Pompiers!

Pompiers! is a trick-taking game by Sirou Yamaoka in which winning the most tricks is rarely the best strategy. Instead, every round puts missions in front of you, such as winning exactly one trick or avoiding every red card. Take the right tricks at the right time and you score.

A round consists of ten tricks with mandatory following of suit. At the start of each round, a card flipped from the pile decides the trump colour. With four or five players part of the deck is left unused, so you never know exactly what your opponents are holding. You lay the tricks you win out in a grid in front of you, so you can always see how your round is going.

Besides the five basic missions, which can be completed again every round, there are emergency missions you can only complete once per game. After five rounds, the player with the most points wins. Easy to teach, yet with enough tactics to make every round feel different.