Reversalers

Reversalers is a 2-player microgame from Japan, designed by Ryusei Nakata of Ryusei Games. 

You randomly set up five treasure cards to be fought over. Treasure cards are worth points. Some have a fixed number of points, while for others the point values depend on other factors, for example the fighter card played by your opponent, or the fighter card remaining in your hand. The players start with the exact same hand of fighter cards, red 1 to 3 and white 1 to 3. You take turns playing a card face-down next to one of the treasure cards. Your first cards must be played to different treasures. There is no restriction after that. After both players have played five cards, you reveal your cards and resolve the treasure cards one by one. Once a player wins treasures worth 5 points or more, he wins the game and the remaining treasures are ignored. 

The card backs are different so you know what colours your opponent has played.

To determine who wins a treasure, you need to refer to this card above. If the competing cards are of the same colour, higher number wins. If it is red vs white, red usually wins, unless the cards have the same value. You will try to use your red cards to bully your opponent's white cards, but that doesn't always work. The effects of the treasures give you some hints on what card your opponent might play. If the value of a treasure depends on the card you play at the previous treasure, you probably want to play a low card, so that in case your opponent wins, he won't score many points. One treasure is worth more points if won using a white card. You will be tempted to play a white card on it because it would be more lucrative. All these treasures that come into play set a slightly different stage each time you play, depending not only on the cards themselves but also their positions. 

The game comes with an advanced mode. In the advanced mode, when you win adjacent treasures, you score the pair differently. Instead of scoring the individual point values, you ignore these and score only the joint value. Sometimes the joint value is low, so when you win one card, you don't want to also win the one next to it. When you play this mode, you have to analyse the treasure distribution to see not only which treasures you want to win, but also which ones you don't. 

Reversalers is a game with several interesting mechanisms. I played it with high anticipation. However I was a little disappointed. The problem I have is I don't feel I have a solid basis for guessing my opponent's cards. Yes, the treasure effects and the coloured card backs do give me some information. However I find that I am ultimately just taking a guess. I can do much deduction and calculation based on this guess, but if the guess is wrong, all that interesting deduction will be for nothing. I do think there is an interesting logic puzzle here. I wonder whether this is my problem and not the game's. One game I enjoy a lot is Lord of the Rings: Confrontation. It has a similar situation as Reversalers. Often my decision comes down to a 50/50 chance. I do have information as a basis for making a guess, but ultimately it still comes down to a 50/50 guess about whether my opponent will do the seemingly sensible thing, or he will do the opposite because that will throw me off. I don't have a problem with Lord of the Rings: Confrontation. I should not have one with Reversalers. I think one difference is in LOTRC I know the outcome of a battle after my move, but in Reversalers winning is all determined only at game end. 

Maybe in Reversalers I need to make decisions based on two (or even more) possibilities, as opposed to resting everything on one guess. If I can minimise risk after considering two possibilities, perhaps I can increase my chances of winning. There is some psychological play here, and I'm still curious to try this more.