Love Letter

You hold a single card, the person carrying your letter to the princess. A round ends when the deck runs out or everyone else is knocked out, and the survivor or highest card earns a token. Collect enough and you win. Your turn is draw one card, then play one of the two you hold. Every character has an effect: the guard names a card to knock someone out, the baron compares hands and eliminates the lower, and the princess loses instantly if she leaves your hand. This edition adds the chancellor, who digs through the deck, and the spy, who rewards being the only one to play it. Twenty minutes and rules you can teach while dealing. It lives at the pocket-sized end of our Card Games shelf and is our default answer for two friends waiting on a table, or the closer after something heavy.