The Fourteenth Card
An occult trick-taking game
Thirteen arcana are documented. Players keep finding a fourteenth.
Ready to play now.
A demonstration of The Fourteenth Card, played by the computer against itself.
The Fourteenth Card — playing itself
Ways to play
Alone, against the computer
Your own pace, no arranging anything. Take a move back whenever you like.
Play alone5 opponents, weakest first
- CredulousBelieves every word, and never says one it does not mean.
- WatchfulCounts what has been played, and doubts on the arithmetic alone.
- ComposedReads the odds before it plays, and only lies when it has nothing to lose.
- PractisedAnnounces a number it does not mean, and samples a hundred hands before it plays.
- UnblinkingMixes its lies so you cannot read it twice, and has counted every card you have shown.
Together, in the same room
2–4 players. One device goes round the table, or everybody plays off the same screen.
Play in the same roomOnline, at a table
A room code, joinable from anywhere. Pause tonight and pick it up next week from your device.
Play online
About
A trick-taking game played with a deck that is missing something, and a table that keeps insisting it is not. Win tricks, read the room, and try to be holding the right card when the deck decides what it wants.
How it feels
- Elegant and slightly wrong
- Reading hands
- Quiet menace
What the design is for
A deck with a hole in it
One house for every seat and one that is nobody’s, so thirteen cards are always left over — twelve of them face down all deal.
Bidding you can lie about
Two numbers at once: what you will take, and what you say. Only the second is published while the deal runs — both are written down when it ends.
The Fourteenth, once a deal
Lay a card face down and call it the card that is not in the deck. Everyone else decides at once whether to believe you.
A match of deals
Four at two seats, three at three, two at four — about the same hundred cards however many of you there are.
Five opponents
From one that believes every word to one that mixes its lies so you cannot read it twice.
- Best at
- 4
- Kind
- Cards
- Table
- Competitive
- Studio
- Board.game Originals
The opponents
Credulous
Believes every word, and never says one it does not mean.
Watchful
Counts what has been played, and doubts on the arithmetic alone.
Composed
Reads the odds before it plays, and only lies when it has nothing to lose.
Practised
Announces a number it does not mean, and samples a hundred hands before it plays.
Unblinking
Mixes its lies so you cannot read it twice, and has counted every card you have shown.
Achievements
0 of 5 earned
The Reading
Win a match of The Fourteenth Card.
To the Letter
Win a match having met your contract in every deal of it.
Never Once
Win a match without announcing a number you meant, in any deal.
Nobody Asked
Win a match having laid a forgery that was never doubted.
Caught
Doubt a Fourteenth and be right.
Key art
Key art — Board.game art system
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