Yokai Forest Duel

Yokai Forest Duel is a lightweight and fast-playing tabletop dueling tournament card game. It supports 2–8 players, with the ability to scale up to 16 players if two copies of the game are used, and is designed to be learned in just a few minutes thanks to its streamlined, language-neutral ruleset. The core premise places each participant in a series of head-to-head duels using a small hand of cards representing actions like attacks, defenses, ammunition management, and permanent enhancements, with the goal of outthinking opponents.

Gameplay centers around strategic decision-making and open information play, meaning most cards are revealed during duels and players must anticipate opponents’ choices in real time. Duels are conducted in a best-of-three format, and your choices in each confrontation—whether to build up your capabilities or press the attack—affect later rounds because improvements to your tableau carry over through a tournament. This creates tension between long-term planning and immediate tactical actions, encouraging players to balance upgrades with aggression.