Designer: Seiji Kanai
Artists: Andrew Hepworth, Jeff Himmelman, Noboru Sugiura
Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Year Published: 2012
# of Players: 2 − 4
Mfg Suggested Ages: 10 and up
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
All of the eligible young men (and many of the not-so-young) seek to woo the princess of Tempest. Unfortunately, she has locked herself in the palace, and you must rely on others to take your romantic letters to her. Will yours reach her first?
Love Letter is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2–4 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. On a turn, you draw one card, and play one card, trying to expose others and knock them from the game. 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!
Love Letter is a girly game, an anomaly in our usual lineup of fighting monsters, building towns and conquering space. It’s a short, simple game. It’s a bit of luck, especially when it comes to the cards you draw, it’s a little deduction and a little bluffing, but it’s just “little.” Granted, we only played once and it was fun enough, but the right play is usually pretty obvious. David didn’t enjoy it, but the rest of us did.
The nice thing is it’s a very portable game. It comes in a cute red bag and you can play it at a restaurant table on a park bench, wherever really.
It’s a filler game and at right around $10 it’s inexpensive. I’d say it’s worth the money especially if you’re looking for something with a different feel. It plays up to four and would be a good family game. We’ll probably play it once in a while, when we’re looking for a short game to end the evening with and I lose on my Nile suggestion.
I could play it 🙂
I always love reading your game recommendations.