I am hoping to find a developer who would like to bring a fun trick taking card game released in 1998 and listed in Games Magazine's top 100 family games of the year 2000 to BGA. Thousands of copies of this card game have been distributed over the years, and several players have contacted me to see if Summon was available to play online during the pandemic. I would be delighted to work with someone on development for BGA, and if we end up with a finished product that works well, I will mail them a dozen decks of the card game at my expense so they will have hard copies to share with friends and family. Please reply if you are interested in this project.
The art work files are ready to go (they are simply scanned images of the cards). This is a standard 4 x 13 deck with one additional card, the Dragon. Here are the rules:
Summon The Dragon
The original rules for 4-player partnership
Concept: An open bidding trump game designed so that you can't say, "I never get a hand I can bid on."
Object of the Game: To be the first team to reach a score of 500 points by bidding and taking tricks. If both sides exceed 500 points on the same hand, and your team has the higher total, you win. If time won't permit a full game, feel free to set your own winning total prior to beginning the match.
The Deck: The deck used in Summon™ consists of 53 cards, four suits of 13 cards and one special card, the Dragon. The suits correspond to the four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Each suit has cards numbered from 1 to 8 and five face cards: the Mage, Warrior, Queen, King, and Elemental (in order of increasing rank).
The Deal: Shuffle and cut the deck. Deal a card to each player, in order around the table, then put a card face down in the center of the table for the kitty. Repeat until the kitty has 5 cards, then deal out the remainder of the deck. Please do not look at your cards until all the cards are dealt... it's impolite. When dealing is finished, each player should have a 12-card hand. After a hand the deal rotates to the left.
Misdeal: If a butterfingers dealer exposes one of your cards during the deal you can opt to keep the card- "It's an elemental, deal on my friend," or deny it and call for a reshuffle and redeal- “Really it's not because it's a 7, it's the principle of the thing... let's just redeal."
The Bid: Players bid for the privilege of selecting the trump suit, “taking the option” (explained later) and leading the first card. There is a great advantage to winning the bid, since any card of the trump suit you call (even the lowest) will be of higher rank than any card of another suit. Players, beginning to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise, bid how many of the tricks their team will take and make one of six designations. The designations are: the four possible trump suits (Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water), and the two 'no-trump' designations.
Bidding “high no-trump” simply means that no suit has priority, and the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. “Low, no-trump” is the same except that the lowest card of the lead suit wins the trick. With 6 ways to bid and “taking the option,” every hand can be a winner, it's all in the call.
The minimum opening bid is 3 tricks, and each succeeding bid must be higher by at least one trick. Players must either over-bid or say, "I pass." Having passed, you may not bid again during that hand. Bidding continues until all players have passed except one; that player has set the bid for the current hand. The maximum bid is 13; one for each trick to be taken except the last, which is counted as two.
To bid effectively, look at your hand and consider each of the six bidding designations. After looking “high” and “low” and checking the suits, calculate how many tricks your hand will very likely take plus 1 or 2 more from your partner and “the option”' Accurate bidding develops with experience. Almost all bids under 7 will be successful, most over 10 will not be. Your team loses quite a few points for “going set” - bidding more than you take (see The Score) but if you never set the bid (and thus never set the trump) you will probably lose anyway. As they say, "you have to be in it to win it.”
Bidding Example:
Four Players (A, B, C, D) are playing, with A on the Dealer's left (opposite partner C). A has a few Kings and Queens, and thus opens with "3 high, no-trump." B has a number of good Earth cards, and jumps to "7 Earth" to try to scare others out early. C, buoyed by partner A's bid of “high no,” decides on "8 Water." D doesn’t have many of partner B's Earth cards and is afraid to push the team to a 9-bid, and passes. A passes, as not to over-bid his partner. B decides that with “taking the option” his hand is strong and bids "9 Earth.'' C regretfully passes, and B wins the bid with “9 Earth."
