This year I visited a small trick-taking & shedding convention for the first time, and it was quite the experience.
Stichspielcon Göttingen 2026 (Trick-taking-days)
A while ago I was contacted by a fellow gamer who was trying to get some people together to play trick-taking-games in northern Germany. When we first met, he told me about a small trick-taking-convention, and whilst I am often a little bit hesitant going to a space like this and having to find people to play with and connect, I decided to go.
Luckily Tim was also going, so I knew one person I already connected with. We met at the train station in Göttingen and made our way to the convention. It is privately organized with a lot of passion, kindness and care, and that came through at every moment. The convention was held in a allotment garden club house (probably something very German), and there were a little shy of 30 people.
Everything was pretty hands-on and pragmatic, built on trust. Everyone brought their games and put them on a table for all to check out, you track what you drink and pay up at the end of the weekend, and you organize yourself in game groups by yourself (whilst the organizer always looked out that everyone was set and cared for). For dinner, we all ordered pizza together and talked, and it was just a very wholesome event full of respectful people without any remarks or comments that made me flinch.
Over the course of the weekend I played plenty of games (never had that many first plays on one day), and want to share some impressions.
Day 1: Saturday
When Tim and I arrived, everyone was already playing some games, so we decided to browse through all the games for two-player-options. We started with The Slasher, a horror-themed cooperative game. I quite liked the game, it was pretty fun how you could communicate with cards, and we managed to get an idea what to look out for quite early.
After that we were able to find some people to play with, and continued with most of them for the rest of the days with some changes. The next game I already knew: Farm Hand. You have to meet your bid in this micro-game (there are only 21 cards), and the color of your cards is visible on the back. There is some cleverness to it, but for me it fell flat.
My first highlight was the first shedding game we played right after that. In Spring Cleaning you are not allowed to sort your cards, but can put cards in front of you to take later (and sort in wherever you want). But the other players also can use those cards, which kind of helps you to get rid of your cards, but also can be devastating when you tried to set something up for yourself. I really had a lot of fun with this, and it is one of the two games I bought a used copy after the convention and have it now in my collection.
A third game I would love to own though is Magic Trick, which is out of print. It was picked up and got a new version (Xylotar), and we managed to play them both back-to-back for comparison. In both games the cards have the color on the back, and you give your cards to your neighbor. They sort them by number in ascending order, and can decide the order for numbers you have in multiple colors. You yourself never see the number, until you play them, which is a fun deduction element. Also, you are trying to bid on the number of tricks you win with the last card in your ‘hand’, which sound like a hot mess (and maybe it is), but it was just super fun. The main difference in both games is that Xylotar has different number ranges for the colors, whilst Magic Trick has the same amount of numbers for every color. I liked Magic Trick significantly better, and would love to play it again.
After that double trouble we went on to play Sweet Takes. And, forgive my pun, it was just a sweet experience, we immediately played it again. And a third time as well. It has two interesting hooks, the first one being that you have nine cards on your hand and three in front of you that you can play if you can follow suit, but prefer to play a mystery card. The other one is the scoring, because you get your cards as points if it is the lowest in that suit, so being not able to follow can give you some sweet points. Really enjoyed it, and whilst this is not a game I am actively looking for, if it pops up at a flea market I will probably take it home.
Schadenfreude was the next game we played, and whilst I was more in the mood to play games I don’t know, I really enjoyed teaching and playing this; it is after all one of my favorite trick-takers and a game I love to show people. It sounds so chaotic (which it is not, you have plenty of decision space) and cutthroat (which it is, definitely). The second highest card wins the trick, and you get your card and all non-lead-color cards as points. Unless you already have a card of this value already, then you lose it instead of gaining another. After someone reaches 40 points the game ends, but if you have over 40 points you lose. The play was a lot of fun, people were invested from the get go and it was a great experience.
The next game was my highlight of the convention. Bested Another Time is another shedding game, that breaks with it being beneficial to get rid of your cards for every run. When you pass, you get an ability card, that lets you add a wild, shed some cards, or start the next run. This makes timing super interesting in this game, and let’s you look at your hand differently. Also the Sai Beppu artwork is just so cute and clear.
With Odin we played another shedding game after that, and this fell flat for me. You can combine your cards for higher values, and have to pick up a card from the table when you play a new set. Maybe it was the difference to Bested Another Time before, but I had the same feeling with a lot of shedding games with limited agency and no room for decisions.
The last game of the evening at the location was 3 Tricky Pigs. This has some twists to it, with the main one that depending on the suits that are played you win the trick with the highest or lowest value. Also, you have to bid how many tricks you win. It was a little complicated to get into it (but it was also pretty late, so maybe that took its toll as well), and was a solid game that did not leave a lasting impression other that the theme was really nicely integrated.
After we said our goodbyes and went to our different accommodations, three of us randomly met in the ‘lobby’ of the box hotel we stayed in. Because we all did not play a game together / speak with each other the whole day, we decided spontaneously to sit down and play another game. We decided on Big Wave, a trick-taker with a pyramid distribution of cards (so plenty of fives, but only one one) where you can change the victory point value of the cards / tricks during the game. This was a neat puzzle and really nice to try, but did not compel me to play it again soon.
Day 2: Sunday
On the next day I was only able to stay a few hours to play before heading home. We started off with Tornei, another game that I already played before, but was really keen to play it again. Because of its really weird premise, it is not often picked for game night, which is a shame, because it is one hell of a trick-taking-game. You get 14 cards to play seven tricks, because for every trick you play two cards. One of them decides your rank in the trick (and all colors are differently strong, so you always have a clear placing), with the other you bet on your position beforehand (only knowing the card of the first player that everyone has to follow). There is plenty of hand management that comes with that, which I really enjoy.
The last game I played was Le Plateau, and I was pretty exited to try this out because there were plenty of people at the convention raving about it. It is a partnership game with an area-control / -connect aspect to it, based on the classic game of tarot. You start bidding for a pattern you have to achieve, and the person bidding the highest chooses their partner by picking a card (or playing solo). On the board there are the different cards, and when you win a specific card you control that spot on the board, as well as a spot for every trick (I should have taken a photo!). Le Plateau really felt unique and had super fun elements, but I felt the bidding part of the later round was basically where the game was decided, and if you scored high in the beginning you could play pretty defensibly to secure victory.
So there you go, this was a pretty brief overview about the games I tried at the first trick-taking (and shedding) convention I went to. If I can organize it to go again, I will for sure, because it really was a great weekend and I am super grateful to the organizers and the kind and nice people I met there. Special thanks goes to Tim, who played every game with me (except the late night hotel play). This was really a great experience.
