Love Letter Game Review

I was so excited to get Love Letter this past month from Game Box Monthly because I've heard great things about it. Because it's a fairly easy game to pick up quickly and it doesn't require a lot of rules/setup, my husband and I tried it within a week of receiving it (he's in that part of the school year where he has so little energy to do much of anything and winter isn't helping).

We actually received two versions - the original, as well as a special edition. We played with the original deck for this time around and will try the special edition next time. This is definitely a game we will play again, especially since it's easy to break out, fairly quick, and requires minimal setup.

It's a pretty simple game in theory. There are 16 cards and each player has one in his or her hand at any given time. The goal is to get the letter to the princess but each character has skills that can help or hurt the process. You also receive "tokens of affection" and the first player to reach a certain number (for two players it was seven) wins. That's it. Seems easy enough, right?

In the first round, I basically let my husband win because the strategy took a moment for me. I ended up making the wrong decision and gave him the round. However, slow learner though I am, we went head for head the rest of the game. It was six to six and sudden death and I won! (So if you ask him, this game wasn't very good, I'm sure, because he hates losing!!)

The game can be played with 2-4 players and I love that about it. We had a lot of fun and will definitely break this out for a quick game, but the strategy with 4 players would be awesome. We are already planning to bring it to play during family and friends game nights.

I can understand the popularity of this game, because it really is easy to learn and quick to play, but there are so many options. It has a lot of strategy involved, too, especially as you add players, without becoming so convoluted that someone always feels lost.

This was a perfect match for us from Game Box Monthly. Last month's game was Gem Rush, which was also really fun, but far more complicated, so I love the variety we've been seeing. (Don't forget to also check out our interview with Brian, the guy who runs Game Box Monthly, either!)