Pikoko Card Game First Impressions

Pikoko is a trick-taking game where you can’t see your own cards, or even play them.

So… how does that work?

Pikoko is a trick-taking game that follows conventional trick-taking rules with two twists:

Each round, players receive a hand of eight cards, but they don’t see their own cards — only cards held by the other players.

Each player plays cards of the player to their left, not their own cards.

This is a brief overview of the rules followed by my final thoughts.

Pikoko Summary

There are quite a few trick-taking games, right?

Tichu is a good one but I see it as more of a card-shedding game. For me, a trick-taking game is where everyone plays a card and one person wins the trick. Hearts is the classic trick-taking and one I really like after it was included in early versions of Windows. 🙂

They’re both classics and there are a couple I like from the more recent hobby game market.

Diamonds is a good one. It has the gimmick of you playing for actual Diamonds. You win tricks to gain, steal and lock away the Diamonds to win the game. This is a good idea as it keeps tricks the focus of the game while giving you other things to think about.

My favourite though is Chronicle. Designed by the creator of Love Letter and in the same way each card played has an ability. Not only that, each round has a different way to score points so each has a unique focus.

Pikoko is a great idea and looks lovely on the table. The way you bid on each player each round is fun. It means you must constantly be are of who you bet on, what other players bet on who has which cards and what you need to play to manipulate the game in your favour.

I’m not really a fan of playing cards for another player but I guess you have to if you can’t see your own. 🙂

The rules are a little fiddly, especially for betting and the confidence cards but it’s a fun game once everyone knows what they’re doing.

Jesta ThaRogue