The full guide to the pirate trick-taking game: ten rounds, an exact bid on the number of tricks, the Black Sails trump and special cards — Skull King, Mermaid and Pirate. Read it, then straight to the table.
Skull King is a trick-taking card game that runs for ten rounds. In each round, before the play begins, you announce in advance exactly how many tricks you intend to take. Points are awarded only for hitting your bid exactly: no more, no less. Overshoot or undershoot and you take a penalty.
The winner of the game is the one with the highest total score after the tenth round. The main intrigue is not "win as many tricks as possible" but to predict your result precisely and play so that your bid comes true.
The round number sets the size of the deal: in round 1 each player is dealt one card, in round 2 — two, and so on, up to ten cards in round 10. The further the game goes, the more cards in hand and the harder the bid.
Besides the ordinary cards of four suits, the deck holds special cards: the Skull King 👑, Mermaids 🧜♀️, Pirates 🏴☠️ and Escapes (flags) 🏳️. One of the suits — Black Sails ⛵ — serves as trump and beats any number cards of the other suits.
Each round begins with the bidding phase. Having studied your cards, you announce a number from 0 to the number of cards in hand: exactly that many tricks you expect to take. A bid of zero ("I'll go dry") is legal and often profitable. Once all players have bid, the play begins.
Players take turns laying down one card each — this forms a trick. The first player sets the led suit, everyone else adds their cards, and then the strongest card takes the trick.
If you hold a card of the suit the first player led, you must play it. If you have no card of that suit, play anything: a trump, a special card or a discard of another suit.
The Black Sails suit is trump. Any of its cards beats the number cards of the other suits, even when a different suit was led. Trumps are compared against one another by rank.
From strongest to weakest: Skull King 👑 → Mermaid 🧜♀️ → Pirate 🏴☠️ → trump (Black Sails ⛵) → the led suit by rank. Pirates beat every number card. The Escape (flag) 🏳️ never contends for the trick and always loses.
Normally the Skull King beats everything, but there is one exception: the Mermaid 🧜♀️ defeats the Skull King. This creates a ring: the King beats pirates, pirates beat everything numbered, and the Mermaid intercepts the King himself.
The winner of a trick leads the next one. Whoever takes the last trick of a round opens the play at the start of the new round.
Points are scored at the end of each round based on the bid. A precise hit on a bid of one or more gives +20 for each bid trick. A bid of zero, fulfilled cleanly, brings +10 per round number (the later the round, the more a dry bid is worth).
A miss is punished: for every trick of difference between bid and outcome you lose −10 per unit of deviation, counted as |bid − won|. Capturing the Skull King and Mermaids brings extra bonus points in certain situations. After the tenth round, the player with the highest final score wins.
Before bidding, gauge how many Black Sails and Pirates you have and whether you hold the Skull King. They almost guarantee tricks and help you name the number precisely.
A weak hand with no trumps and no high cards is a reason to bid zero. In late rounds a dry bid is worth a lot: +10 per round number.
When you have no led suit, get rid of dangerously strong cards if you're afraid of overshooting. The Escape (flag) is a handy safe discard.
The Mermaid intercepts the Skull King. If an opponent is sure to play the King at the right moment, hold the Mermaid back and take the trick.
The bid is the heart of the game: points come only from an exact hit, so the point is not to "grab as much as possible" but to assess your hand honestly. Count not cards in general, but exactly the ones that will actually take a trick in this deal.
The Skull King, Mermaids and Pirates almost always take. Add the high Black Sails ⛵ and the high cards of your long suits — that is the base of your bid.
Bidding last, you have already heard the others' numbers. If the sum of bids is well below the number of tricks in the round — someone is bound to overshoot, and an extra trick is easier to push onto them.
A dry hand with no trumps and no figures is a reason to bid zero. In late rounds it is worth +10 per round number, but a single stray trick wipes it all out: keep short suits for an honest discard.
Two sure things (an ace and a trump) plus a shaky queen and a junk two — the honest bid here is 2, not 3.
The bid is made — now the task is to play exactly to it. There are two different modes: if you need to add tricks, you attack with high cards; if you need to shed the spare ones, you carefully lose tricks without dropping figures for nothing.
The Mermaid beats the Skull King — the only answer to him. Don't spend her on a number trick: wait for your opponent to play the King, then intercept.
If you bid a lot, push your long suit and Black Sails while opponents still have cards to cover. Once their trumps are gone, you take the late tricks calmly.
The Pirate beats any number card and trump, but loses to the Mermaid and the King. It is a reliable way to take a needed trick without risking a high suit.
Clubs were led; a weak trump ⛵ beats a big seven-ace of another suit — the trump matters more than the face value.
Wins and losses in Skull King are more often decided not by suits but by the four figures. Their ranking is not a line but a ring: the Skull King beats Pirates, Pirates beat everything numbered, but the Mermaid intercepts the King himself. Whoever remembers this ring controls the trick.
Stronger than any number card and any Pirate. Capturing Pirates with the King in a single trick brings bonus points — but remember the Mermaid.
She loses to Pirates but beats the Skull King. Taking the King with the Mermaid is both a trick and a bonus: keep her as a trump against the opponent's King.
The flag always loses. It is the ideal discard for a bid of zero or when you need to give a trick to an opponent without parting with a valuable card.
The ring: the King beats the Pirate, the Pirate beats the Mermaid, the Mermaid beats the King — a closed circle of power.
Most points in Skull King are lost not to bad cards but to greed and inattention to the bid. Let's go over the typical failures that cost beginners the most.
Every extra trick is a minus, not a plus. Bid 2 and take a third — you lose all the round's points and get a penalty. Sometimes you have to lose a trick on purpose.
Playing the Skull King on the very first trick means being left with no answer to the opponents' figures. High cards are saved for the moments when a trick is truly needed.
While you hold the led suit, you may not play a trump or figures. When planning your bid, don't count a trump as a trick where you are obliged to follow suit.
Five cards of one suit will almost surely give you a trick. A dry bid is safe only on short mixed-suit hands with no figures.
Three high clubs — a bid of zero is doomed: there's nothing to discard such a suit onto, and the trick will come by itself.