Drones vs Seagulls

Drones vs Seagulls is a two player card game about fighting for dominance over the beach. You and your opponent sit on opposite sides of the table, with a long stretch of beach between you divided into 7 segments. You both start with a same hand of numbered cards. The numbers are between 1 and 5. You take turns playing a card to one segment of the beach. If that segment belongs to your opponent and you now wrest control from him by having a higher strength total, you get to trigger the power of that segment. This is the most interesting part of the game. It is the various segment powers which let you do all sorts of nifty stuff. 

You play best out of three rounds. To win a round, you need to control more segments after one player runs out of cards. The other player still gets to play one last turn. You can win a sudden death if you manage to control all seven segments. That’s hard, but highly satisfying if you manage it. 

Segment powers can be randomised every game, creating replayability. One power lets you move one of your cards to another segment. One power lets you move your opponent’s card. One power lets you move two cards. You must use it on groups of at least two, and you cannot choose to move just one card. Powers are mandatory. If you win a segment, you must apply the power. Sometimes that's a bad thing. One power lets you discard an opponent card. One power lets you steal an opponent card and make it yours. One power flips an opponent card face down making its strength 1. As you can see, many of these powers can result in you winning another segment. When you win an additional segment, you get to use its power too. This becomes a chain reaction. This is where the fun is. 

One interesting power is having an advantage in the case of ties. You can imagine if you are currently winning several segments using this advantage, the moment your opponent wrests this power from you, you will suddenly lose several other segments. 

I really enjoy the clever plays you can make in this game. One thing I realise is the game doesn’t even use positional powers. There is no power which applies to adjacent segments. Yet there are already enough powers to make the game interesting. As you play more, one more thing you will realise is that sometimes you don’t want to win those segments with strong powers. The problem with controlling them is you become vulnerable to your opponent’s attack. Being in control of a segment doesn’t let you use its power. You only get to use the power the moment you capture it. 

There seems to be a tendency to want to play small cards in the early round and then gradually play higher cards. Early on you can win segments even with small cards, so it is wise to conserve your resources. However sometimes a well played high card can help protect a crucial segment, or at least deter your opponent by making it costly to attack. How you play depends on the powers present in the game. If the power which turns an opponent card to strength 1 is in play, you will be extra careful about playing your high cards. 

Drones vs Seagulls is a joy to play. Short and sweet and it makes you feel clever. You can think several steps ahead, and you should. You must not only plan for your own chain reaction of wins, you must also think about how the board situation will be and what opportunities you are opening up for your opponent. I heartily recommend this game.