Note: Players may bid one designation in one bidding round and another in the next, but when everyone else passes, the last bid may not be changed.
Taking the option: Congratulations B, you won the bid and set the designation. Now take the option before leading the first trick. You have three choices:
1) Summon the Dragon: The dragon is wild, and therefore always the highest trump card if a suit is bid, and you may summon the card from the player to whom it was dealt. That player has no choice but to relinquish the dragon to you, but in exchange is given the kitty, from which they select any cards they wish. Remember that both players must discard back to a 12-card hand (one from you and four from the dragon-giver). In a “no-trump” hand, the dragon is still wild) and can be the highest or lowest card in any suit, depending on the needs of the person holding the card.
2) Take the kitty: Taking the 5-card kitty (then selecting and discarding as above) is a good idea if you already have the dragon or bid too high and want to gamble on getting more help from the kitty than from the dragon (it does happen sometimes, but not often).
3) Go no-help: You may choose neither dragon nor kitty, in an effort to earn 25 extra points. Why, you ask? Sometimes everyone chickens out on a low bid that you know you have covered, and you can't overbid yourself.
Note: If you summon and no dragon appears, take the kitty, it must be in there, and good for you.
The Play: Once all hands are back to 12 cards, place the discards aside so that they are not later mistaken for a trick. You lead, and play proceeds clockwise. Players must always follow the lead suit if possible. If a player is void in the lead suit, trump must be played. If the player is void in lead and trump, off-suit is played, which can never win a trick. Remember, the dragon is the highest-ranking trump, and must be played as a card of that suit; if the dragon is the lead card, all other players must follow suit with trump if they can. In a “no-trump” hand, the dragon can be called highest or lowest of any suit. Remember that if you have a card of the lead suit, you must play it, even if someone else has already played trump.
Winning the trick: If no one plays trump on a trick, the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. If player(s) trumped, the highest-ranking trump played wins. The player who wins the trick collects it and places it face down on the table near either member of the team, then leads the next trick. With the exception of the one just played, the tricks may not be reviewed. Players may wish to stack the tricks they win in a “t” shape to make them easier to count later. The final trick is always turned face up to remind players to count it as two tricks.
The Score: If the bid-setting team wins at least as many tricks as they bid, they earn 10 points for each trick they bid, plus 5 for any extra tricks. Remember that the last trick is counted twice. If they do not win enough tricks, the team “goes set.” Going set means a team loses 10 points for each trick bid, minus an extra 5 for each trick they were short.
The non-bidding team always earns 5 points per trick.
Note: If the option was “no-help” and the bid is made, an extra 25 points is awarded. there is no additional penalty for going set on a “no-help.”
Scoring Examples:
1) Suppose B bids “9 Earth” and the team takes 11 tricks. They earn 10 times the 9 bid = 90. In addition, they earn 5 times 2 extra tricks = 100 total; the other team earns 5 times their 2 tricks = 10 points.
2) Now suppose B had the same 9 bid and only won 7 tricks; they were “set.” The team loses the same 90 points (10 times the bid of 9) minus an additional 5 times the 2 tricks they missed by = negative 100. The defenders now took 13- 7 = 6 tricks, so they earn 5 times 6 tricks = 30 points.
Glossary of Card Playing Terms
Bid: Before the trick-taking, all players, clockwise from the left of the dealer, state the number of tricks they believe they (or their team) can win during the hand.
Trick (or Book): A group of cards on the table after each player has played a card.
Trump: A card of the suit designated during the bidding to supersede all other suits. The lowest trump can defeat the highest card of the lead suit.
Winning a Trick: Playing the highest card of the lead suit if no one plays trump, or the highest ranking trump if trump is played.
Lead Suit: The suit of the first card played in a trick.
Off-Suit: Any suit other than trump or the lead suit in a trick.
Throwing-Off: The playing of an off-suit, which can never win a trick; the player must be void in lead and trump.
