Full Sun Preview

This past winter, I learned how to play euchre for the first time ever. I had heard of the game, but never actually played it – in my family, we were more into Dominoes. That being said, my introduction to euchre was quick and concise, and I was promptly thrown into a family tournament against Travis’ in-laws (who are euchre PROS). Needless to say, my team lost miserably and we were knocked out of the tournament in the first round… But enough about euchre – this preview is for a card game called Full Sun. It is euchre-esque in its trick-taking mechanics, but I find it to be much more strategic and accessible to players of all types! So if you’re a euchre fan who is jonesing to get more people to play with you, come read how Full Sun could be a good fit!

Disclaimer: We were provided with a preview copy of the game for the purposes of this post. The components you see pictured below may change between now and the finalized published game. Also, I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook, but rather provide an overview of the rules and general gameplay. Look for this game coming to Kickstarter here in early August! -L

Full Sun is a trick-taking game in which players are trying to be the first to score a total of 3 points over the course of several rounds. To setup for a game, you must first create the game deck. The deck will consist of 4 different suits (trees), with numbers ranging from 1-18. The numbers used in a given game depend on the player count. Once the deck has been assembled, it is shuffled and a hand of cards is dealt to each player. The game is ready to begin! Each round consists of a series of turns in which players will be attempting to win tricks. In order to win a trick, you must have played the highest value card in the turn. Think kind of like ’war.’ Here’s the catch – you must follow suit of the player before you. There is no ’trump’ suit, you simply have to match the most recently played card. If you do not have a card in hand of the matching suit, you can play any card you want. And then the next player must match your suit. One cool element? All cards in the game have their suit printed on the BACK of the card too, so as the round is going, you can see if your opponents can follow suit or not. Just a neat strategic element to elevate the gameplay. Once all players have played a card, the turn ends – the player whose card had the highest number value wins the trick.

Turns continue in this fashion until the last card in your hand. The final card you play is what determines if you will score any points for this round. At the bottom of every card is a number of pips. When you play your last card and the trick is resolved, all players could potentially score points. If you have won exactly the number of tricks throughout the round as the pips on the bottom of your last card, you score a point. So you’re not necessarily trying to win the most tricks, but to strategize with your hand of cards to win exactly the number of tricks you need. After the players score points, a new round begins. The deck is shuffled anew, the role of dealer moves to the next player, and a new hand of cards is dealt. The direction of play also alternates in each new round. Play continues until a player has scored their 3rd point at the end of a round. That player is declared the winner!

I have to say that I am impressed with the gameplay that Full Sun offers. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into it, but after having played it now, I can say that it’s a unique twist on trick-taking. One thing I particularly like is how you score points. In most games, you’re trying to be the player who won the most tricks at the end of the round. But the fact that the last card in your hand is what determines whether you score points or not, it suddenly makes the earlier tricks much more strategic. Maybe you have a hand of high-value cards, so you’re willing to bet that you can win 4 tricks this round. Or maybe your hand is pretty low in value, so you opt to try for one or two tricks. As the round progresses and your hand of cards gets smaller, you have to commit to your strategy. Sometimes it’ll pay off, but sometimes it won’t and you end up with no points this round. I remember one distinct play in which Travis won 4 tricks, and his last card had 4 pips. The only problem? He ended up winning the last hand too, thus giving him 5 total tricks, and no points that round. There’s way more thought and strategy in this game than in your classic trick-taking game, and that keeps it fresh and engaging for me. And since every player chooses their own strategy, you never really know what your opponents are trying to do.

Another neat element of the game is that the suits are printed on the card backs as well. This can help inform your strategy as you can see what your opponents are holding in hand. Yeah, you can’t see the card values, but knowing the suit can be valuable too. Maybe you have a very high-value Beech suit card, and see that your neighbor has a Beech as well. You could choose to start the round off with that card, forcing your opponent to play their Beech since they must follow suit. And since your card is high, theirs probably won’t be, and that gives you a better chance to win the trick. It’s just an added element to inform strategy and it elevates Full Sun beyond a simple trick-taking game.

Although this is just a preview copy, and the finalized version may differ, I will touch on components for a minute. The game consists of a deck of cards and a handful of point tokens. The quality of them is fine, I have no issues there. The only thing I do have issue with is some of the artwork/color combinations on the cards. The numbers of each card are printed in black, and that goes over top of the tree artwork. For a couple of the suits, the tree art is also dark and it makes it difficult to read the number value. Perhaps if the numbers were printed in white, or a lighter color, or simply had a highlighted outline, it would completely alleviate this issue. Nothing wrong with the game itself, just something that was noticed in my plays.

All in all, Full Sun is a strategic little game. It puts a cool spin on trick-taking that I haven’t necessarily seen before, and that keeps it fun. The hardest part was probably getting classic euchre rules out of our heads and remembering that there’s no ‘trump’ suit. But once we got used to that and understood how points were scored, the game flowed pretty nicely. One thing I will say about this game is that the theme is pretty loose. I get the idea of making the suits different trees and such, but it ultimately really has no bearing on the gameplay at all. Again, not a knock on the game, but just something that seems a little disconnected to me.

Do I see myself playing Full Sun again? Absolutely! The added strategic elements take this beyond a simple trick-taking game, and I personally feel that it is more enjoyable this way. I definitely will be pulling this out when we need a strategic game that is relatively light on rules. This one is a keeper for sure. And guess what – Full Sun is coming to Kickstarter soon!!! Be sure to check out the campaign and back it for your own copy of this neat little card game. You won’t be disappointed.