How to Play

Sticheln is a modern trick-taking card game (Klaus Palesch, 1993) for 3-8 players. You may play any card at any time; every suit except the one led is trump; and cards of your secret pain suit cost you points equal to their rank.

Sticheln ('playing for tricks' in German, also published in English as 'Stick 'Em') is a modern trick-taking card game designed by Klaus Palesch and first published in 1993 by Amigo Spiele. It is a sharp reimagining of the trick-taking genre with two defining twists. First, there is no follow-suit obligation: you may play any card you like, and every suit except the one led counts as trump for that trick, so an off-suit card usually wins. Second, before every round each player secretly picks a 'pain suit' (Schmerzfarbe); for the rest of that round, every card they capture in that colour scores negative points equal to its rank. Cards of any other colour score +1. Sticheln rewards reading opponents, dumping painful cards before they figure out your colour, and ruthless targeting once you have figured out theirs. Play lasts as many rounds as there are players (each player deals once) and the winner is whoever has the highest cumulative score.

Players

Sticheln is designed for 3 to 8 players, with 4 to 6 being the sweet spot. Three-player games feel deterministic because reading two opponents is easy; seven or eight can be unruly but highly social. Each player deals once during a match, so a 5-player game consists of exactly 5 rounds. Play proceeds clockwise.

Card Deck

Sticheln ships with a custom 106-card deck of six suits (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple, plus a special Yellow 0), with ranks 0 through 14 in each colour (not every colour contains every rank; the deck is deliberately asymmetric). For each number of players, a specified subset of suits is used (for example, 4 players use four of the six suits). You can approximate the game with a standard deck by combining two 52-card French packs to form four to six suits of adequate length; the published deck is preferred for balanced play. No Jokers.

Objective

Be the player with the highest total score after every player has dealt once. Score by winning tricks full of cards outside your pain suit (each such card: +1 point) while avoiding winning cards of your declared pain suit (each such card: minus the card's rank, so a pain-suit 14 costs 14 points).

Setup and Deal

1. Choose the correct suit set for the player count per the rule-book's table. For a standard-deck approximation, use 4 suits for 4 players, 5 for 5, and so on; set aside low cards (0-2 in each suit) to keep the deck around 14-16 cards per player.
2. Shuffle the agreed deck thoroughly. The first dealer is chosen by any means; the deal rotates clockwise thereafter.
3. Deal all cards out evenly, clockwise, one at a time. Each player gets the same number of cards. Any extra cards are set aside face-down and will not be played this round.
4. Pain suit selection: Each player privately examines their hand, selects one card from it to represent their pain suit, and places it face-down in front of them. All players reveal simultaneously. That card's colour is each player's pain suit for the round. The card itself stays in play and may be led or played as a trick card normally.
5. The dealer leads the first trick with any card from their hand.

Gameplay

1. No follow-suit rule: On your turn, play any card you like from your hand. There is no obligation to follow the suit that was led.
2. Trick resolution: The led suit acts as the weakest suit for this trick. Any other suit played counts as trump for the trick. If one or more 'trump' cards (that is, cards of any suit other than the led suit) are played, the highest card of the most recently played trump suit wins; if multiple players play trumps of the same suit, highest in that suit wins. If every player plays the led suit, the highest card of that suit wins. In practice, since every suit except the led one is trump, most tricks are won by the first off-suit card played or by the highest card of the last trump suit played.
3. Specific resolution clarifier: When several different non-led suits are played in a trick, the one played most recently takes priority; within that suit, highest rank wins. This makes turn order critical: playing an off-suit card later in the trick is often stronger than doing so earlier.
4. Winning the trick: The winner gathers all the cards played that trick and stacks them face-down in front of them (separating pain-suit captures is helpful for scoring at round end). The trick winner leads the next trick.
5. End of round: Play continues until every card in every hand has been played. Then reveal and score.

Scoring

• Each player separates the cards they captured this round into their pain-suit pile and their other-suit pile.
• Other suit cards: +1 point each, regardless of rank.
• Pain suit cards: Minus the card's rank in points (for example, a pain-suit 11 is minus 11). The Yellow 0 (or any 0 card) is neutral: 0 points even if it is your pain suit.
• Your round score is the sum of these positives and negatives; negative totals are allowed.
• Record each player's round score. After the final round (once every player has dealt once), add all round scores.

Winning

The player with the highest cumulative score after every player has dealt once wins the match. Negative totals are valid results and are often how games end. Ties are broken by the most rounds with a positive score; if still tied, play one more round (each tied player deals in turn across shared rounds) to settle the match.

Common Variations

• Open pain suits: Reveal all pain-suit cards before the first lead. Turns the game into a pure hunting exercise; best for new players.
• Two-pain-suit variant: Each player picks two pain cards instead of one, so every player has two suits that cost them points. Much harder.
• Fixed rounds: Agree on a fixed number of rounds (often 3 or 5) rather than one per player. Useful for long or short sessions.
• Stick 'Em (English edition): Rules are identical; only the colour scheme and suit names differ.
• Four-suit French-deck version: Use a standard 52-card deck with 4 players. Each suit is a colour; use ranks 2-14 (treat Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13, Ace = 14).

Tips and Strategy

• Pain-suit choice is everything. Pick the suit where you hold the fewest and lowest cards. The ideal choice is a suit where you hold just one or two low cards, or none at all.
• Dump pain cards early. A high pain-suit card in your hand is a ticking bomb; play it to a trick that you are confident an opponent will win, and do so before they have read your pain suit.
• Read the table. When an opponent repeatedly dumps cards of one colour into tricks they are losing, that colour is almost certainly their pain suit. Once you have figured it out, target them: lead or play exactly the suits and ranks that will push their pain cards into their own tricks.
• Use the led-suit = weak rule. If you lead your own suit, you are guaranteed to lose the trick to any off-suit card. This is actually useful: leading a low pain-suit card of your own offloads it onto the winner, who likely does not have that suit as pain.
• Play late for control. Because the most recently played trump suit takes priority, being last in a trick lets you drop a single trump and steal the trick from dominant hands.
• Zero cards are safe dumps. A 0 of your pain suit scores 0 points; play it whenever you want to keep the trick count without any risk.

Glossary

• Pain suit (Schmerzfarbe): The secret suit you pick at the start of each round; winning cards of this suit costs you points equal to their rank.
• Trump suit: Any suit other than the led suit for the current trick; off-suit plays always beat on-suit plays.
• Led suit: The suit of the first card played to a trick; the weakest suit for that trick only.
• Stick 'Em: The English-language title of Sticheln.
• Off-suit play: Playing a card in a suit other than the one led; usually wins the trick.
• Trick pile: The cards you have captured this round, separated into pain-suit and other-suit piles at scoring time.
• Schmerzkarte: The single card you flipped face-down at round start to indicate your pain suit.