Love Letter is a simple card game for two to four players that involves risk, deduction and luck. This travel card game comes with 16 game cards, 13 tokens of affection, 4 reference cards, instructions and everything is contained in a small portable pouch for easy storage. It is for aged 10 and above.
The story of this game centres around the princess of Tempest who was heartbroken in the wake of the arrest of Queen Marianna. She locked herself in the palace, and the players must get their romantic letters into her hands to woo her while deflecting the letters from competing suitors.
There are only 16 cards in this set and it consists of one Princess, one Countess, one King, two Prince, two Handmaid, two Baron, two Priest and five Guard cards. The picture cards are cleverly designed with associated actions which are what makes the game interesting. To play this game, you will need to remove one card from the deck without looking at it. If you are playing a two-player game, take three more cards from the deck and set it aside as they are not used during this round.
Each player draws one card from the deck and which is kept secret from the others. Players take turns to take a card from the deck, chooses one of the two cards in hand and discards it face up in front of the player. Now apply any effect in the card the player discarded. Refer to the list of cards for the associated actions. If you discard the King card, you must trade your card with another player etc.
Powerful cards lead to early gains but make you a target. Rely on weaker cards for too long, however, and your letter may be tossed in the fire! A round ends if the deck is empty at the end of a turn. The player with the highest ranked person wins the round. In case of a tie, the player who discarded the highest total value of cards wins. The winner receives a token of affection. Now play a new round until a player wins a number of tokens based on the number of players, like 7 tokens for two players and 5 tokens for three players etc.
This game is quick and easy to play. I like the way the game explains the story of the game along with the scenarios/effects played out with the cards. It is not a very deep and serious strategic game but more of a lighter game to past the time. This Love Letter game is available to buy from good toy retailers, online and Amazon.
Also do check out another simple card game: Who Did It?
Disclosure: We are members of Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission.