams of 2 to 6 players compete to win the most coins, AND be crowned the best Dragon and Mouse duo since Mousetrap (the hit 90's grunge band everyone's never heard of).
Teams are made up of either one Dragon, who is playing the trick taking game, and one Mouse, who is manipulating the trick taking game OR one Dual player who plays both (with some minor changes). There's two teams for 2-4 players, but three teams when there's 5-6 players!
Start of the Game
Dragon, Mice, and Duals will all draw their cards and each team will choose one (or more!) goals to try to meet that round. Once goals are chosen, each team will reveal their goal. If a team doesn't meet their goal, they'll lose coins instead of gaining them, so teams can choose to focus on meeting their own goals while preventing the other teams from finishing theirs.
A round consists of 5 tricks and the leading Dragon player will play their first card of the trick. All players will have to match the lead suit, if possible.
Dragons play their cards for their numeric value during the trick, while Mice players activate the ability on their played cards. Each Dragon plays one card, then the Mice play one card, then the dragons play their second card of the trick.
Card abilities can allow the Mice and Dragons to swap cards, draw cards from either the Basic or the Trump deck, gain coins, and more!
The highest card of the led suit OR the highest trump card played by a Dragon wins the trick.
The winning team then decides if they want to draw a treasure card, each of which have unique powers, or take two coins. The losing team will then get the reward that the winning team did not choose.
The lead Dragon token rotates between Dragons for each trick and after 5 tricks have been played, the round is over.
Teams will evaluate the goals they have chosen to see if they have successfully met them. Successful goals will earn teams coins, while any failed goals will cause a team to lose half the coins listed on the goal. (But don't worry! You can't go negative into coins.)
Before dealing cards in a new round, Dragon players will discard any remaining cards. Mouse players will keep any leftover cards AND they may also pass cards to their Dragon.
In the second round, teams can choose to either go for 1 or 2 goals, while in the third round, they can go for 1 - 3, so winning is never really off the table, as tides can turn quickly and treasures and abilities can turn the trick in your team's favor.
After three rounds, the game is over and the team that has collected the most coins is the winner.
Two Player Version
Designer Fertessa Allyse talks a bit about the two player version of the game. Each player count of Wicked & Wise is a bit different, but the two player version is definitely a dueling of dragons!
The rules are here: Main Rules, Player Count Guide
A print and play is here: Print and Play Link (this does not feature final artwork, graphic design, or balancing.)
You can try out the game on TTS here: TTS Link