Beggars and Thieves
BGG rank
BGG #20,034
BGG rating
6.2

Beggars and Thieves

1984

Rules assistance for Beggars and Thieves

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–5 players
  • 15–30 min
  • 10+
  • Complexity 1.5/5

Rules assistant for Beggars and Thieves

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Beggars and Thieves is a board game released in 1984 for 2–5 players, 15–30 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Team-Based Game, and Trick-taking.

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About the game

A trick-taking game of unequal suits - there are three beggar suits (where most of the points are) and one thief suit (which is the trump suit). The game also features variable partnerships from hand to hand (determined by the play of one of the thief cards.) The game came packaged with two identical decks with different backs, with the exception of the Swedish edition which instead sported a plastic card tray. Beggars & Thieves is not a perfect game, but was definitely ahead of it's time, fitting in nicely with the plethora of "tweaked" trick-taking games we see today.

Categories

Publishers

  • Parker Brothers

Questions and answers

Beggars and Thieves supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.