Ultimo 2022

A 2-player game with an ordinary deck, with elements of ulti, tarock, schnapsen. Players bid to take 100 card points and for achieving certain feats in winning tricks, such as winning the last trick with a trump 7, or capturing all four aces. Declarer plays against a defender playing two cards to the trick: one from their hand and one from a mini-dummy hand that gets replenished after every trick.

In Ultimo each and every time you make a bid in the auction you must first donate one card to the kitty that will be available to your opponent right after, and donate another card to what will become a dummy played by whomever turns out to be defender. Deciding which cards to plant in the dummy and which to give your opponent is a conundrum, especially before you know if you’ll be playing the dummy or against it. You can even raise your own bid or bluff trying to get better cards–but when do you stop this game of chicken?

(Part of the Traditional Two Player Trilogy: Esculenta, Ultimo, Schmegegge)

—description from the designer