Diamonds is a trick-taking game for 2 to 6 players. The basic rules are the same as standard trick-taking games. You must follow suit if you can, and the highest card in the lead suit wins the trick. There is no trump suit. What’s special about this game is the suit powers. There are four suits in the game, and the cards are numbered 1 to 15. 

 

The theme is jewellers. Each player has his own jewellery shop and vault, and you can place diamonds at both places. The difference between putting diamonds at your shop or your vault is diamonds at your shop might get stolen by your opponents. When the game ends, diamonds in your shop are worth 1pt each, and those in your vault are 2pts each. Everyone can see how many diamonds are at your shop, but the amount in your vault is secret. 

 

The winner of a trick gets to perform the action associated with the lead suit. It the suit is diamond, you earn a diamond and put it directly in your vault. If it is heart, you earn a diamond at your shop. If spade, you move a diamond from shop to vault. If club, you steal a diamond from the shop of a specific player. One interesting rule is if you are unable to follow suit and must play a card off suit, you get to perform the action associated with the card you play. So not being able to follow suit is a good thing. You won’t win the trick, but you get to do something. At the end of a round, you compare your cards won and see who has the most cards in each suit. The winners get to perform an action associated with the suit. So you do want to win tricks. 

 

 

There is a victim marker which gets passed around. Whenever anyone steals, they steal from the player holding the marker, and then the marker is passed left. If you steal when the marker is with you, you lose nothing. You just pass the marker to the next person. 

 

Diamonds is a pretty conventional trick-taking game, so it will be easy to teach non-gamers. The tactics are similar to traditional trick-taking games, and they will be able to play competently quickly. Mike Fitzgerald is the designer of the Mystery Rummy series which I greatly enjoy. Diamonds is built on top of a traditional game, but it adds some fun ideas, turning a traditional game into something new. It is a game that can be played in a light-hearted manner, but it does offer some strategic depth.