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Four Dragons

Four Dragons

Jolly Roger Games · 2000
3–420–30 min12+ yrs2.4/5 complexity6.6 BGG#7.077 BGG803
short answer

How do you play Four Dragons?

From the designer Frank Branham: A 4 player partnership trick taking game themed around the Mexican Day of the Dead. (A particular favorite holiday of ours, as Sandi and I were married on that day in Marietta Confederate Cemetery.

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Four Dragons box art
official art · Jolly Roger Games

From the designer Frank Branham: A 4 player partnership trick taking game themed around the Mexican Day of the Dead. (A particular favorite holiday of ours, as Sandi and I were married on that day in Marietta Confederate Cemetery.) It is short (about 30 minutes), and rather brain bending.

Dia De Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead) is played over three days as you send animals, then children, then adults on to the afterlife. It is a basic trick taking game, except that most cards have an action with them. You play as a partnership, and if your side wins scoring cards (the dead or food), you exchange a card with your opponent. Other cards allow swaps between partners, asking a question, cancelling other cards and so on.

The first time you play, there's a lot of checking the rules, checking the crib sheet, remembering if you exchange cards. You spend more time figuring the game than playing the tricks. But after a couple of hands, it makes sense and you switch to game-playing mode. And here's where it pays. If you enjoy Bridge, you can figure out what your partner signals when they swap a card, or you can read the deck based on what's been played, you will really enjoy Dia De Los Muertos. If you don't like Bridge, or can't figure trick-taking games anyway, steer well clear. It is rather brain-bending.

The original game has nice native graphics of the dead abroad and has a variant for 3 players. The re-issue as Four Dragons has an oriental theme.

Not to be confused with:

 Dia de los Muertos (2007)
 Dia de los Muertos (2016)
game anatomy
Complexity2.4 / 5
BGG rating6.6 / 10
Language dependence
No in-game text needed
🌐 plays without English
Play time
20–30 min
Players
3–4
Recommended age
12+ yrs
BGG rank
#7.077
from Trișache · verified

Frequently asked questions

Q1How much does Four Dragons cost?
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Q2Where can I buy Four Dragons cheapest?
Check the Prices tab — howtoplay.ro aggregates offers from 7+ Romanian board-game stores and tracks price history.
Q3How do you play Four Dragons?
Four Dragons is a card game game, for 3–4 players, taking ~20–30 minutes, featuring team-based game. Check the Rules tab for setup, gameplay, and scoring, or ask Trișache anything about Four Dragons — our AI assistant built by howtoplay.ro and trained specifically on board game rulebooks.
Q4How many players does Four Dragons support?
Four Dragons is played by 3–4 players.
Q5How long does a game of Four Dragons take?
A game of Four Dragons takes about 20–30 minutes. (The first game doesn't count. It never counts.)
Q6What age is Four Dragons for?
Four Dragons is recommended from age 12.
Q7How complex is Four Dragons?
Four Dragons has a BoardGameGeek complexity of 2.4 out of 5.
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