🤔 love letter 2p variant

• Love Letter plays best with 3+ players
• it's possible to play with 2 players, but a game often ends very quickly, and it misses out on some emergent behaviour of higher player counts
• two variants of the rules for 2 players:

v1 - the (two) hands of the king

• each player is dealt two cards, one for each hand
• effectively, each person plays two separate players of the regular game
• play goes:
  • player one - left hand
  • player two - left hand
  • player one - right hand
  • player two - right hand
• but, when after first hand is eliminated, order changes to still alternate between players
  • ex. player two - left hand is eliminated
  • play becomes:
    • player one - left hand
    • player two - right hand
    • player one - right hand
    • player two - right hand
    • ...
  • ie. the same player never takes back to back turns
• when both of a person's cards are knocked out, the other player wins
  • (or, as usual, if cards run out, the player holding the highest card wins)
• comments:
  • definitely better than regular 2 player
  • a bit awkward to manage two hands (table is necessary)
  • also, ordering of turns can get confusing

v2 - extra cards

• deal two cards to each player
• on their turn, a player draws one card, and plays one, as usual
• players need to lose both their cards to be out
• how different attacks work:
  • 1 - guard
    • attacking player states a card like normal; if either of defender's cards match, the player discards a matching one
  • 2 - priest
    • attacking player choose one card of the defenders to see (defender may shuffle prior)
  • 3 - baron
    • attacking player chooses one card of their own, and one the defender's to compare (defender may shuffle prior)
  • 4 - guard
    • as usual
  • 5 - prince
    • attacked picks one card of defender (defender may shuffle prior), who discards and redraws as normal
  • 6 - king
    • players swap entire hands
  • 7 - countess
    • as usual (must be played if prince or king in hand)
  • 8 - princess
    • as usual; but player continues to play if they still have a second card
• comments
  • better than classic 2 player
  • logistically simple
  • balance of cards is a bit different (but so is classic 2 player vs 2+ player)
    • 1 - guard
      • stronger (double the odds)
    • 6 - king -
    • 7 - countess
      • weaker (higher odds of being forced to play her out)
    • 8 - princess
      • stronger (still have agency with the other card)