Trick Stakes

Trick Stakes: Be Both a Jockey and a Bettor!

Saddle up and place your bets on the race: can you win on both fronts?

In Trick Stakes, you’re both a jockey and a bettor. Lead your horse to the finish line by winning tricks, all while secretly betting on which horses will finish in the top two spots. Should you push your own horse or secretly help the one you’ve bet on? Created by Susumu Kawasaki, this clever and tense trick-taking game plays out as much on the table as it does on the racetrack.

How do you play Trick Stakes?

Before the race, place one Bet card face up, then a second face down, betting on a single winner or a winning pair. The race is played in tricks: follow the suit called, and the highest card moves its horse forward. Once per race, the riding crop changes the suit to follow. The race ends when two horses cross the finish line: the first is worth 4 points, the second 2, and bets pay out according to the odds, which vary from race to race. You play as many races as there are players, with a new horse to defend in each round. The winner is the person who scores the most points.

Why Fall in Love with Trick Stakes?

• Every trick is a double-edged sword: winning it or letting it slip away becomes a real choice
• Colorful card backs to read your opponents’ play and guess their bets
• A mix of deduction and bluffing, without tedious calculations
• The whip that keeps the race’s outcome up in the air until the very end

Content:

• 48 Race cards (1 through 12, in 4 colors)
• 4 Horse cards
• 4 Odds cards
• 20 Bet cards (4 × 5 types)
• 4 Whip cards
• 1 Fictional Jockey card (3-player game)
• 3 Track tiles
• 8 Organization tiles
• 4 Horse tokens and 4 cubes
• 1 score pad
• 1 rulebook