Eldritch Tricks

I will teach you the game you are about to lose.

— Father Dagon

A cooperative trick-taking card game for three to five investigators in the drowned town of Innsmouth. The whole table plays against Father Dagon, and against no one else.

Wishlist on Steam Watch the trailer

Windows, Mac and SteamOS, on Steam. Play solo with AI-controlled investigators, or online co-op with friends. Always against Dagon.

A trick-taking game with a god at the head of the table.

You know the shape of it already. Cards are dealt, a suit is led, you follow it if you can, and the high card takes the trick. Eldritch Tricks keeps those bones and hands them to Father Dagon.

Most nights, one suit is pulled from the deck and given to him. Before each trick a tentacle turns one of his cards face up. Its rank is the bar: whoever wins the trick must meet it, or the trick is Dagon's and everyone at the table pays a point of sanity.

There is no bidding and no score. Each investigator carries a personal goal, and the table wins only if every one of those goals is met by the end of the round. One failure, and Innsmouth keeps you all. At the end of the campaign he stops hiding behind a number, sits down, and deals himself a hand.

Losing on purpose is a skill. Learn it.

— Father Dagon, in the tutorial
A fish-faced Innsmouth man in a fedora and long coat walks a moonlit street at night, others like him close behind, past timbered houses and a motor car with its headlamps lit.
Innsmouth, after dark. The town would rather you hadn't come.

How a trick plays out

Four beats, every trick, on every night Dagon holds a suit. The suit changes from night to night; the shape of a trick does not.

  1. Dagon shows his card.

    Before anyone plays, a tentacle turns over a card from the suit that was taken out of the deck. Its number is the bar for this trick.

  2. The lead is played, and everyone follows.

    Follow the led suit if you hold it. If you can't, play anything. A trump from the Arcane deck ignores the bar entirely: a Spell can go down on any trick and costs a point of sanity to cast, a Relic is free but only plays when you cannot follow.

  3. The high card wins, if it clears the bar.

    Meet or beat Dagon's number and the trick is yours. Fall short and the trick is his, and every investigator at the table loses a point of sanity.

  4. Check your goal. Then check everyone else's.

    Each investigator has a goal of their own: win the fewest tricks, collect four Tomes, keep a rival beneath you. The table wins only when all of them are met. Anyone at zero sanity, and the night is over for everyone.

8

Dagon's card. The bar is 8.

7
2
9

Steel was led. The 9 wins the trick.

The 9 of Steel takes the trick only because it clears Dagon's 8. Had the best card at the table been the 7, the trick would be his, and each investigator would lose a point of sanity.

Six suits. Most nights, Dagon takes one.

The suit he takes becomes his deck for the night. You will not hold a single card of it.

  • The Cultist suit: a hooded figure in red robes.

    Cultist

    The faithful of the Esoteric Order, hooded, humming the town's true name.

  • The Steel suit: a dagger on grey.

    Steel

    The knife, the rope, the lantern. Everything a person can hold when nothing else holds.

  • The Tides suit: a finned, fanged Deep One face on blue.

    Tides

    The reef at low water, and what climbs out of it when the water comes back.

  • The Tomes suit: a locked book with an eye on its cover, on gold.

    Tomes

    Books that were shelved for a reason, read now in a hand that has stopped trembling.

  • The Void suit: a tentacled skull wreathed in violet flame.

    Void

    The dark between the stars, thinning over the docks. Some people lose their minds just by winning it.

  • The Wilds suit: a bare, twisted tree on marsh green.

    Wilds

    The marsh road out of town, and the graves along it that do not stay filled.

Sixteen investigators. Everyone at the table has to make it.

You arrive as Robert Olmstead. The town's own people join you across the campaign: a drunk, a postmistress, an innkeeper who probably informs on you, a priest without a faith. Each carries a goal, a sanity count, and often a burden.

  • Robert Olmstead, a young man in a tan jacket and loosened tie, satchel over his shoulder.

    Robert Olmstead

    The Outsider

    Came to Innsmouth for the truth. The town has already marked him for something else.

  • Zadok Allen, a white-bearded old man in a flat cap clutching a bottle.

    Zadok Allen

    The Old Drunk

    The last man who remembers. Gin-loose enough to talk, if the things at the window let him finish.