Void: To have no cards of the lead suit. In Summon™ this allows, indeed obligates, the play of trump if possible and throwing-off if the player is void in both the lead suit and trump.
Summon The Dragon™ is a product of Stephen Claude Smith's Xenith Creativity Co.
Lynchburg, Virginia
Rules and Artwork ©1998
The art work files are ready to go (they are simply scanned images of the cards). This is a standard 4 x 13 deck with one additional card, the Dragon. Here are the rules:
Summon The Dragon
The original rules for 4-player partnership
Concept: An open bidding trump game designed so that you can't say, "I never get a hand I can bid on."
Object of the Game: To be the first team to reach a score of 500 points by bidding and taking tricks. If both sides exceed 500 points on the same hand, and your team has the higher total, you win. If time won't permit a full game, feel free to set your own winning total prior to beginning the match.
The Deck: The deck used in Summon™ consists of 53 cards, four suits of 13 cards and one special card, the Dragon. The suits correspond to the four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Each suit has cards numbered from 1 to 8 and five face cards: the Mage, Warrior, Queen, King, and Elemental (in order of increasing rank).
The Deal: Shuffle and cut the deck. Deal a card to each player, in order around the table, then put a card face down in the center of the table for the kitty. Repeat until the kitty has 5 cards, then deal out the remainder of the deck. Please do not look at your cards until all the cards are dealt... it's impolite. When dealing is finished, each player should have a 12-card hand. After a hand the deal rotates to the left.
Misdeal: If a butterfingers dealer exposes one of your cards during the deal you can opt to keep the card- "It's an elemental, deal on my friend," or deny it and call for a reshuffle and redeal- “Really it's not because it's a 7, it's the principle of the thing... let's just redeal."
The Bid: Players bid for the privilege of selecting the trump suit, “taking the option” (explained later) and leading the first card. There is a great advantage to winning the bid, since any card of the trump suit you call (even the lowest) will be of higher rank than any card of another suit. Players, beginning to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise, bid how many of the tricks their team will take and make one of six designations. The designations are: the four possible trump suits (Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water), and the two 'no-trump' designations.
Bidding “high no-trump” simply means that no suit has priority, and the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. “Low, no-trump” is the same except that the lowest card of the lead suit wins the trick. With 6 ways to bid and “taking the option,” every hand can be a winner, it's all in the call.
The minimum opening bid is 3 tricks, and each succeeding bid must be higher by at least one trick. Players must either over-bid or say, "I pass." Having passed, you may not bid again during that hand. Bidding continues until all players have passed except one; that player has set the bid for the current hand. The maximum bid is 13; one for each trick to be taken except the last, which is counted as two.
To bid effectively, look at your hand and consider each of the six bidding designations. After looking “high” and “low” and checking the suits, calculate how many tricks your hand will very likely take plus 1 or 2 more from your partner and “the option”' Accurate bidding develops with experience. Almost all bids under 7 will be successful, most over 10 will not be. Your team loses quite a few points for “going set” - bidding more than you take (see The Score) but if you never set the bid (and thus never set the trump) you will probably lose anyway. As they say, "you have to be in it to win it.”
Bidding Example:
Four Players (A, B, C, D) are playing, with A on the Dealer's left (opposite partner C). A has a few Kings and Queens, and thus opens with "3 high, no-trump." B has a number of good Earth cards, and jumps to "7 Earth" to try to scare others out early. C, buoyed by partner A's bid of “high no,” decides on "8 Water." D doesn’t have many of partner B's Earth cards and is afraid to push the team to a 9-bid, and passes. A passes, as not to over-bid his partner. B decides that with “taking the option” his hand is strong and bids "9 Earth.'' C regretfully passes, and B wins the bid with “9 Earth."
Note: Players may bid one designation in one bidding round and another in the next, but when everyone else passes, the last bid may not be changed.
