Illuminate

Illuminate is a trick taking game with a Biblical twist.

Players earn points by winning exactly the number of tricks they bid for the hand. The number of cards dealt in a hand increases as the game progresses. The winner is the player with the most points when the pre-specified number of hands have been played.

The Biblical twist to the game is that instead of “trump” cards that are the same for all players, each player takes on a role at the beginning of the game which corresponds with what we see in the gospel accounts (doctor, neighbor, preacher, teacher). Cards that match that role (that have a matching symbol) are “grace” (unmerited favor) cards only for that player. Four special cards in the deck can also disrupt the normal rules of play, making it more challenging for players to make their bid.

The Illuminate playing deck has 4 suits named for the four Gospels in the Bible. Each suit has 12 cards each of which is identified by a specific passage in that Gospel. The value of each card is based on the chapter and first verse in that passage. A card with a higher chapter has a higher value. If two cards are from the same chapter, then the one with the higher verse has a higher value.

The deck also has four cards that represent four roles that can be taken by the game players: Doctor, Neighbor, Preacher, and Teacher. Each Role Card has a symbol on it: a medical symbol, a heart, a church, and a bell respectively. These symbols also show up on the 48 playing cards in the four suits. This mechanism can be used to represent which cards are “trump” (or “grace”) cards for each player. For example, a card with a heart on it can be used as a trump/grace card for the player with the neighbor Role Card.

Four of the cards in the deck have a star symbol instead of a role symbol. These cards include specific instructions that apply when that card is played.

At the beginning of each hand, players bid the number of tricks they expect to take in that hand and score points based on how accurate their bid was.

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.