As winter blows in and ghosts start to appear, play "tricks" to the past, present, and future.
As turns progress, your foes will play - out of order - to any of these time periods, and you will start to figure out who might "lead" each trick. Even though you can play to the tricks in any order, the tricks will resolve based on who was leading. Can you figure out who will be leading or manipulate the leader to set yourself up to win tricks?
Points are awarded to whomever has correctly bid on the number of tricks they thought they'd win. If you’ve played as many hands as there are players, the game is now over, otherwise keep playing! Whoever has the highest score and collected the most wreaths wins the game!
—description from publisher
Time Palatrix is a trick-taking game played in four rounds of three tricks each. First the cards are dealt out, and players bid on how many tricks they think they will win. Each player has a mat with three numbered spaces for cards, and on their turn plays a card in one of those spaces. If that card is the first to be played in that number space, it sets the suit for that space. Other players must follow suit on that space, or play on a different space. Once all three tricks are complete, the winners are determined, the cards are cleared, and the next round begins. Points are awarded if you correctly bid on the number of tricks you won.
—user summary
- Innovative tri-area scoring with dynamic following rules
- Beautiful components and art
- Rules heavy; may require a longer setup for new players
- Alicorn of Dickensian specters in a card tableau
- Past, present, and future Christmas themes themed around ghostly visits
- Thematic, story-driven mechanics with a ghostly motif
- Empire's End (No Thanks bidding mechanic inspiration)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area_scoring_based_on_first_led — Scoring uses the first-led card in each area as the basis for you to compare others.
- color/suit_following_with_a_twist — Presence of a trump (red) and forced following rules with a twist based on area.
- tableau_building — Each player builds a personal tableau for each of the three areas.
- Trick-taking — Players play to three different tableaux: past, present, and future.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we have to say thank you to everybody out there for subscribing
- the energy of Pax unplugged was unbelievable
- the experience is driven by the person who's rolling the dice
- this is a long-term game for me