Psychological Warfare

A psychological card game about manipulating opponents while pursuing personal needs. Players use backhanded compliments, clever insults, paranoia, stress, and phobias to alter scores across four categories: Freedom, Fun, Power, and Belonging. Victory points depend on each player’s archetype and category standings. Players spend Mental Energy to perform actions, affect scores, target opponents, or block incoming effects. Defense Mechanisms offer protection, while actions create Psychological Baggage that can be removed through Therapy at the cost of those defenses. Each turn involves choosing which cards to discard for energy, which actions to play, and how to balance personal goals with interference from other players.

Players: 2–4 best 4
Playing time: 30 min
Age: 12+
Complexity: 2 / 5