Taking the option: Congratulations B, you won the bid and set the designation. Now take the option before leading the first trick. You have three choices:
1) Summon the Dragon: The dragon is wild, and therefore always the highest trump card if a suit is bid, and you may summon the card from the player to whom it was dealt. That player has no choice but to relinquish the dragon to you, but in exchange is given the kitty, from which they select any cards they wish. Remember that both players must discard back to a 12-card hand (one from you and four from the dragon-giver). In a “no-trump” hand, the dragon is still wild) and can be the highest or lowest card in any suit, depending on the needs of the person holding the card.
2) Take the kitty: Taking the 5-card kitty (then selecting and discarding as above) is a good idea if you already have the dragon or bid too high and want to gamble on getting more help from the kitty than from the dragon (it does happen sometimes, but not often).
3) Go no-help: You may choose neither dragon nor kitty, in an effort to earn 25 extra points. Why, you ask? Sometimes everyone chickens out on a low bid that you know you have covered, and you can't overbid yourself.
Note: If you summon and no dragon appears, take the kitty, it must be in there, and good for you.
The Play: Once all hands are back to 12 cards, place the discards aside so that they are not later mistaken for a trick. You lead, and play proceeds clockwise. Players must always follow the lead suit if possible. If a player is void in the lead suit, trump must be played. If the player is void in lead and trump, off-suit is played, which can never win a trick. Remember, the dragon is the highest-ranking trump, and must be played as a card of that suit; if the dragon is the lead card, all other players must follow suit with trump if they can. In a “no-trump” hand, the dragon can be called highest or lowest of any suit. Remember that if you have a card of the lead suit, you must play it, even if someone else has already played trump.
Winning the trick: If no one plays trump on a trick, the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. If player(s) trumped, the highest-ranking trump played wins. The player who wins the trick collects it and places it face down on the table near either member of the team, then leads the next trick. With the exception of the one just played, the tricks may not be reviewed. Players may wish to stack the tricks they win in a “t” shape to make them easier to count later. The final trick is always turned face up to remind players to count it as two tricks.
The Score: If the bid-setting team wins at least as many tricks as they bid, they earn 10 points for each trick they bid, plus 5 for any extra tricks. Remember that the last trick is counted twice. If they do not win enough tricks, the team “goes set.” Going set means a team loses 10 points for each trick bid, minus an extra 5 for each trick they were short.
The non-bidding team always earns 5 points per trick.
Note: If the option was “no-help” and the bid is made, an extra 25 points is awarded. there is no additional penalty for going set on a “no-help.”
Scoring Examples:
1) Suppose B bids “9 Earth” and the team takes 11 tricks. They earn 10 times the 9 bid = 90. In addition, they earn 5 times 2 extra tricks = 100 total; the other team earns 5 times their 2 tricks = 10 points.
2) Now suppose B had the same 9 bid and only won 7 tricks; they were “set.” The team loses the same 90 points (10 times the bid of 9) minus an additional 5 times the 2 tricks they missed by = negative 100. The defenders now took 13- 7 = 6 tricks, so they earn 5 times 6 tricks = 30 points.
Glossary of Card Playing Terms
Bid: Before the trick-taking, all players, clockwise from the left of the dealer, state the number of tricks they believe they (or their team) can win during the hand.
Trick (or Book): A group of cards on the table after each player has played a card.
Trump: A card of the suit designated during the bidding to supersede all other suits. The lowest trump can defeat the highest card of the lead suit.
Winning a Trick: Playing the highest card of the lead suit if no one plays trump, or the highest ranking trump if trump is played.
Lead Suit: The suit of the first card played in a trick.
Off-Suit: Any suit other than trump or the lead suit in a trick.
Throwing-Off: The playing of an off-suit, which can never win a trick; the player must be void in lead and trump.
Void: To have no cards of the lead suit. In Summon™ this allows, indeed obligates, the play of trump if possible and throwing-off if the player is void in both the lead suit and trump.
Summon The Dragon™ is a product of Stephen Claude Smith's Xenith Creativity Co.
Lynchburg, Virginia
Rules and Artwork ©1998