Tiny Swords 2016

Tiny Swords is a cute, casual card game about fast fun duels with customizable swords that can fit in your wallet. Each themed set comes with its own unique cards, including a charm card that can dramatically change how the game is played.

A complete game for two players can be made by printing out just one sheet of 8.5x11 paper, but the extra expansions add all kinds of fun new card themes to play with!

Included is a Tiny Swords instruction manual you can either read as a PDF or print out as a minizine!

—description from the designer

The print-and-play game is distributed as an instruction manual and several print-and-play card packs, including:

Wave I - Spooky, Sweet, Mermaid, Moon Wave II - Puppy, Kitty, Cafe, Forest Wave III - Circus, Clockwork, Dino, Lucky

"Spooky/Sweet" and "Mermaid/Moon" are considered the traditional "starter" packs.

The game was released as a free "beta" version in 2016; following a successful Kickstarter a commercial "print and play" version was released in 2017.

Game play involves hand management of custom cards that represent a player's "tiny sword" - a "parry" card, a "slice" card, and a "thrust" card. Each card type beats one other card type but in turn is beaten by the other card type in a traditional "rock-paper-scissors" paradigm. Players alternate turns attacking an opponent of their choice; selected card pairs are simultaneously revealed and resolved by card swapping and possible card elimination. In addition, some cards have special powers that may be activated during resolution. In the case of "ties", resolution may require succeeding card plays. Players who have all their sword cards eliminated are themselves eliminated from the game. Play continues with fewer players until only one player remains holding one or more sword cards.

—user summary