TRICKY CULTISTS

Components

• Cult Deck — the playing cards, in four suits: Blue, Red, Green, and Purple
• Agenda Cards
• Suspicion Cards — each worth −1 VP at scoring
• Round Bonus Cards
• Trump Cards — placed face up to show the current trump suit
• Pencil and paper for scoring

Each deck has its own distinct card back.

Setup

Form two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other, so that play alternates between teams around the table (as in Spades or Bridge).

Shuffle the Cult Deck. Set the other decks aside for now.

Choose a Start Player. The game lasts four rounds, and each player will be the Start Player exactly once. After the fourth round, tally the final score and declare a winner.

Round Setup

1. Deal. Deal each player 10 cards. This is their hand. Then deal each player 3 additional cards, face down, to form their Codex. A player may look at their own Codex at any time, but never at another player's. Each player begins the round with 10 cards in hand and 3 in their Codex.
2. Draft Agendas. Shuffle the Agenda Cards and deal 5 to the Start Player. They secretly choose one and pass the remainder to the left. Continue until every player has an Agenda. Set the leftover cards aside; they are not used this round.

   A player may decline to take an Agenda. If they do, they take a Suspicion instead.

3. Reveal. All players reveal their Agendas simultaneously.
   • If a player took Lead First Trick, that player leads the first trick. Otherwise, the Start Player leads.
   • If a player took Choose Bonus Suit, that player chooses a Round Bonus Card and places it face up where everyone can see it. Tricks won in that suit are worth +1 point each at scoring.

Agendas

Each Agenda names a condition. If a player meets it by the end of the round, they gain the points (VP) listed on the card. If they fail, they lose the points listed on the card.

Example — "Win Most Tricks": If this player has won the most tricks at the end of the round, they score 3 VP. If they have not, they lose 2 VP.

Ties never resolve an Agenda. If a tie prevents a condition from being clearly met, the player neither gains nor loses points.

The Eight Agendas

Agenda Notes

• Lead First Trick — This player leads the first trick of the round. They also immediately gain one Suspicion.
• Win No Tricks — The player attempts to win zero tricks (as in "going nil" in Spades). If they succeed, they score 2 VP and may steal one trick from a player on the opposing team before scoring. The stolen trick's point value transfers with it, but the theft does not retroactively affect whether the opposing team met their own Agendas.

Playing a Round

Tricky Cultists plays much like Spades, with no bidding, bags, or nil.

The leader plays one card, establishing the led suit. In turn order, each player must follow the led suit if able. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card.

Winning the trick. The highest card of the led suit wins — unless a trump suit has been declared and one or more trump cards were played, in which case the highest trump wins. There is no trump suit at the start of a round.

The winner gathers all four cards into a face-up stack in front of them with the winning card on top. This matters: the top card determines the trick's point value at scoring.

Triggering the suit ability. After the trick is gathered, the player who played the second-highest card of the led suit triggers that suit's ability.

Assess both the highest and second-highest led-suit cards before gathering the trick — it's easy to lose track once the stack is squared up.

Suit Abilities

The led suit determines which ability triggers, regardless of what wins the trick. Even if a trick is won by trump, look to the second-highest card of the led suit to see who triggers the ability.

Once a trump suit has been declared, some trump remains in effect for the rest of the round. A Red ability may change it, but can never remove it.

A player can trigger their own lead. If a player leads Purple and no other Purple cards are played, that player holds both the highest and second-highest card of the led suit — and therefore triggers the Purple ability themselves.

Hand sizes may drift. A player who takes a card from their Codex via the Green ability will have more cards than the others. The round still ends when the first player runs out.

Suspicion

Each Suspicion a player holds is worth −1 VP at scoring, as printed on the card.

However, the player with the most Suspicion discards all of it before scoring takes effect — they suffer no penalty. If two or more players are tied for the most, no one has the most, and no one discards.

Suspicion that is not discarded carries over into the next round.

End of the Round

The round ends the moment any one player runs out of cards. Finish the current trick, then resolve Agendas and score.

Scoring

Score each team separately. Partners' points are combined into a single team total.

1. Resolve Agendas. Award or subtract points as each Agenda dictates. If a player succeeded at Win No Tricks, they steal one trick from an opposing player now.
2. Score tricks. Each player scores the point value of every trick stacked in front of them. A card's value is printed in the circle in its top-right corner. Lower cards are worth more points — for example, a card of rank 5 is worth 4 points.
3. Apply the Round Bonus. If a Round Bonus suit was chosen, each player scores +1 per trick won in that suit.
4. Discard Suspicion. The player holding the most Suspicion discards all of it. All other players keep theirs into the next round.
5. Apply Suspicion penalties. Each player loses 1 point per Suspicion still in front of them.

Next Round

The player to the left of the current Start Player becomes the new Start Player. Repeat all of the above.

After all four players have been Start Player, tally the final scores.

Strategy Notes

Suspicion is a sharper tool than it first appears. Because the player with the most Suspicion sheds all of it for free, there are moments where the smart play is to pile it onto yourself — or to hand a rival exactly enough to force a tie, so that nobody escapes the penalty. Remember that a Purple trigger always permits you to target yourself.