Other options with three include The Bottle Imp (which I don't play frequently enough to get good at) and Wizard (which runs long with three), but those who want the feeling of Tichu while having only a trio of players will soon have a new option thanks to Ralph H. (I've tried Threechu a couple of times and find it an interesting spin on the game as everyone has more information, which leads you to better guess who has which cards, which can alter your approach to playing out a hand.)

What if you have three players, though? Tichu includes rules for a three-player variant called 'Threechu' in which players take turns partnering with a face-up dummy hand that they control, but most Tichu fanatics would rather lie down on the floor and spin in circles than play Threechu. I still remember the outcries when I played over a partner who had called 'Tichu', and that scene will probably be part of my deathbed flashback given how strongly it's embedded. It took me a long time to get the nerve to call 'Tichu' when playing with those guys, as they could replay a hand by memory as soon as it finished and they all had strong opinions about every little detail of the game and how to play it. In the mid-2000s, for example, I participated in a game group in mid-Massachusetts at which many people played nothing but Tichu.

For many gamers, Urs Hostettler's Tichu is the go-to title when you have four at the table and want to play a trick-taking game, or a card game, or, well, anything.

How is the hound played in tichu