Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Faux Diamonds is a 4-suit trick-taking game in which players sell their cards (diamonds) on value tracks that change after each sale. After a series of hands, the winner is the player who has accumulated the most wealth.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Faux Diamonds is a 4-suit trick-taking game in which players sell their cards (diamonds) on value tracks that change after each sale. After a series of hands, the winner is the player who has accumulated the most wealth. You have tough choices to make in Faux Diamonds. Will you sell high by winning the trick? Or, if you don’t have any of the led suit, which alternative market gives you the best chance of profit? Be careful, your opponents can also play Faux Diamonds at any time, and this will cause the markets to fluctuate! The deck in Faux Diamonds consists of sixty cards, numbered 1-13 in 4 different suits as well as 8 faux diamond cards. In each round, the players start with a hand of ten cards. Each player will select one card to keep facedown as their end of round diamond sale. One player leads a card, and everyone else must play one card, following suit if possible. As you play a card, if you cannot follow suit, you immediately get to sell a diamond in the suit you did play. The player who played the highest card in the suit that was led wins the trick, and also gets to sell a diamond. The player who won the trick leads a card to start the next trick. After a full Round of nine tricks, each player will then sell their end of round diamond. Players then start a new round. Whoever has accumulated the most wealth at the end of the game wins!