British history buffs and trick-taking fans, this one is for you. The Six of VIII is a card game about the six wives of Henry VIII, and its clever hook is that each queen gets her own suit, and that suit is trump only while she is on the throne. As the game marches along a timeline, the crown passes from one wife to the next and the trump suit shifts underneath you. After a couple of years as a hard-to-find import, it is getting a proper English edition from 25th Century Games.
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See how it worksDesigned by Carol LaGrow, it is a partnership trick-taker that plays best at four, with players sitting opposite their teammate and passing a couple of cards to open. You follow suit as normal and try to win tricks holding the valuable courtiers, but the shifting trump keeps you second-guessing which cards to spend now and which to hold back for a later reign. Some queens' suits run shorter than others, since the longer a wife's reign the more cards she gets, a nod to how much time each actually held the crown. The advanced game adds a King of England, who outranks every trump no matter who is currently queen, plus Spies to muddy the waters.
25th Century Games is bringing the English edition to Gen Con 2026 ahead of a wider release on 31 August 2026, priced at $14.99 in the US. If your group has worn out Cat in the Box and The Crew and fancies a trick-taker with a genuinely fresh gimmick, and a slice of Tudor history along the way, keep an eye out for this one. It is the kind of light, sharp card game that earns a permanent slot in the bag.
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Start organising for freeSources: Meeple Mountain | GeekDad | Game Nerdz
