Back in August, Gen Con 2024 came and went. The tabletop convention held many delights, including a chance to get the newest Dungeons & Dragons Player Handbook early. In addition, it played host to several early previews, including The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game.
The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game Preview
The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game was previewed by game designer and Board Game Geek co-editor W Eric Martin in an official post on the website.
According to Martin, the game was designed by Bryan Bommueller. Bommueller is also the Creative Sourcing Manager for the Asmodee Group studio Office Dog. It's a co-op game for 2-4 players and broken up into 18 chapters. Those chapters are themed after story beats from Fellowship of the Ring.
In each chapter, you lay out the four starting characters and shuffle the deck, then place one card at random face up under the chapter card, then deal cards to each player. Each deck contains 37 cards broken up into four suits numbered 1-8 and one suit numbered 1-5. The four suits of 1-8 are Forest, Hill, Mountain, and Shadow. The 1-5 suit is the Ring.
From there, players claim a starting character. Each character has a unique challenge alongside set-up details. For example, whoever has Frodo must also have The One Ring card.
Once this set up is handled, The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game should be familiar. Frodo leads the first trick. Players must play a card in the same suit when possible. Highest card in the suit ends. Ring cards cannot be played until someone plays a ring off-suit in a trick. Once all players meet their goals, the next chapter begins.
A small twist comes in the implementation of The One Ring card. The owner can choose whether or not the card trumps or not.
Martin's preview of The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game is from an outsider perspective. He admits he's not a Lord of the Rings fan but enjoyed his time with the game, experiencing the game's first five chapters and praising the stained glass card artwork by Elaine Ryan and Samuel Shimota.
At time of writing, there is no release date for The Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game.
