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1 player · 20–30 min · 52 cards, no jokers

The Emissary

A solo trick-taking game: win exactly the right number of debates in eight kingdoms.

The idea

You're a young noble seeking allies. Each kingdom's ruler has a favorite topic (trump suit) and demands that you win an exact number of debates — one in the first kingdom, eight in the last. Your Jacks are advisors with once-per-kingdom powers, and every ruler you win over lends you a one-time power too. Winning too many is as bad as too few.

Setup

  1. Lay the eight 9s and 10s face down in a row: the kingdoms (their values don't matter).
  2. Shuffle the Kings and Queens and deal one face up on each kingdom, left to right. These are the rulers; each ruler's suit is that kingdom's trump.
  3. Put the four Jacks aside face up: you and your advisors.
  4. Shuffle the remaining 32 cards into a face-down deck.

How to play

Visit a kingdom

  • Draw 8 cards, look at them, then pick a kingdom you haven't visited yet.
  • Its position is the number of debates you must win — exactly. The 1st kingdom needs 1, the 8th needs 8.

Debate

  • Flip the top deck card face up: that's the ruler's point. Answer with one card from your hand.
  • You must follow suit if you can; otherwise play anything.
  • You win the debate with a higher card of the same suit, or with any trump when the ruler's card isn't trump. Aces are low.
  • Won debates go to your scoring pile; lost ones to the discard pile. Keep going until your hand is empty.

Advisor powers

  • Before any debate, you may turn a face-up Jack face down to use its suit's power. Each Jack works once per kingdom.
  • Hearts: discard every trump in your hand. Clubs: draw a card for each club you hold. Spades: swap this kingdom's ruler with an unvisited kingdom's ruler. Diamonds: draw 2, then discard 2.
  • If the deck runs out, shuffle the discards to make a new one.

After each kingdom

  • If you won exactly the right number of debates, that ruler joins you. Later you can turn them face down once to use their suit's power.
  • Shuffle all the cards back together, turn your Jacks face up again (not won rulers), draw 8 and choose the next kingdom.

Winning, losing and score

You win
Win over all eight rulers.
You lose
Finish any kingdom with the wrong number of wins.
Score
Kingdoms won plus allied rulers whose power you never used — 16 is perfect.

Tips

  • Kingdoms 1 and 8 are the hardest. Gather allies first and save them for a good hand.