BluGame games · Rules and features

Love Letter — rules and features in the BluGame app

2–4 players

A light deduction card game — you hold one card and have to get rid of it before you work out what everyone else is holding. A round takes just a few minutes.

Rules

How to play Love Letter

These are the same rules the app shows players in the game menu.

Goal

Earn tokens by winning rounds. The number of tokens needed to win the whole match depends on the number of players: 7 for two players, 5 for three, 4 for four — the more players, the sooner the match ends, since rounds run shorter.

Taking your turn

On your turn you draw a card (you then hold two), then you MUST play one of them and resolve its effect — there's no way to pass. The other card stays with you for next turn. Some effects (Guard, Priest, Baron, Prince) require choosing a target — you can target any other active player without Handmaid protection, and in the Prince's case, also yourself.

Cards and effects

The deck is 16 cards across eight types, weakest to strongest: Guard ×5 (value 1 — guess another player's card, but you can't guess "Guard"; a correct guess eliminates them), Priest ×2 (value 2 — peek at another player's card, only you see the result), Baron ×2 (value 3 — quietly compare cards with another player; the lower value is eliminated, a tie eliminates no one), Handmaid ×2 (value 4 — protects you from others' effects until your next turn), Prince ×2 (value 5 — the chosen player, which can be yourself, discards their card and draws a new one), King ×1 (value 6 — trade hands with another player), Countess ×1 (value 7 — if you're holding it together with the King or Prince, you MUST discard the Countess), and Princess ×1 (value 8, the strongest card — discarding it, for any reason, even forced by the Prince, eliminates you from that round).

Two-player variant

With two players, the deal looks different from three-four: one card is set aside face up (visible to both, but unplayable), and three more are set aside face down — unknown to anyone until the round ends. This shortens the deck and changes which cards actually circulate in play.

End of round and match

A round ends in one of two ways: only one active player remains (the rest were eliminated by the Baron, Prince, or Princess) — they win instantly, or the draw pile runs out — then the hands of all still-active players are compared and the highest wins. The round's winner gets a token. The first player to collect the required number of tokens (see "Goal") wins the whole match.

Example

What a game looks like

Step by step, the way it plays out at the table.

The plot begins

Four messengers are trying to deliver a love letter to the princess — each wants to be the one whose letter gets through. After the deal, Ala holds a Guard, Bartek a Priest, Celina a Baron, and Dawid a King. Everyone eyes each other with suspicion — in this game it's not strength that wins, just surviving to the end of the round.

Trading cards

Ala draws a card and plays her Guard, betting that Dawid is holding the King — a hit! Dawid is out for the round, and his card goes face up on the discard pile for everyone to see. Bartek, wary of a similar guess, plays the Handmaid — now no one can target him with any effect until his next turn. Celina plays her Baron against Ala — after a quiet comparison of cards, it turns out Ala has the weaker one, and she's out too.

The resolution

Bartek and Celina remain. The draw pile runs out before anyone lands the finishing blow — the round ends by comparing hands. Bartek holds the Countess (7), Celina a Priest (2) — Bartek wins and earns a token. Had either of them picked up the King alongside the Countess earlier, they'd have been forced to discard the Countess whether they liked it or not — exactly the kind of compulsion that can swing a round the other way entirely.

In the BluGame app

What the app does for you

What happens in the phones and what stays at the table.

Deck and card effects handled by the app

The app deals the cards and resolves card effects — Guard, Priest, Baron and the rest — so you don't have to remember exceptions or keep track of the order.

Hidden information stays hidden

What you learn through the Priest only you see; the Baron's quiet comparison doesn't reveal cards to the rest of the table.

Tokens matched to the player count

The app counts tokens: 7 to win the match with two players, 5 with three, 4 with four.

Two-player variant

With two players the app sets aside cards by itself — openly and face-down — as the two-player variant requires.

Platform

The same in every BluGame game

No internet, no server

Phones connect directly over Bluetooth — game data never reaches the internet.

No account

You don't create an account or log in — you sit down and play.

Everyone in their own language

Each phone picks up its own language, so at one table everyone plays in theirs.

Custom

Standard and Custom

Standard is the full game for everyone. Custom is an option for venues and events — it adds the venue's logo and welcome text and a few extras.

In the Standard version

  • The full game, freeAll the rules described on this page, tables over Bluetooth, no account and no internet needed during play.

With Custom enabled

  • Venue logo and welcomeThe venue's logo and its own welcome text on the app's home screen.
  • Your own text on the gameA banner with the venue's own text (e.g. house rules, notes for players) on this game's screen.
  • App themeA ready-made visual theme for the whole app during a session at the venue.
  • Featured gameThe venue can highlight this game on the app home screen.

Custom doesn't change this game's rules — it adds the venue's logo, welcome text and house rules shown in the app.

Learn more about Custom →

More games

See the other games

Play Love Letter

The app is free, with no account and no internet needed during play.

Get it on Google Play