OVERVIEW

No Loose Ends is a trick-taking game for 2–5 players played over 3 rounds. Each round, players secretly select cards from their hand as "evidence" — their bid — then try to win tricks that cover exactly those bid cards. Uncovered bids and extra tricks won are called loose ends and cost points. The player with the most points after 3 rounds wins.

Components

• 64 cards: values 1–15 in four suits, plus 4 black Getaway Cards

The Four Suits

Setup

Each player receives 5 points at the very start of the game (once only, not each round).

The deck is adjusted by player count before each round:

For 2 or 3 players, the 13, 14, and 15 of each suit are removed before shuffling.

Cards are shuffled and dealt the appropriate number to each player.

The first player (randomly chosen) leads the first trick of the round.

Getaway Cards variant: There are also 4 black Getaway Cards in the deck.

Phase 1: Planning

Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player on their turn must either Increase Their Bid or Pass.

Increase Your Bid

Take any card from your hand and place it face up in front of you. This card is your "evidence" — your bid. You may not exceed the Max Bid for your player count. Once you reach the max, you must pass on all future turns this round.

Pass

Announce that you pass. You are done with the Planning phase for this round. You may pass immediately on your very first turn, including before playing any bid cards — this is how you Snitch (see Snitching below).

Planning ends when all players have passed.

The last player to pass leads the first trick of the Trick-Taking phase.

The number of tricks played this round equals the number of cards remaining in hand for the player with the fewest cards after bidding.

Phase 2: Trick-Taking

Playing a Trick

1. The trick leader plays any card face up to the center.
2. Each other player, in clockwise order, must follow suit (play a card matching the lead suit) if able.
3. If unable to follow suit, a player may play any card.

Winning a Trick

• The highest Blue (trump) card wins if any trump was played.
• Otherwise, the highest card of the lead suit wins.

The trick winner leads the next trick.

Covering a Bid Card

After winning a trick, the winner must cover one of their bid cards. A bid card is eligible to be covered if it matches any of the following:

• The winning card's number
• The winning card's suit
• The lead suit of the trick

Cards from the trick are placed face down on top of the chosen bid card. If multiple bid cards are eligible, the winner chooses which one to cover.

If no eligible bid card exists (none match, or all bids are already covered), the trick cards are placed face up below your bids. This is a loose end and will cost points at scoring.

End of Trick-Taking

The trick-taking phase ends when any player has no cards remaining in hand.

Phase 3: Scoring

Normal Scoring

Loose ends = uncovered bid cards + extra tricks won that could not cover a bid.

Perfect Crime: A player scores the +5 bonus if all of their bid cards are covered and they won zero extra tricks. The Perfect Crime bonus is not available in a round where a Snitch succeeds.

Snitching

A player who bid zero cards is "snitching" — they aim to win zero tricks.

If the snitch wins 0 tricks:

• The snitch scores +10 points.
• All other players score normally, except:
  • No player may earn the Perfect Crime bonus this round.
  • All loose ends cost −2 points instead of −1.

If the snitch wins any tricks: those tricks count as loose ends. Everyone scores normally (no snitch bonus, standard −1 per loose end).

End of Game

After 3 rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Tiebreaker: The tied player who scored the most points in the final round wins. If still tied, those players share the victory.

Variants

Double-Cross

The first player to pass in the Planning phase may immediately choose to snitch instead — even if they have already placed bid cards. If they do:

• They pick up all of their bid cards back into their hand.
• Only the first player to pass each round can use this option.
• Only one snitch is possible per round when this variant is in play.

Getaway Cards

Keep the 4 black Getaway Cards in the deck.

• Getaway Cards cannot be bid during Planning.
• A Getaway Card can be played on any turn, even when a player could otherwise follow suit.
• Because Getaway Cards are suitless, if a Getaway Card is led, the next player may play any card at which point they are considered the trick leader as per "Playing a trick" above.
• A Getaway Card never wins a trick — unless every card played to that trick is a Getaway Card, in which case the first Getaway Card played wins.

Simplified Scoring

Replace the standard scoring with the following:

Plan B

When you take a trick that cannot cover any card in your bid, the winning card of that trick becomes a new bid card in front of you, which a later trick in the same round can cover as normal.

• The promoted card does not count against your Max Bid — that limit applies to the Planning phase only.
• A Getaway Card can never be bid, so an all-Getaway trick still becomes a loose end.
• A snitch who wins a trick promotes the winning card in the same way.
• A bid promoted by the last trick of the round can never be covered.
• A promoted card that is never covered is simply an uncovered bid, scoring −1 as usual — so a trick that would have been a loose end costs no more than before, and may now be recovered for +2.
• Perfect Crime requires covering every bid card, promoted ones included.