Howdy, and welcome to Shoot the Moon! Moon is a trick-taking game similar to Spades or Bridge (or Texas 42), but is played with only 3 players. Each player guesses (bids) how many tricks they can win, and the opposing players attempt to prevent them from making it.
General Rules:
1: After drawing tiles, each player places their bid. The highest bidder sets which tiles act as trumps...a special kind of suit that beats any other kind of tile.
2. The leading player may set down any tile he/she wishes. If a non-trump is played, the leading tile is highest number on the tile. Doubles are considered the highest tile of any suit. The rest of the players MUST follow suit if they can. If they do not possess any matching tiles, then they can play a trump. Otherwise, they will automatically lose the trick.
3. A player may wish to “Shoot the Moon” with a bid of 21. They must win all the tricks in order to make this bid. Depending on the House Rules, a bid of 21 will end all bidding.
4. If the winning bidder fails to make their bid, their bid will be subtracted from their overall score.