Plums

A trick-taking game with fruit cards where playing high does not mean you take the best card.

Designer: Matthias Cramer
Published by: Pegasus Spiele
Editions by: Lucrum Games, Crash Games

Plums, originally called Pi mal Pflaumen, is a trick-taking game with fruit instead of suits. The name plays on the German phrase for a rule of thumb and nods to the 17th and 18th century, when mathematician Leonhard Euler and naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian lived. Her detailed nature illustrations inspired the card art. On your turn you play one fruit card from your hand, then each player claims one of the played cards in order of strength, which means that winning a trick is not the same as scooping everything. Drafting, set collection and light bidding mix together. A neat, gentle game for three to five players, around forty minutes.

Trick-taking with fruit cardsClaim played cards by strength orderArt inspired by Maria Sibylla Merian

Who it's for

You like trick-taking with a twist and a clean look, and you want a game for three to five people that does not ask for much effort to explain.

Not for you if…

You want heavy strategy or a dramatic theme. It is a quiet card game, and the fun comes from small decisions.

Vibe's take

Gentle but sneaky. The cards look pretty, yet every play changes which fruit you can claim and which one you pass to the next hand.