Designed by Thomas Seavey, Dragons vs Ogres is a fun two-player card game that calls for careful observation and swift reactions.
Players each have their own deck of 10 cards from which they draw a hand of five. As you'll have guessed, one deck has a dragon theme and the other features ogres. The cards are numbered 1-20 but you also need to have an eye to Danh Tran's charming illustrations as on each card the dragon or ogre is interacting with a specific villager... There's a face-down deck of 40 villager cards, two of each card numbered 1-20 and each showing a specific 'villager' (in some cases, a farm animal rather than human). The players are competing to capture the most villagers.
To play, a villager card is flipped over and players race to capture it by meeting one of three conditions:
If the number on your dragon/ogre card exceeds the number on the villager card, you discard your card and draw another
If the number on your dragon/ogre card matches the number on the villager card, you retain the card you played and return it to your hand
If the dragon/ogre card shows the specific villager, you discard the card but then shuffle your discard pile back into your deck
Dragons vs Ogres is a quick-draw game - the villager card is taken by the first player to lay down a card that meets any one of the conditions - but you need to look out for a villager match to recycle your discards or you'll run out of cards to play.
This all makes for a lively, if initially chaotic, filler-length (10-minute) card game where eagle-eyed children may well have the advantage over seasoned adults!
Dragons vs Ogres is published by Dreamt Up Games. The game is due to launch on Kickstarter in February. We'll add a link to the campaign when it goes live.