Description

Mestieri (The Game of Trades) is an Italian card-game using a non-standard deck of 52 cards for 2 or 4 players. The cards are divided into 4 suits, each suit representing a trade: Mechanic, Bricklayer, Farmer or Carpenter. The cards within each suit do not have ranks and display tools or supplies that trade would use. For example, the Farmer cards include seed, a tractor and a scythe. Some cards belong to more than one suit (e.g. the bucket belongs to both the Bricklayer and Farmer suits). In addition, there is a fifth suit, labeled with a 'T'. These cards bear generic goodies like money, Industry, a first aid box and a 'Good Luck' card.

At the start of the game, each player receives a card specifying his trade for that hand. The object is to collect as many cards as you can that belong to your trade. At each turn, you pick one card from the previous player's unused cards. If it belongs to your suit, you add it to your sequence. Otherwise, it joins your unused cards which you then offer to the next player, who will pick a card, and so on. 'T' cards are wild cards that you can add to your sequence. There are three 'T' cards with a '?' on them and the words 'dillo tu' (name me). You can only add these cards to your sequence if you can name a tool/object that fits with your trade and is not already used in the game. The 'Good Luck' card has the power of negating an unused card in your hand - if you have the 'Good Luck' card and only one unused card, you can end the game immediately.

The game ends when any player runs out of unused cards. Unused cards count as penalties (I assume this means they subtract one from the length of your sequence). The winner of the game is the player with the longest sequence of cards bearing objects of their trade.