Heckin Hounds (2023)

Overview

Heckin Hounds is a 2-7 player trick-taking game exploring the perils of professional dog walking in the Underworld.

Players are given the task of walking Hades' collection of hounds. Do your job too well, and she'll promote you to management - a responsibility feared throughout the realm. Do your job too poorly, and you'll be demoted to professional dog food instead.

The game is played with your hand facing outward, giving you no knowledge of the hounds you have. Every round has a different player serving as the shift leader, who can see both their hand and everyone else’s. The shift leader gives each player three clues as to the hounds they are holding - how helpful, useless, or beguiling the clue is up to you, but they must be true. The shift leader also assigns Cerberus to a player, a trump card pup that wins any trick he shows up to.

Players have a few opportunities to try and manage their luck, and must promise how many shifts they will work (tricks they will take) based on the limited information they have of their own hand, and the hands of the other players they can see. Cards are played, tricks are won, and a new round begins. After everyone has taken a turn as the shift leader, the game is over. The player who scored the least without going negative did the least amount of work without being fired, and wins the game!

Thus, Heckin Hounds is a game of being barely adequate.

—description from the publisher