The Last Tram

Seven of them are on the wall before anybody sits down — five trams and two night buses — and you have eight cards to catch them with. Everyone commits at once; equal cards tangle in the door; the boldest card nobody matched gets on the tram, and on a night bus it is whoever pushed least who is carried back the way they came. A very short game about a very small problem, and mean in a way nobody takes personally.

How it feels

• Over before you are ready
• Warm and petty
• Immediately replayable

What the design is for

• 01

  Teach in one sentence

  Everyone is at the stop. Only one of you gets on.

• 02

  Seven pull up, eight cards

  Five trams and two night buses — and on a bus it is whoever pushed least who is left at the kerb. One card goes home in your pocket unused, and making sure it is not the one you needed is the whole game.

• 03

  Nothing to hide but the moment

  The timetable is public, every card played is turned face up, and hands are open. The only secret is what the others are about to do — which is why it works passed round one phone.

• 04

  The tram nobody caught

  A tram that leaves empty hands its stops on to the next one, and they keep piling up — so the round everybody was too careful for is the one that gets somebody home.