How to play Love Letter rules if you hate rulebooks

I hate rulebooks! This condensed How to Play Love Letter rules help players get the essential instructions without having to trawl rulebooks.

The Love Letter overview page introduces you to the game through a summary of the gameplay and videos shared by other gamer.

Overview

• 2–6 suitors compete to deliver their missives to the kingdom’s princess.
• The princess seeks an ideal partner and confidant for when she assumes the throne.

Setup

1. Give each player a reference card; return any extra reference cards to the box.
   • Reference cards list values, effects, and quantity of each character card type.
2. Shuffle the 21 character cards to create the deck. Place the deck facedown within easy reach.
3. Take the top card of the deck and set it aside facedown.
   • For a two-player game, set aside three more cards faceup.
4. Deal each player one card as their starting hand.
5. The player who most recently hand-wrote a letter takes the first turn.

Gameplay

• Play rounds to enlist the allies, friends, and family of the Princess to carry a letter of intent to her.
• The card in your hand represents the current letter carrier.
• The carrier can change during the round as you draw and play cards.
• Win a round by having the highest-value card at the end or being the only player left.

Player Turn

• Turns are taken in clockwise order.
• On your turn:
  1. Draw one card from the deck.
  2. Choose and play one of your two cards, resolving its effect.
  3. Place the played card faceup in your play area.
  4. Keep the other card in your hand.

Out of the Round

• Some card effects knock you out of the round.
• When knocked out:
  1. Discard your hand faceup (without resolving card effects).
  2. You cannot be chosen for card effects until the next round.
  3. Flip your reference card to the broken seal side as a reminder.

Played and Discarded Cards

• All played or discarded cards must be visible to everyone.
• This ensures everyone knows which cards are out of play.

End of a Round

• A round ends in one of two ways:
  1. Deck Runs Out:
     • After any turn, if the deck is empty, all players still in the round reveal and compare their cards.
     • The player with the highest-value card wins and gains one favor token.
     • In case of a tie, all tied players win and each gains one token.
  2. One Player Left:
     • If only one player remains (others are out due to card effects), the round ends immediately.
     • The remaining player wins and gains one favor token.

Starting the Next Round

• Repeat steps 2–4 of the setup (shuffle cards, set some aside, deal one card to each player).
• The previous round’s winner takes the first turn.
• In case of a tie, randomly decide who starts.

Winning the Game

• The game ends when one player has enough favor tokens to win (based on the number of players).
• Multiple players can win simultaneously if they reach the required tokens at the same time.

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Card Effects

• Each card features a key person in the Princess’s life.
• Dots on the left side indicate how many of that card are in the deck.
• Yellow dots show what to remove for the classic version (see page 14).
• The text on each card summarizes its effect; pages 8–13 provide complete rules.

9. Princess

• If you play or discard the Princess, you are immediately out of the round.

8. Countess

• No effect when played or discarded.
• Must play the Countess if you have the King or a Prince in your hand.
• Can choose to play the Countess even without having the King or a Prince.
• Do not reveal your other card when playing the Countess.
• Countess effect does not apply when drawing cards for other effects (e.g., Chancellor).

7. King

• Choose another player and trade hands with them.

6. Chancellor

• Draw two cards from the deck into your hand.
• Choose and keep one of the three cards, place the other two facedown on the bottom of the deck in any order.
• If only one card is in the deck, draw it and return one card.
• If no cards are left, the Chancellor is played with no effect.

5. Prince

• Choose any player (including yourself). The chosen player discards their hand and draws a new hand.
• If the deck is empty, the chosen player draws the set-aside card.
• If forced to discard the Princess, you are out of the round.

4. Handmaid

• Other players cannot choose you for their card effects until the start of your next turn.
• If all other players are protected by a Handmaid when you play a card:
  • If the card requires choosing another player (e.g., Guard, Priest, Baron, King), it is played with no effect.
  • If the card requires choosing any player (e.g., Prince), you must choose yourself for the effect.

3. Baron

• Choose another player and secretly compare hands.
• The player with the lower-value card is out of the round.
• In case of a tie, neither player is out of the round.

2. Priest

• Choose another player and secretly look at their hand (without revealing it to others).

1. Guard

• Choose another player and name a character (not Guard).
• If the chosen player has the named character in their hand, they are out of the round.

0. Spy

• No effect when played or discarded.
• At the end of the round, if you are the only player who played or discarded a Spy, you gain one favor token.
• This does not count as winning the round; the round winner still gains their token.
• Playing and/or discarding two Spies still grants only one token.

Classic Version Rules

To play the classic version, before setup, return these cards to the bag:

• 1 Guard
• 2 Chancellors
• 2 Spies
• All other rules for the game are unchanged.