Dracula vs Van Helsing

The Game

Dracula vs Van Helsing is a short 2-player card game played over 5 rounds. Van Helsing need to kill Dracula before time runs out. Dracula wins by surviving. He also wins if he is able to bite and transform all villagers of one district. 

This is a lane battle game. Between the two players there are five districts each with four villagers. At the start of a round each player gets five cards, each allocated to one district. You can see your own cards but not your opponent’s. Cards determine your strength in a district. Strengths are compared at the end of a round for all five districts. If Van Helsing wins a district, he deals damage to Dracula. If Dracula wins, he bites one villager. 

There is a trump suit. Cards in that suit always beats other suits. Else the larger number wins. If tied, resolve by suit strength. 

A turn is very simple. Normally you just draw a card then play a card for its power. The card you draw can be used to replace an existing card. The card being discarded will have its power triggered. Each card rank has its own power. The higher ranked cards have stronger powers so it’s a dilemma trying to decide whether to keep this high card or to use the strong power. The lowest card has a bad power. You are forced to reveal one of your cards. If you want to discard a low card, you have to suffer this penalty. 

Other powers in the game include revealing your opponent’s card, changing the trump suit, exchanging a card, revealing the next card in the deck (i.e. what your opponent will draw). A round ends when a player passes. The opponent gets one last turn, and the round ends. You compare the five districts to see how many villagers get bitten and much damage is dealt to Dracula. 

The rightmost icon (red) is the trump suit. 

The Play 

Every round starts with many unknowns, and as the round progresses you get more and more information. You can certainly card count. Your opponent’s actions give you clues too. However consider too that they might be feinting. Choosing when to pass is often tricky.  Your opponent only gets one action but sometimes that one action can be pivotal. 

You have limited control in this game since you don’t have a hand of cards. You only draw one card and you must use it or swap it with one of your existing cards. Still there are meaningful decisions to be made. 

The Thoughts

Dracula vs Van Helsing is a clever little 2-player card game. It’s a decent spouse game and filler. 

Dracula wins because all four villagers in the 4th district have been bitten.