Big fun in a small box.
Take a Hike is a trick-taking card game for three or four players.
It can be played on the dining table, at the airport lounge, or in the caravan.
It can be played for a few minutes, or for much longer.
You can choose.
The rules will guide you if you’re new to trick-taking card games.
Though easy to learn, it’s not always easy to win.
As with all card games, there’s an element of luck but the way that hikers play their cards matters enormously.
The fifty two cards are in four suits, with thirteen cards in each. The suits are creatures that happy hikers may meet on their outings.
The game provides a balance between trying to achieve your own goal while subtly (or not so subtly) thwarting your opponents’ efforts.
Every time they put their boots on, hikers seek to fulfil a unique contract, which they do by winning tricks.
By winning tricks, they win points.
For each hike, each player has twelve cards.
So, twelve tricks can be won on each hike.
Every time the hikers go out, each will be set a new target.
The targets move clockwise between hikers after each hike.
Though they’re good friends, the hikers don’t miss a chance to feel a little bit superior. Each tries to do a bit more than the goal they’ve been set. They seek to be out in front for just a bit longer, by winning more tricks than their goal for this hike.
It’s a tussle !
Take a Hike brings challenges.
For every hike, players are randomly dealt a new hand of cards, and that’s where luck comes into it. But players try hard to make the best of their cards – to win tricks.
Each hike, every hiker seeks to be hike-leader for an agreed distance.
The hikers’ goals are all different.
So, when they put their boots on, they seek to fulfil a unique contract, which they do by winning tricks. By winning tricks, they cover the kilometres and win points.
Whether their goal is short or long, can hikers avoid being blistered? Blisters will hold them back, and stop them from leading the hike for as long as they’d agreed.
A hiker who leads a hike for longer than agreed gets plus points.
One who’s blistered and falls short of their goal gets minus points.
Hikers are companions
Even when hikers are being a bit competitive, they’re companions.
If a hiker gets blistered on the walk and fails to reach their goal, they’ll get a sticking plaster from a friend – from a hiker who did better than the goal that they were set.
This helps them stay fairly close together, even whilst all are seeking to be “top hiker”. They’re happy hikers – they don’t want the group to break up.
Though there’s a little bit of helping, it’s not a cooperative game.
It’s competitive.
Take a Hike is not a game where someone can rapidly leap ahead.
Scores remain close throughout the game. The hiking group remains a group, it doesn’t splinter.
But that doesn’t stop hikers from fighting to stay in the lead for longer, gathering more points.
How long does it last?
Take a Hike can be played for an agreed number of rounds, or for an agreed length of time, or until someone achieves an agreed score.
Each hike takes just a few minutes, and it doesn’t take long to complete a round, which is either three or four hikes.
So, playing for an agreed number of rounds or for an agreed time are the best options.
But, of course, you can play until you simply decide it’s time to stop. The game lasts as long as you want it to.
It can be played in a lunch break, or for all of Sunday afternoon, or for the whole of January.
Playing until someone gets an agreed score may take a while. There’s tussle all the time, so each step forwards may be followed by a step backwards.
Because it takes no time to set up or to store away, Take a Hike can be started and stopped almost at a moment’s notice.