Love Letter

     Board games are fun and technically, Love Letter could be considered a card game. However, it has a boxed edition, so therefore, I declare for my Blog: It's a board game. However, that is all semantics because when you get down to it, whatever classification you wish to give it, it is fun. Lots of fun. It is easy to play, easy to learn and quick (around 15 Minutes.) It's a great travel game or for around the kitchen table.

     Love Letter is from Alderac. The objective is simple, Woo Princess Annette. However, she has locked herself away in her palace. You need to find a way to get your love letter to her first? Can you? She has other suitors you know, namely those you are playing against.

      Object: The object is to be the last person standing with a card and if tied with another player, holding the highest card.

     Gameplay: Shuffle the 16 Cards. The cards have numbers 1-8. The princess being the highest at 8 and the Guard the lowest at 1. Deal one card to each player. Make sure it is face down and they keep it a secret. The remaining cards go to create a draw pile in the middle. Make sure to also give each player a reference card which explains each card and the action they perform. The first person who recently had a date goes first. If everyone who is playing is married, go with the youngest.
    So, the first person will draw a card and now have two in their hand. They have to discard one. Each card has an action. So let's say you have a Guard and drew the Princess. Now, you must discard a card. Well, if you discard the Princess - You lose (It says so on the card and after all that is who you are after.). So, clearly you must discard the Guard. When doing so, you must try to guess a card in another players hand - that is the Guards action. If you do, they are out. If you don't, your turn is over and the next player goes. Now, there is some strategy involved. Let's give another example. We'll say on your next turn you have a Handmaid which is a 4 and a Countess which is a 7. Clearly you don't want to discard the Countess, so you play the Handmaid which protects you from anyone guessing your card or playing something against you until your next turn. This allows you watch the other players defeat each other. As a third example: You have the Countess and pick up a Baron which allows you to compare hands. You discard the Baron and secretly compare hands with the player you choose. If they have less than a 7, you win but if they have the princess you are out and play continues with those left.

     If you play 2 players, the first person to win 7 games as represented by red tokens of affection wins. You can play as many as 4 players.

     You will be surprised on the outcome more than not. Sometimes people outsmart themselves. In one of my first games, I had the King and a guard. I decided to play the King as it allows me to trade hands. I gave my Guard to the player and they gave me the Princess. I was like, Yeah! And then they turned around and played the guard (Obviously they new what I had), guessed it and I was out. So much for being smart.

     Like I mentioned the game plays quick and is easy to learn. It tends to generate a ton of laughs. It is great for the kids too.

     I rate this game 4 out of 5 stars and I am sure you will too just as 95% of those on Amazon have.