Compañeros (2011)

Overview

Compañeros is a trick-taking game that includes six colored suits of cards, each numbered 1 through 10. In the game, you use as many suits as the number of players participating.

Shuffle the cards, place a number of cards equal to the number of players face up on the table, then deal the remainder of the cards evenly amongst the players.

The starting player opens the trick by playing any card of his hand. The other players follow by playing any card from their hand. (Players are not obligated to match suit, and the game uses no trump.) After each player has played to the trick, the players add up the individual card values for each suit (color) separately.

The trick is won by the player(s) who have played a card in the color with the highest total. The player who played the highest card in that color gets to choose all cards of a color of his choice from the cards in the middle and keeps them as victory points. Then, the player with the second highest card in that color gets to choose, etc. Finally, the cards that were played during the trick are placed in the middle of the table for the next trick. If two or more colors are tied with high value, then no one who played in those colors (or any colors with a lower sum) scores any cards.

Once all nine tricks have been played, players add up the values of the cards they won during the game. The player with the highest total wins.