The Crow & The Pitcher – Tricky Trick-Taking from Sean MacDonald

Günter Cornett’s trick-taking card game Flaschenteufel has long been admired for featuring a strong theme that’s meaningful and relevant to the game play, while also being an extremely good game. Not an easy goal to fulfill for a card game!

Sean D. MacDonald has followed a similar path with his trick-taking game The Crow & The Pitcher, the theme of which comes from a fable attributed to Aesop in which a thirsty crow fills a pitcher with pebbles one by one until the water in the pitcher rises high enough that the crow can drink. (3-4 players, ages 12+, 30-40 minutes, $15)

In MacDonald’s game, the card deck consists of 27 stone cards (nine each in three colors), 9 drought cards, and 12 pitcher cards; the stone and drought cards are shuffled together and dealt evenly to each player. The game lasts nine or twelve rounds depending on the number of players, with a new pitcher card being revealed each round. The lead player plays a card, and the other players must follow suit, if possible. Add the stone cards of the suit led, disregarding those equal or higher than the value of the pitcher. If the sum of those cards equals or tops the value of the pitcher, the player with the highest valued stone card takes the trick; if the sum doesn’t “fill the pitcher,” then the player with the lowest valued stone card takes both the trick and the pitcher.

Once a player breaks the drought suit by playing one, drought cards can be led on a trick, with the highest drought “winning” the trick. Once the round ends, player total their points, with stone cards being worth 1-3 points (with lower values worth more than high ones), drought cards being worth negative points, and pitchers worth -5 points. Thus, if you contribute the least to filling a pitcher, then you’re punished by taking home the pitcher.

MacDonald is taking preorders for The Crow & The Pitcher through his own NoMADS Games on a standalone website, which includes preliminary rules for the game. (I say “preliminary” because a number of questions about what to do in certain circumstances aren’t answered. Presumably those few details will be clarified prior to the game’s release.)

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