• Mostly standard trick taking rules - Hearts
• There is a board in the center of the table where each Suit has a tracker, with its pawn starting in the middle.
• X _ _ _ _ _P_ _ _ _ _ Y. (P = pawn, X/Y = locked in positions)
• Each Suit can be pulled left or right on its own personal spectrum
• When a suit's pawn makes it to the extreme end of a tracker, it "locks in" and cannot be manipulated further
• Thematic - Pious/corrupt, Liberal/conservative, etc. We're taking tricks to bribe and alter their positions.
• When a player wins a trick of a specific suit, they may move that suit's pawn left or right one space.
• Trumps take over the track being moved.
• Perhaps they can move it left or right a number of spaces depending on if certain cards were won in the trick?
• Ex: 2s, 3s, & 4s are worth an extra tick each if they appear in the trick won
• If you think someone is likely to move a suit's pawn the way you want, you can help them without taking the trick yourself. High-swing cards are only useful in other player's winnings.
• Or perhaps it moves left or right depending on the value of the card that won the trick?
• Odds right, evens left
• Or 2-7 left, 8-A right
• Both would be lopsided, favoring one direction. Highest card would pull things in a singular direction.
• The goal should be that it's never directly clear what a player wants - the way the hand played out moves the needle, not the clear and singular choice of the player who won.
• Or players can identify who wants what and support them by not overriding them.
• At the start of the game, each player is secretly dealt two special face down (that only they may look at) indicating which position they'd like each suit's pawn to hold at the end of the game.
• 1pt if on the correct side of the spectrum, 2pts if pushed and locked in per objective.
• Ex. Hearts and Spades corrupt, Clubs and Diamonds Pious
• Each card has a different distribution of positions, guaranteeing that all players will have some objective overlap but no one is aiming for the same thing.
• In what order they'd like to see suits lock in.
• Each round, after hands are dealt, each player passes one card to the left and one card to the right.
• (?) Each round, players discard their last unplayed card. It is not shuffled back into the deck for the next round.
• Lets players hold back cards they'd like to remove from the game moving forward
• Each player only knows what they themselves have removed, and can remind themselves by looking at their personal discard pile
• Game continues over multiple hands until all but one faction has locked in, or until the deck runs out of cards.

• Possibilities for Trumps:
• 1. One normal suit is also a trump suit (Hearts)
• 2. There's a 5th suit of like only 4 trump cards (like the Crew)
• 3. No trumps, cards played out of suit don't disrupt the current suit (but could still give ticks if low)
• 4. One card flips over from deck after hands are dealt, defines trump suit (Oh Hell)
• (?) What if Trump = # & Suit? # trump over suit trump.
• Ex. 2spade: 2s are trump, spades are secondary trump. (Too luck based?)
• 5. First card played off-suit determined Trump
• Or second card off suit?
• Add a bidding mechanism?
• Different points (ticks) for cards in trick?
• Lets players help each other if they think the trick winner will move the tracker the way they want
• Is this too simple?
• Players must follow suit, but can choose to low ball the trick's "strength" (tics) by playing low
• Perhaps allow players to play off suit?
• Perhaps add a new snag: Each round, players discard their last unplayed card. It is not shuffled back into the deck for the next round.
• Lets players hold back cards they'd like to remove from the game moving forward
• Each player only knows what they themselves have removed, and can remind themselves by looking at their personal discard pile
• Or a different strategy: at the beginning of each round, players discard one card from their hand. This becomes a "stock" invested in that suit.
• Secretly removes a card from the game, and lets players "buy into" suits.
• Perhaps later they can "sell" shares by bringing them back into the game, or trading them for other cards from their hand.
• Or it adds a point to your score if that group is where you want it to be?
• This idea also works for a held back card. If you get that suit where you want it without spending all your own cards of that suit on it, you can hold one back and get more points for it.
• Perhaps when you win a trick you may either spend it to push a pawn, OR invest in a political party? (set of pawn interests. Spade left, Diamond right, etc.)

Playtest notes:

• Remove a suit from deck for 3 players
• Trump should not change which track players are playing on - always lead card = track
• if you want to affect trump track, save trump card for leading
• What if, instead of getting points for if token is on correct side of each track, it's the difference between two positions?
• Instead of Club (+), Spade (+), you score 1 point for the delta between Club and Spade
• Similar but, you don't need the cube in a specific place, you need both pucks interacting.
• Each tick matters, more dynamic, more granular scoring.