Proving Ground 2025

A trick-taking skirmish game set in the fantasy world of Zanziar. You’re an orc chieftain winning competitions where each point scored allows you to choose the best spot for placing the sacred totems. Proving grounds reside between villages and are jointly populated and scored. In the end, only one village will honor the ancestral spirits the best!

In The Proving Ground deck you'll find six suits, all the suits are used regardless of player count. Each card has two values (shown on both ends of the card), representing different suits and ranks. Each suit and rank is thus represented twice in the deck. Players can use either value at any time. Ranks form a hexagon, where each rank has adjacent and opposite ranks. Playmat hexagons have two sides, one for 3 player, one for 4-5 players. All playmats have to use the same side in the game.

The lead player plays a single card at a time. In clockwise order, other players need to play a single card, doing one of the following: a) Play a card of the led suit of any value. b) Play a card of one of the two adjacent suits with a value greater than any previously played card. c) Pass. You can only pass if you have played something to this trick previously.

So, each time a suit is led, there are three legal suits to play. If a player cannot play any of the three legal suits even once, they must discard a card of their choice and take a Penalty. A game lasts 3 rounds. The closer the end of the game reaches, the more restricting the board states are for the players - forcing them to think which suit of tricks you can try to win and which suits you just would need to give a pass.