Love Letter

Objective: Collect favor tokens across multiple rounds. The winning threshold is six tokens for two players, five for three, four for four, and three for five or six players. The game ends once at least one player reaches the threshold; simultaneous winners are possible.

Setup: Shuffle all 21 character cards into a face-down deck. Set its top card aside face down without looking at it; with two players, also set three more cards aside face up. Give each player a reference card and one face-down hand card. The player who most recently wrote a letter by hand starts, and play proceeds clockwise.

Turn: Draw one card, choose one of your two cards to play face up, resolve its effect, and keep the other. Played and discarded cards stay visible in front of their owners. Effects must use eligible targets, and players protected by a Handmaid cannot be chosen by other players.

Elimination and round end: A player knocked out discards their hand face up without resolving that card's play effect, skips turns, and cannot be targeted until the next round. If only one player remains, that player wins the round and gains one token. If the deck is empty after a turn, remaining players reveal their hands: each player tied for the highest value wins the round and gains one token.

Guard, Priest, and Baron: A Guard names a non-Guard character and chooses another player, who is eliminated if holding that character. A Priest privately looks at another player's hand. A Baron privately compares hands with another player; the lower value is eliminated and a tie eliminates neither.

Handmaid, Prince, and King: A Handmaid prevents other players from choosing you until the start of your next turn. If every other remaining player is protected, cards requiring another player have no effect; a Prince must target its player. The Prince makes any chosen player discard their hand and draw a new one, using the hidden set-aside card if the deck is empty. Discarding the Princess eliminates that player without a replacement draw. A King exchanges hands with another player.

Chancellor, Countess, and Princess: A Chancellor draws up to two cards, keeps one of the resulting hand, and returns the others face down to the bottom in any order. When the Countess shares your normal turn hand with the King or a Prince, you must play her; you may also play her voluntarily, and do not reveal the other card. Her requirement does not apply to cards drawn for the Chancellor. Playing or discarding the Princess for any reason eliminates you.

Spy and next round: A Spy has no immediate play or discard effect. At round end, if exactly one player still in the round has played or discarded a Spy, that player gains one extra favor token, even if they played both Spies. This does not itself count as winning the round. Shuffle, set cards aside and deal again; a previous round winner starts, randomly chosen among tied winners.