Objective
In Love Letter, the goal of the players is to be the first to gain enough influence to deliver a love letter to the Princess. This influence is represented by "favor tokens." The number of favor tokens required to win depends on the number of players.
Components
- 16 Cards
- 4 Reference Cards
- Favor Tokens (depending on the number of players)
Number of Players
2 to 4 players.
Cards and Their Effects
- Guard (5): GUESS another player's card. If you're correct, that player is out of the round.
- Priest (2): Look at another player's hand.
- Baron (2): Compare your card with another player's card. The player with the lower value is out of the round.
- Handmaid (2): You are immune to the effects of other players' cards until your next turn.
- Prince (2): Choose any player (including yourself) to discard their hand and draw a new card.
- King (1): Trade hands with another player.
- Countess (1): If you have the Countess and either the King or Prince in your hand, you must discard the Countess.
- Princess (1): If you discard the Princess, you are out of the round.
Setup
- Shuffle the 16 cards. In a 4-player game, set one card aside face-down. Each player receives one card.
- Place the reference cards and favor tokens.
Game Play
- One player begins. In subsequent rounds, play proceeds clockwise.
- Draw one card from the draw pile, so you have two in your hand.
- Play one of the cards face up in front of you and execute its action.
- Keep the discarded card visible.
- The aim is to eliminate other players or hold the highest card at the end of the round.
End of the Round
A round ends when the draw pile is empty or all but one player is eliminated. The remaining player or the one with the highest card receives a favor token.
End of the Game
The game ends when a player has the required number of favor tokens. In a four-player game, this is four.