  • Inspector Legrasse, a heavy-set man in a dark hat and overcoat.

    Inspector Legrasse

    The Detective

    A federal lawman who cracks cults for a living. Every Void trick he wins costs him his nerve.

  • Abigail Marsh, a woman in a white high-collared blouse with her hair pinned up, holding a book.

    Abigail Marsh

    The Librarian

    Heir to the family's forbidden shelves. Collects Tomes, and resents anyone else who does.

  • Thomas Waite, a pale wide-eyed man in a dark cap and coat.

    Thomas Waite

    The Hybrid

    Walks between worlds. The sea calls to him through every Tides card on the table.

  • Edna Tilton, a grey-haired woman in black mourning dress.

    Edna Tilton

    The Widow

    They took her husband. She is wrong about everything except the knife.

  • Silas Marsh, a gaunt man in a pale suit with his arms folded.

    Silas Marsh

    The Prodigal Son

    Ran the refinery, walked away, came back to answer for it. Damned either way.

  • Solomon Orne, a lean old man in a cap leaning on a spade.

    Solomon Orne

    The Gravedigger

    Knows which graves are empty, and which ones shouldn't be.

  • Ruth Poole, a smiling woman in round spectacles and a red hat.

    Ruth Poole

    The Postmistress

    Has read every letter in Innsmouth. Knows every secret. Smiles about it.

  • Barnabas Gilman, a bald, moustached man in an apron with keys at his belt.

    Barnabas Gilman

    The Innkeeper

    Pours your drink, takes your coin, reports to the Order. Probably. Keeps a trump that works for Dagon.

  • Peg Eliot, a young woman in a cap and long yellow coat, a coil of rope at her hip.

    Peg Eliot

    The Bootlegger

    Runs liquor up the coast. Doesn't believe in fish-people. Believes in her boat.

  • Obed Marsh the Third, a scowling dark-haired man in a suit.

    Obed Marsh III

    The Convert

    Grandson of the man who damned the town. Came back to burn it down, with two points of sanity to spend.

  • Father Iwanicki, a tired grey-haired man in a clerical collar and cross.

    Father Iwanicki

    The Defrocked Priest

    Lost his faith and kept the collar. Once a night, he can pull someone back from the edge.

  • Ephraim Sprague, a slim moustached man in a violet suit fanning playing cards.

    Ephraim Sprague

    The Charlatan

    His tricks were fake. Until they weren't. His spells cost him nothing, which is the frightening part.

  • Jack Malloy, a young man in a flat cap and fingerless gloves, hunched forward.

    Jack Malloy

    The Thief

    Came for the Marsh gold and found something worse. The first trump anyone else plays ends up in his hand.

  • Old Hob, a white-bearded fisherman in a yellow oilskin with rope over his shoulder.

    Old Hob

    The Fisherman

    Forty years on the water. Doesn't talk about it. Once a night he can send Dagon's card back.

Sit a night at our table.

Game screenshots

Questions

No. Everyone at the table is on the same side against Father Dagon. There is no bidding, no score between players, and no way to win alone: the round is won only when every investigator's goal is met.

Yes. Choose your investigator and the other seats are taken by AI-controlled investigators who play their own hands and pursue their own goals. They never look at your cards.

Through Steam. One player hosts, friends join the lobby, and three to five investigators sit down at the same table. Lobbies are friends-only.

One mission is one round of tricks. The campaign is a run of missions through Innsmouth, each with its own suit taken out and its own rules. The tutorial, narrated by Father Dagon, takes about five minutes.

No. Everything you need is at the table. If you have read The Shadow over Innsmouth you will recognise the town and a few of its people; if you haven't, the town will introduce itself.

Steam on Windows, Mac or SteamOS.

Unsettling rather than frightening. It does not rely on jump scares. The dread is in the narration, the art, and the arithmetic of a trick you cannot win. Father Dagon's voice can be muted.

It is coming to Steam for Windows, Mac and SteamOS. There is no release date or price to announce yet; wishlisting it is the surest way to hear first.

Beat me if you can. But I lead, and the tide always comes in.

— Father Dagon

Coming to Steam for Windows, Mac and SteamOS.

Wishlist it, and Steam will tell you the moment the table is set.

Wishlist on Steam Join the Discord