Play alone against a computer rival, or share one device with a friend. Claim five of your own cards to win. If nobody does, the most claims after twelve clashes wins. Equal claims: a draw.
♜ Castle → ▥ City → ◇ Market → ≋ Coast → ♜ Castle
If your terrain beats the opponent’s terrain, add +1 to your own total. Same or opposite terrains: +0. Disadvantage never subtracts points.
Impostor Use the opponent’s printed called rating, ignoring their modifiers and alternate stat. Keep your terrain.
Phantom Add +2 to your total.
Distorted Choose another of your printed ratings when you commit. The previous clash’s rating is allowed.
Veiled Turn your own loss by exactly 1 or 2 into a draw. No effect if you win, already tie or lose by 3+.
Twin Commit a different copy of the same archetype from your hand for +3. That support discards, even if canceled; it never activates a power.
Marred Cancel the opponent’s scoring or tie effect. Their Spark stays spent, Twin support stays spent and returned Lost still retires unless it wins. If both activate Marred, both powers cancel: both Sparks stay spent, and each total uses its printed called rating plus its own terrain bonus.
Lost Play this card from your own discard instead of your hand for +1. Claim it if it wins; otherwise retire it forever. From the hand it plays normally, without activation.
Resolve payment → Marred cancellation → base replacements → power and terrain bonuses → totals → Veiled → card destinations. No reactions, refunds or extra tie battles.
The Standard computer rival uses only its own hand and public information. It cannot read your hidden hand, locked card or deck order. Both players have the same cards, three Sparks and rules. You choose every card you play; the computer handles only its own turns.
Solo and friend matches have separate browser saves. Switching modes keeps both; resetting removes only the selected mode. Solo pauses when you leave or open Help. Continue explicitly when you return. This is a heuristic opponent, not a paid AI service; its skill and balance remain unvalidated.
Age, Height, Grandeur and Legend are fictional Dream ratings, 1–5, not historical rankings or real-world measurements. Powers describe imagined qualities, not image-quality judgments.
This is honour-system privacy: look away during the other player’s turn. Browser developer tools and saved local data can reveal both hands and deck order. This is not cryptographic secrecy or remote multiplayer.
Use one tab for a match. Matches save only in this browser. Pausing, leaving the tab or reloading covers private choices; it never refunds a locked Spark or rerolls a saved deck. Clearing browser data deletes the match. The 10–15 minute duration is an unmeasured target, not a promise.
Fixed decks: four copies each of seven powered places, plus two Wayfarer’s Gates. Both decks contain the same 30 cards. All cards are available from the start. Mirrored decks and equal printed totals do not prove balance.
This deletes only the current Duel save and returns to setup. Locked choices and the current score cannot be recovered.
Duel needs JavaScript to run. Loading the game files requires a connection; no account or purchase is needed.