To Shave a Kiwi 2026

To Shave a Kiwi is a trick-taking game for 2 players focused on being relentlessly precise within the narrow confines of a bidding range while being trapped by must trump, and even must overtrump as a rule! Those who land within their predicted range earn the sweet rewards of 5 bonus points. But those who fail might wind up with but a measly point to their name.

Each hand of To Shave a Kiwi is played over twelve tricks. The hand always starts with the Deal, after which both players Predict how many card points they’ll capture, then Play. After all the tricks are played, the round is Scored. If a player successfully captures card points that are within the range they predicted, they’ll score points for that range and a 5 point bonus! If they miss their bid, that’s okay too, because they’ll still get points for whichever range they did land in. The game was designed for use with Sean Ross’s Trifle deck, but is playable with a standard deck as well. Additionally, this game borrows heavily from the overall structure of the amazing Thread the Needle by DJ Kenel and part of the Dino Trix: Tarot Adventures games from New Mill Industries. To Shave a Kiwi is the second of four games in Fruit Salad, a series of games that pare down some of my recent favorites in order to make them more teachable and accessible to my family. Each game also features one suit as a fixed trump, which can be found in their titles.

—description from the designer