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?
Scharfe Schoten (a.k.a. "Hot Peppers") is a trick-taking game in which players predict their tricks — but instead of predicting the number of tricks they'll take, they have to state the color that they think they'll get the most or least tricks of.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Scharfe Schoten (a.k.a. "Hot Peppers") is a trick-taking game in which players predict their tricks — but instead of predicting the number of tricks they'll take, they have to state the color that they think they'll get the most or least tricks of. Since all cards show their color on the back, the players have more information than usual. In addition to cards in hand, the game includes a common supply of cards, some of which can be added to the tricks to make it easier to reach a player's goal. This strategy might backfire, however, if cards of the wrong color make it into a trick and you're aiming for a low score in that color. During each trick, you must follow suit, even with the special trump cards. This also makes it difficult to correctly predict which tricks you'll get. In the end, the player who comes closest to his predictions wins.