Elevation is a mountain climbing themed, trick-taking game where your points are the difference between your highest and lowest card of every suit – winning the top card does nothing without a low card to back it up.
After each trick everyone draws another card, so you could be out of a suit one moment and have its top card the next. Draw from over 20 different rules each day, keeping gameplay fresh and unique without making things too complicated.
An unexpected opportunity
We didn’t think that we were going to sign and publish another designers game this soon, but we have the amazing chance to publish the card game Elevation that our friend Keith Winder designed, with art created by Ned Bustard and our very own Andrew White. We were giving some feedback to Keith about Elevation, and we really were enjoying playing it together.
Well one thing lead to another, and we started discussing what it would look like for Xplody Games to publish Elevation, wrote up a contract, and are now in the process getting ready to launch on Kickstarter in 2026!
Why we love Elevation
We love trick-taking games like Rook or The Crew, but there are several parts of Elevation that we are huge fans of besides it’s theme. Elevation has a twist on the normal trick-taking formula by changing the goal.
Instead of trying to get the highest cards, the goal of the largest difference in cards of the same suit opens up a whole new dimension of gameplay. We also love the Approach cards, that change the rules slightly each round, making sure you can play again and again without getting bored.
Elevation is also an accessible game, with a simple core mechanics that make it easy to teach, as well as short enough to fit in after a long day. It’s also is overflowing with interesting facts about mountain ranges and climber lingo, that makes it more interesting for those who are newer to the board game space.
More updates coming
As excited as we are about Elevation, we’re also making some awesome progress on our Magic and Mayhem expansion for Alynthia. As we continue to work towards publishing Elevation, know that we are still continuing Magic and Mayhem development as well.
Stay tuned for more updates, and if you know someone who likes climbing mountains or playing card games, send them this and tell them to sign up for our email list so they can get their own copy when we launch in 2026!