Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is a sharp three-to-five-player trick-taking game in which conventional success is usually one step too far. Players must follow the led suit when able, there is no trump suit, and the second-highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. That player keeps the card they played plus every off-suit card in the trick as a personal scoring pile. The catch is duplication: a player may hold only one card of each value, so collecting a matching number causes both copies to be discarded. At the end of a hand, the surviving values are added to the player’s running score. The game ends when someone exceeds forty points, but that player cannot win; victory goes to the player closest to forty without going over. The result is a constant reversal of instinct. A high card may protect an opponent, an off-suit discard may poison a future trick, and the score you want now may become the score that eliminates you later. The 2026 Office Dog global edition updates the original Studio Turbine design with new art, packaging, a score track, and clarified rules while preserving ctr’s elegant core puzzle.