The Sovereign Hand

The Sovereign Hand

Where the claim demands a price, the House answers for its Hand.

A trick-taking game for 3 to 5 players (best with 4 or 5) using one standard 52-card deck, Aces high. You also need about 30 coins as Seals and a few small objects as Marks.

Draft rules v0.1. They have been tested with simulated players only. Real game nights will tune them.

Setup

1. Shuffle. Deal each player 3 cards face down: their House. You may look at your own House at any time. It stays in front of you all game.
2. Choose a first dealer. The deal passes clockwise each round.

Each round

1. Deal. Shuffle the remaining deck (House cards stay out). Deal 8 cards each with 3 or 4 players, 7 cards with 5. Turn up the next card: the Sign. Its suit is the Sovereign suit (trumps) for this round.
2. Claim. Starting left of the dealer, each player says aloud how many tricks they will take, from zero up to the hand size.
   The Crowded Throne: the dealer claims last and may not make the total of all claims equal the hand size. Someone must fall short or overreach.
3. Play tricks. The player left of the dealer leads. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play anything. The highest Sovereign card wins the trick. If none was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner leads next.
   The Usurper: a 2 beats the Ace of its own suit. When the Ace and the 2 of the same suit are in the same trick, that 2 counts as the highest card of its suit, so it wins over the Ace, the King and everything else in that suit, whatever order they were played in. It still loses to a higher Sovereign card unless it is itself Sovereign.
   Example: Hearts are led and Spades are Sovereign. The Archivist plays the Ace of Hearts, the Gambler plays the King of Hearts, and you play the 2 of Hearts. Your 2 takes the trick. If the Heir had trumped with any Spade, the Spade would have won instead.
   When to watch for it: if you hold a 2, wait for its Ace to appear. When the Ace hits the table and you can follow suit, the game outlines your 2 in gold.
4. Call on your House. Once per round, instead of playing from your hand, you may play one of your House cards face up, but only if it would be a legal play from your hand. Spent House cards return to the deck for later rounds. The hand card you didn't need is discarded at the end of the round.

The Reckoning

• Exact claim: take 1 Seal. A bold claim made exactly (at least half the hand size: 4 or more) takes 2 Seals. A claim of zero made exactly still earns 1.
• Missed claim, over or under: you owe 1 Debt. Settle debts clockwise from the dealer's left, after Seals are awarded.

Paying a debt

A debt is paid by a Hand other than the claimant's.

You may not pay with your own Seals unless nothing else is possible. Choose:

1. The House answers. Discard one of your House cards. Your House is not your Hand, so it may pay.
2. Sacrifice. Name a player who has fewer Seals than you (at least 1). They return one Seal to the supply, and you take a Mark.
3. The Hand bleeds. Only if (a) and (b) are both impossible: return one of your own Seals. If you have none, the debt is forgiven.

Marks

No Hand that has made another pay may take the throne until its House has answered.

• While you bear a Mark, you cannot be crowned.
• At any Reckoning you may clear a Mark by discarding a House card.
• At game end, every uncleared Mark costs 2 Seals.

Winning

• Crowned: at a Reckoning, a player with 5 or more Seals and no Marks wins. If several qualify, the most Seals wins, then the most House cards left; otherwise they share the crown.
• When the storm passes: if nobody is crowned after 10 rounds, the highest score wins (Seals minus 2 for each Mark). Ties go to whoever has the most House cards left.

Strategy

• Your House lets you hit an exact claim, and it is also how you pay honestly. Spend it too early and only sacrifice is left.
• Sacrifice feels free because the cost is deferred. A Marked player still has to pay from the House before they can win.
• Track the 2s and the Aces. One Usurper can swing an exact claim.
• The dealer's forbidden number is information. Watch who is forced to overreach.

Your rivals in this version

• The Archivist claims carefully and pays from the House.
• The Gambler claims boldly.
• The Heir makes others pay whenever the rules allow.
• The Masked Guest (5 players) is hard to predict.