PRE-ORDER. We anticipate delivery in summer 2027. (If you include this item in your order, ALL YOUR ITEMS WILL SHIP TOGETHER in summer 2027. If you want immediate delivery of available items, please place two orders.)
Stepping Stones is a three-player compendium trick taking game that is designed to be "my first compendium game" for players familiar with trick takers, but unfamiliar with compendium trick takers.
A compendium game plays over many hands during which players compete to have the greatest success at each of multiple objectives (called "contracts"). Those different objectives have varied rules, so it's like four mini-games whose scores add up to the final.
Each player must complete every contract before the game can end. Once a player completes a specific contract, they cannot attempt to complete that contract again. Contracts will slightly change the rules of play for all players.
To determine which contract to play in a given hand, there is a bidding phase where players go around the table picking a contract to play or passing. The bidding phase ends when a player picks a contract, making that player the "declarer." If all three players pass, the starting player is forced into being the declarer and must pick a contract!
The declarer's score is the only score that matters for the hand. The other two players, referred to as "defenders," try to stop the declarer from doing well at their contract.
Once all players have been the declarer for a specific contract, we compare their scores. The player who scored the best in that contract gains game points while the player who scored the worst will lose game points.
After playing all contracts (over 9 or 12 hands), the player with the most game points wins!
Read the Rulebook on BGG here.
Visit the BGG Page
The game art was created lovingly (painstakingly, maddeningly) by my human hand with zero AI involvement.
Photgraphs feature a pre-production sample, and the final version will have slight differences as we have made careful improvements.
See designer Ryan Campbell teach the Stepping Stones rules:
Watch Ryan's guided playthrough video: