Who goes first in Shadow Cards?

Rule details

The German manual covers 2–5 players. Before playing tricks, everyone simultaneously chooses cards for a secret points prediction. The opening criterion selects who leads the first trick.

The first trick leader plays one card. The others each play one card clockwise. The winner of a trick leads the next trick.

For each later round, the next person clockwise after the previous round's starting player leads its first trick. The vision criterion is not repeated to choose each later trick or round.

With 3–5 players, the game lasts three rounds. The 2-player rules use four rounds and three prediction cards; the second round uses the two remaining undealt piles instead of reshuffling. The same trick-play instructions apply.

The gradual introduction in a group's first game changes scoring across the first three rounds; it does not supply a different opening selector. Shared winners on a final-score tie are not an opening tie-break.

If there’s a tie

The rulebook doesn’t say.