Skull King Rules: The Pirate Trick-Taking Game

Skull King is a trick-taking game in which you bid the exact number of tricks you think you will win in each round. That is the whole tension of the game: you are not trying to win as many tricks as possible, but exactly as many as you announced — keeping your bid afloat while taking every chance to sink your opponents. The pirate with the highest score at the end of the game wins and earns the title of Captain of the Seven Seas.

Components

The deck is made of suited cards — 14 Parrot (green), 14 Treasure Map (purple), 14 Treasure Chest (yellow) and 14 Jolly Roger (black) — and special cards: 5 Pirates, 1 Tigress, 1 Skull King, 2 Mermaids and 5 Escapes. The box also contains expansion cards used with the advanced rules (2 Loot, 1 Kraken, 1 White Whale), plus 16 player aids, 16 bid-reminder cards, 4 blank cards and a score pad.

Setup

First remove the 8 cards reserved for the advanced rules: the 4 blank cards, the 2 Loot cards, the Kraken and the White Whale. Then give each player a player aid and a set of bid-reminder cards; unused aids and reminder cards go back in the box. Shuffle the remaining cards and get ready to board.

The Basics

• Trick: each player, clockwise, plays one card face-up on the table. Whoever plays the strongest card wins the trick and gathers the won cards into a pile in front of them.
• Round: a round consists of as many tricks as there are cards dealt. In the third round, 3 cards are dealt, so 3 tricks will be played.
• Suit: the numbered cards run from 1 to 14 in four families — green, purple, yellow and black.
• Trump: the black cards (Jolly Roger) are trumps and beat every other suit. A green 14 is therefore weaker than a black 1.
• Following suit: the first card played in a trick sets the suit to follow, and players must play that suit if they hold it. Cards without a number never have to be followed.

Dealing: 10 Rounds

Skull King is played over 10 rounds. One card is dealt to each player in the first round, two in the second, and so on up to 10 cards in the tenth. All the cards — including those already played — are shuffled again at the start of every round. With more than six players, make sure everyone has the same number of cards in the last rounds: with 7 or 8 players, fewer than 9 or 10 cards may therefore be dealt in rounds 9 and 10.

Bidding

Once you have looked at your cards, estimate the exact number of tricks you expect to win this round — the higher a card's value, the better its chances of taking a trick. When everybody is ready, knock your fist on the table three times while shouting "Yo-ho-ho!" in unison. On the third knock, everyone holds out a number of fingers equal to their bid, or a closed fist for a bid of zero. Your two bid-reminder cards, laid one on top of the other, display your bid (two face-down cards for a bid of 10), and one player records every bid on the score pad. Bidding more than 5? Simply announce your bid out loud instead of using your fingers.

Suited Cards

The three ordinary suits are green (Parrot), yellow (Treasure Chest) and purple (Treasure Map); black (Jolly Roger) is the trump suit. If a suited card opens the trick, every player must follow that suit when playing a numbered card. If you cannot follow, play any suit you like — but a card of a different suit cannot win the trick, even with a higher value. Only black escapes that rule and beats every other suit whatever its value.

Example: Pauline leads the yellow 12, Felix follows with the yellow 5, and Suzie, who has no yellow, plays the black 2. Even though 2 is the lowest value played, Suzie wins the trick because trump beats all other suits.

Special Cards

Special cards override the rules for numbered cards: you may play one in any trick, even when you would normally have to follow suit.

• Escape (5): played in order not to win, they lose against every other card. Ideal for securing a low bid.
• Pirate (5): they beat all numbered cards and are of equal value among themselves — if several pirates land in the same trick, the first one played wins.
• Tigress (1): when you play her, you decide whether she counts as a Pirate or an Escape, and she then has every characteristic of the chosen power.
• Skull King (1): he beats all numbered cards and all pirates, including the Tigress played as a pirate. Only the mermaids can defeat him.
• Mermaid (2): they beat all numbered cards but lose to every pirate — except the Skull King. If both mermaids are in the same trick, the first one played wins.

If a pirate, the Skull King and a mermaid all land in the same trick, the mermaid always wins, whatever the order of play. In the rare case where every player plays an Escape (or the Tigress as an escape), the first card played takes the trick.

Leading with a Special Card

When you lead, you may play either a suited card or a special card. If the first card is an Escape (or the Tigress as an escape), the next player determines the suit to follow; if they also play such a card, the choice passes to the following player. When a character (mermaid, pirate, Skull King, Tigress as a pirate) leads a trick, there is no suit to follow and everyone else plays whatever they want.

Turn Order

Once the bids are in, the player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick by playing a card face-up in the middle of the table, and play continues clockwise until every dealt card has been played.

Scoring and End of Game

Bids and points are recorded round after round on the score pad provided. The exact scoring scale — what a fulfilled bid is worth, what a missed bid costs, and the bonuses tied to the special cards — is set out in the scoring pages of the official rulebook, worth reading before your first game. At the end of the tenth round, the player with the best total is crowned Captain of the Seven Seas.

Common Variants

The cards set aside during setup (Loot, Kraken, White Whale, blank cards) belong to the advanced rules described in the rulebook. Once you know the basics, the booklet also allows you to change the number of rounds and the number of cards dealt.

Where to Get the Game

skull king card game on Amazon

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

1. Bidding the number of tricks you want rather than the number you will actually win — overshooting your bid is just as bad as falling short.
2. Forgetting that black is trump and overrating a 14 in an ordinary suit.
3. Hoarding your Escape cards, when their whole purpose is to dodge a trick you did not plan to win.
4. Playing a mermaid expecting her to beat pirates: she loses to them, and only triumphs over the Skull King.

FAQ

How many rounds does a game last? Ten: one card dealt in the first round, up to ten in the tenth.

What happens if two pirates are played in the same trick? They are of equal value, so the first pirate played wins the trick.

Is the Tigress a pirate or an escape? You choose when you play her, and she takes on every characteristic of the chosen power.

Who wins between a pirate, the Skull King and a mermaid? The mermaid, regardless of the order in which the cards were played.

Can we play with 7 or 8 players? Yes — just make sure everyone gets the same number of cards in the final rounds, dealing fewer than 9 or 10 cards in rounds 9 and 10 if necessary.

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