Description

Want a trick-taking cardgame that feels like an Internet flame war? If so, check out Trollin'.

In Trollin', the object of the game is to try to take as many trick cards as possible, without taking the most cards of the poison suit. If a player takes the most cards of the poison suit during a round/hand, they score no points for the round.

The game is playable with a reduced set of standard playing cards. In the 2 player version (the game is playable for 1-6 players), players play with Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 of all four suits. The deck also uses 2 Jokers of different markings that are part of the Trump suit, which is Spades in the game, and are of greater value than the Ace, which is the highest in the trump (Cards go from high to low as Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10). Players are dealt 9 cards each and 4 cards are not used and are placed face down, and out of play, for the round. As more players are added, more cards are added to the deck used.

The game also uses Hearts as the Poison suit. During a round, a player who took the most Heart cards scores zero points, while their opponent scores 1 point for each trick they won. In case of a tie for Hearts won in a trick, players score 1 point for each trick they won.

The game also features several optional rules, one of which is that a player can declare themselves Trollin' before the first trick is played. If a player declares Trollin', they score as many points as the number of trick they won, and their opponent(s) score 0 for the round, IF they player managed to take all available Heart cards that could be won. If the player declaring Trollin' fails to win all available Hearts, then they score zero points for a round and their opponent scores 1 point for each trick they won.

The game is played for a set number of rounds, or to a target score. The name of the game comes from the inspiration of the game, that is Internet flame wars and people trolling in forums on the Internet. The poison suit was discussed by the designer in Universal Mutators as a play mechanism.