Who Starts This Mess? is a trick taking game.
The goal of the game is to end up with the most points at the end of the game. The game lasts four rounds (hands) with seven tricks in each round. Each trick is represented by a tile (which can be positive or negative). All of the tiles are known and in the order they will come out.
A round consists of drafting your hand from all the available cards. You can also get chips that count towards end game points in the drafting process. After the draft, the hands are played out acquiring point tiles. At the end of each round, player with the most tiles/tricks gets bonus points. Also, you will be carrying over three cards into the next round.
End of the game, more points are gained by being in the top three in the number of tricks, highest total on your three remaining cards and the number of chips gained from drafting.