Designer: Philip DuBerry.

The palace ballroom is a place full of conniving snakes vying for favors from the noble classes, and you are ready to prove that you are the greatest of all kiss-asses.

In Courtier, there is a tableau of various members of the elite royal class, including notable merchants, generals, clergy and the noble class. You will attempt to curry favor with these individuals, playing cards which let you place influence blocks next to these. If you have more cubes than anyone else on a noble, you control that noble. Your goal is to complete quests, which require you to target specific nobles for control. Also, having more influence in one sector of the ballroom will grant you additional powers — the person who controls the clergy can generate influence twice as fast, for example.

Interesting Mechanic: The Queen. The queen is the center of political intrigue, and she moves things along based on her whims. Whenever someone scores a quest, she flips a new card, which can dramatically reshape the politics of the ballroom (the queen is a fickle one, and cadres can fall in and out of favor quickly). One of these cards is the grim news that the Queen has been arrested. When this card is flipped, the game comes to an end.

Courtier is a lighter game that has drawn comparison to Steve Jackson’s Revolution (which I haven’t played). It’s a tad simplistic, but its easy to turn and is often a hoot.

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(Photo Credit: Wired)