Torchlit

 

I have been playing many trick-taking games lately. I am not specifically a fan of the genre, but I don't dislike it either. If anyone suggests a trick-taking game, I'm usually happy to play. Torchlit is a trick-taking game which emphasises making predictions. Based on your starting hand, you secretly choose one card as your torch. This number is your prediction about how many tricks you will win. This card is kept until the final trick, when you have only two cards remaining. You have the option of playing this card normally and use your other remaining card as your torch, i.e. your prediction about the number of tricks you have won. 

Eight dungeon tiles are laid out like this. Every player gets a pretty wooden pawn. The dungeon tiles are just for recording how many tricks you have won so far. Everyone starts on the left, which means 0 tricks. The max is 7 tricks, and if you win more than 7 tricks, you circle back to the 0 space. Cards placed below the dungeon tiles are important. They are worth points. For every trick played, the winner advances his pawn. Some or possibly all of the cards in the trick will be added to dungeons based on the card values. For each suit, only one card will be added. If there are multiple cards in the same suit, it is the player with the lowest numbered card (not necessarily the weakest or the loser) who decides which card gets added. Having played the lowest card can be a powerful position. 

Most other trick-taking rules are pretty standard. You must follow suit if you can. There is a trump suit - red (called dragon). When a trick is lead by red, you don't have to follow suit. This is different from other games. Normally only cards in the lead suit can win. That, of course, is overwritten by trump suit cards. That's standard. One more exception is that for the very last trick, you don't have to follow suit. This is the trick where you take your torch back and you may switch your torch - the prediction about where your pawn will end up. 

You play three rounds and add up your points

The reference cards have different art but the content is the same

You can refer to the reference card above to understand how scoring works. At the end of a round, if your torch card is correct (matches the position of your pawn), you score 3 points. Else, that torch is added to the corresponding dungeon, and it becomes worth 2 points for any opponent(s) there. At each dungeon tile, trump cards are worth 2 points, and regular cards 1 point. You score points for where your pawn is. If players share the same location, they must share the points there too, rounded down. 

Throughout the round you are manipulating how many points each dungeon tile is worth, and you are also manipulating the positions of everyone's pawn. You have made a prediction, and getting it right certainly helps, but sometimes depending on how the round goes, you may intentionally get it wrong because some dungeon tiles are worth doing it. Or if you have a better backup torch in hand, work towards that. You want to move your opponents to the same tiles, so that they are forced to share points. You want to stay away from others, so that you don't have to share. 

This is almost like a market manipulation game, because you are constantly adjusting the values of the dungeon tiles. Low cards can be good because they help you control which cards are added to dungeons. Your choice of suit affects whether more cards are added to dungeons. You don't know exactly which dungeon tile you will end up on, and you do your best to control that. 

Torchlit, despite the great-looking components, doesn't stray far from standard trick-taking mechanisms. I feel this is a game you play in a calculative way. More meticulous accountant than monster-fighting warrior.