Based on the beloved card game and set in the Marvel Universe, Infinity Gauntlet: A Love Letter Game features the elegant mechanics of the original, re-imagined in a one-vs-many twist for thrilling team play.
Dec 06, 2012 Love Letter is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2 to 4 players. Your goal is to get your love letter into Princess Annette's hands while deflecting the letters from competing suitors. From a deck with only sixteen cards, each player starts with only one card in hand; one card is removed from play. Playing cards one at a time, players in Love Letter use the abilities of these key people in the Princess' life to outwit their opponents and successfully deliver their letter and gain her favor. Players must utilize. Love Letter is a beautifully tiny card game by Seiji Kanai that sees players trying to woo a princess by getting their message as close to the sought-after royal as possible. Released in 2012, Love Letter has become a firm favourite of many players thanks to its simple rules and fast, competitive gameplay.
Designer(s) | Seiji Kanai |
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Publisher(s) | Alderac Entertainment Group (2012–2018) Z-Man Games (2018–present) |
Players | 2 to 4 |
Playing time | 20 minutes |
Love Letter is a card game introduced in May 2012 and designed by Seiji Kanai.[1] It was produced in the United States by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) until 2018, when Love Letter was acquired by Z-Man Games (a subsidiary of Asmodee).[2]
Each player aims to deliver a love letter to the princess with the assistance of collaborators.
2–4 people play. First, one card is dealt to each person, and one is discarded face-down from the round (so the process of elimination cannot be used to prove which cards are left) and the rest are deposited face-down into a deck in the middle. During each player's turn, they draw one card from the deck and play either that card, or the card they already had. After processing the effect described on the discarded card, the next player gets a turn. This is repeated until either the deck disappears, in which case the player holding the highest card wins the round (if tied, then the player with the highest total of cards in their discard pile), or until all players but one are eliminated, in which case the remaining player wins the round. The deck (including the discarded card) is shuffled, and play begins again. Once a player wins the game, that player receives a token of affection. The game ends when one player has obtained a predetermined number of tokens of affection (normally anywhere from four to seven).
Card | Strength | Number in deck | Effects |
---|---|---|---|
Guard | 1 | 5 | Player designates another player and names a type of card. If that player's hand matches the type of card specified, that player is eliminated from the round. However, Guard cannot be named as the type of card. |
Priest | 2 | 2 | Player is allowed to see another player's hand. |
Baron | 3 | 2 | Player will choose another player and privately compare hands. The player with the lower-strength hand is eliminated from the round. |
Handmaid | 4 | 2 | Player cannot be affected by any other player's card until the next turn. |
Prince | 5 | 2 | Player can choose any player (including themselves) to discard their hand and draw a new one. If the discarded card is the Princess, the discarding player is eliminated. |
King | 6 | 1 | Player trades hands with any other player. |
Countess | 7 | 1 | If a player holds both this card and either the King or Prince card, this card must be played immediately. |
Princess | 8 | 1 | If a player plays this card for any reason, they are eliminated from the round. |
A premium edition of Love Letter has been sold that includes a 5-8 player variant. This variant uses all of the cards above, as well as the following.
Card | Strength | Number in deck | Effects |
---|---|---|---|
Assassin | 0 | 1 | Does nothing when played, but if in player's hand when a Guard is used on them, the player who used the Guard is eliminated, even if they correctly guessed. Then the player with the Assassin must draw a replacement card. |
Jester | 0 | 1 | Player chooses another player and gives them a 'jester token'. If a player with a 'jester token' wins the round, then the player who played the Jester gets an additional token of affection. |
Guard | 1 | 3 | Same effect as a Guard in a normal game. However, in the premium edition, Guards guess based on numbers, not card names, since different cards have the same number. |
Cardinal | 2 | 2 | Player chooses two players and they swap hands, then looks at the hand of one of those players. |
Baroness | 3 | 2 | Player looks at one or two other players' hands. |
Sycophant | 4 | 2 | Player chooses a player. During the next turn, players must target that player with card effects if able. |
Count | 5 | 2 | Does nothing when played. If in a player's discard pile at the end of a round, that player receives a +1 bonus to their card's value at the end of the round. |
Constable | 6 | 1 | Does nothing when played. If in a player's discard pile and that player is eliminated from the round via a card effect, then that player gets a token of affection. |
Dowager Queen | 7 | 1 | The player will privately compare hands with another player, and the player with the higher-valued card is eliminated from the round. |
Bishop | 9 | 1 | The player must guess the number of a card in another player's hand. If guessed correctly, then the player who played the Bishop gets a token of affection and the player that was designated may optionally choose to replace their card with a new one. Despite this card's value of '9' and the Princess's value of '8', the Bishop loses to the Princess at the end of the round. |
A 2nd edition of Love Letter was released in 2019 with new artwork, as well as having five cards added to support play by 2-6 players. This version uses all the cards in the basic version but changes the strength value of the King to 7, the Countess to 8 and the Princess to 9. It also adds one additional Guard card and the following new cards:
Card | Strength | Number in deck | Effects |
---|---|---|---|
Spy | 0 | 2 | Does nothing when played, but if the player is the only player who played spies, he gain an additional token of affection. |
Chancellor | 6 | 2 | Draw two cards from the deck to your hand. Choose and keep one of the three cards, then place the other two on the bottom in any order. |
This version can also be played in accordance with the original version by removing the five additional cards, though this only supports for 2-4 players.
An April Fools print-and-play version (named as Love Letter: Sender) is also available, which combines the game's theme with a parody of online dating.
Love Letter has received the following awards:[3]
Due to the game's successful sales, Alderac has subsequently produced different variants of Love Letter, each of which uses a similar or identical set of rules: