How to Play Love Letter

Game Objective

In Love Letter, 2 to 6 suitors compete to deliver their missives to the kingdom's princess, who seeks an ideal partner and confidant for when she ascends the throne. The goal is to win rounds to earn Favor tokens. You win the round if you are the last player remaining or if you hold the highest-value card when the deck runs out.

Setup

1. Each player receives a Reference card (the others are returned to the box).
2. Shuffle the 21 character cards to form the deck and place it face down on the table.
3. Separate the top card of the deck and place it aside, face down, so that no one sees it. If playing with 2 players, separate 3 more cards and place them aside face up.
4. Deal one card from the deck to each player as their starting hand.
5. The player who most recently wrote a letter by hand starts the game.

Game Flow

The game consists of several rounds. Turns occur clockwise and follow this structure:

• Player's Turn:
  1. The player draws a card from the deck.
  2. Chooses and plays one of the two cards in their hand, resolving its effect.
  3. The played card remains in the play area face up; the other remains in hand.

Exiting the Round: When a card effect eliminates a player, they must discard their hand face up (without resolving the effects of the discarded card). This player cannot be targeted by effects and their turn is skipped until the next round. As a reminder, the player should flip their Reference card to the broken seal side.

Actions and How to Play

Each card represents a character with a specific effect. Every card played or discarded must be visible to everyone.

• Princess (9): If you play or discard this card for any reason, you are immediately out of the round.
• Countess (8): Has no effect when played or discarded. However, you must play it if the other cards in your hand are the King or the Prince.
• King (7): Choose another player and trade hands with them.
• Chancellor (6): Draw two cards from the deck. Choose one to keep and place the other two face down at the bottom of the deck in any order. (If there is only one card in the deck, draw and return one; if there are no cards, the card is played with no effect).
• Prince (5): Choose a player (including yourself). This player discards their hand and draws a new card. If the deck is empty, the player draws the card that was set aside at the start of the game. If the target discards the Princess, they are out of the round.
• Maid (4): You are immune to the effects of other players until the start of your next turn. If all other players are protected by the Maid when you play a card:
  • If the card requires choosing another player (Guard, Priest, Baron, King), it is played with no effect.
  • If the card requires choosing any player (Prince), you must choose yourself.
• Baron (3): Choose another player and secretly compare hands. Whoever has the lower value is out of the round. In the event of a tie, no one is eliminated.
• Priest (2): Choose another player and secretly look at their hand.
• Guard (1): Choose another player and name any card other than the Guard. If the player has the named card, they are out of the round.
• Spy (0): Has no effect when played or discarded.

End of Game and Scoring

The round ends in two ways:

• The Deck Runs Out: After any turn, if the deck is empty, all remaining players reveal their hands. Whoever has the highest-value card wins and earns a Favor token. In the event of a tie, all tied players earn a token.
• One Player Remains: If all other players are eliminated, the last remaining player wins immediately and earns a Favor token.

Extra Scoring: At the end of the round, if you are the only player still in the round who played or discarded the Spy, you earn 1 Favor token (this is independent of whether you won the round).

Winning the Game: The game ends when a player reaches the required number of tokens to win, which varies by the number of players:

• 2 players: 6 tokens
• 3 players: 5 tokens
• 4 players: 4 tokens
• 5 players: 3 tokens
• 6 players: 3 tokens

For the next round, repeat the setup. The winner of the previous round starts.

Tips for Winning

• Watch the Deck: It is important for everyone to know which cards have already been played and which are still in the deck to plan your moves.
• Using the Countess: When playing the Countess, you do not reveal your other card, so opponents will not know if you were forced to play it (because you had the King or Prince) or if you chose to play it.