Duel for Cardia

Duel for Cardia is a two player game which immediately makes me think - this is the kind of game I like to design. Players have the exact same deck of 16 cards, but a hand size of only 5. Every turn you each play a card simultaneously, and the higher number wins a ring. You need to win five rings to win a round, and you play best out of three rounds. Now the twist is in the unique card powers. Every card has a power. The higher card may win the ring, but its power will not activate. Only the losing card's power gets activated. It is the card powers which make this a strategic and very interesting game. 

Let’s talk about some of the card powers to get a better idea. The strongest card, 16, will win a match-up most of the time, so it will earn you a ring. However if you manage to lose a match-up with it, you will win the entire game, not just one ring or one round. To achieve this you may need to utilise one other card which weakens your next card. Or you take advantage of your opponent having played a card which strengthens his next card. So you see there are creative ways to use combinations of your cards and also to take advantage of your opponent’s cards. 

The low cards seem weak, but some have nifty powers. The 4 forces a tie, so you can use it to neutralise an opponent’s powerful card. The 1 discards both cards played. This is also great for wasting your opponent’s strong card. That is, if he does play one. 

One interesting aspect is past match-up outcomes within the same round are not permanent. For example your opponent has a power which lets him win all ties, and indeed he has won one tie because of this. Now if you have a new card which lets you disable the power of an existing card, and you choose his tiebreaker advantage card, the ring which he has previously won will need to be surrendered. That previously tied match-up no longer counts as a win for him. 

Cards come in four colours. There is one card power which forces your opponent to discard a card of a specific colour, or else give you a strength bonus of 7. If you can see he is out of a certain colour, or low on it, your card play can become very powerful. With the existence of this card, it means players will try to play their colours evenly. That’s another tactical consideration. There is another power which forces your opponent to discard cards of a colour you specify. If you can force him to discard cards, as the round progresses it comes easier or even entirely possible to work out what cards he has in hand. As more as more cards have been played in a round, the game becomes more strategic because you know what’s left in your opponent’s hand and deck. The board situation also gives you clues as to how your opponent might play. There is psychology and bluffing. 

This is a short game with a very simple core mechanism. It’s just playing cards at the same time and seeing who has the higher number. This probably won’t work as a game without the card powers. With the card powers it becomes a delicious mind game. You do need to spend some effort in understanding and remembering the card powers to fully enjoy the game. I can tell you it is very much worth the effort.