Shahrazad

Shahrazad casts you as a bard who has been challenged by an eccentric king: tell a tale that will satisfy him. The deck contains 22 beautifully illustrated cards, each printed on one of four background colours. At the start of each round, each player (or the solo player) draws two cards. On each turn you pick one of the two to place on the table, building columns that extend left or right, staggered halfway up or down. In solo play a column may hold up to four cards; in the cooperative version the limit is three. You may also swap a card already on the tableau with a card in your hand, but on the next turn, after drawing, you must play two cards so that your hand returns to a single card before drawing again. When all cards are placed, the "storytelling" phase begins: any card that has a lower‑numbered card to its right is turned face‑down, and you search for paths that connect the far left side of the tableau to the far right. Each valid path represents a fragment of the narrative. You score for colour groups that stay face‑up, subtracting points for face‑down cards and gaps in the layout. After the first round the deck is reshuffled and the process repeats for a second round; the sum of both rounds is your final score, which the king judges. In cooperative mode the two bards cannot discuss which card to play, but they may talk about where to place it, testing the strength of their friendship. The game lasts about 10 minutes, has very light rules and a 1.6 weight, perfect for fans of quick decisions, fantasy themes, and emergent storytelling.