Archduke

Players each have a small tableau of face-down cards with hidden point values; some cards are seen and some are unknown. The objective is to minimize the sum of points in front of each player over repeated rounds by swapping, stealing, discarding, and using occasional special abilities. At the start each player may peek at two of their own cards and must remember their positions. On a turn a player draws one card and either swaps it with a facedown card, discards it (sometimes triggering a special action), or keeps it, with actions that allow peeking at, exchanging, or giving cards to opponents. When a player believes they hold the lowest total they trigger the end of the round and all hands are scored; play continues to a target score.

Players: 2–6 best 4
Playing time: 15–25 min
Age: 12+
Complexity: 1.3 / 5