Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 5-20 minutes
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time: 5 minutes

Flash Duel Rules Description:

Flash Duel simulates a sparring match between two Fantasy Strike characters. If you can land a hit you win the round. Win three rounds and you win the match.

Flash Duel is a card game. Some of the cards make up the linear board; others represent your character’s special abilities and the rest of the deck consists of 25 cards numbered 1-5.

After you and your opponent select a character to fight with, you shuffle the cards numbered 1-5 and deal five cards to each player.

On your turn you may move, push, attack or dashing strike your opponent. You may move toward or away from your opponent equal to the number on a card you play. You may not move passed your opponent so playing a 5 when you are 3 spaces away stops you next to them.

If you are adjacent to an opponent you may push them away equal to the number of spaces of the card you play.

You may attack an opponent by playing a card equal to the distance they are from you on the board. Your opponent must block by playing the same card you played or be hit. If you are hit the round ends.

You may also move and attack. This is called a dashing strike. To perform a dashing strike you must first lay a card and move that many spaces and then attack with a card that equals their distance from you. You may block a dashing strike the same as an attack or you may retreat. To retreat you must have enough space to back up. You move a number of spaces equal to the card you play to retreat. Also on your turn after a retreat all you can do is draw up to five cards.

You can power up your attacks by playing a pair, triples or more. In that case your opponent still has to match the cards you attack with.

At the end of your turn you draw back up to five and if the deck runs out, time is up. Both players then reveal their hands and sees if they can attack the other. If one hits they win the round. If not it is a tie. Winning three out of five rounds wins you the match.

The deck comes with 10 different characters that have special abilities. Each character is unique and who you are playing with and against might change your approach to the match.

A Quick Flash Duel Review:

Flash Duel is quick and fairly light. The quick playing time and portablility of Flash Duel make it an excellent filler. The ten characters add some great variation to the game and even how you play the game. Nothing the characters do is too extreme but most of their special abilities are interesting and change how you use them and play against them.

The cards and art are great. The rules are straight forward and easy to understand. You may need to read them twice just so you don’t miss anything. The rules say this game was inspired by En Garde and I can totally see that. Again the characters make Flash Duel have more variation than En Garde.

If you are looking for a fun card game you can take anywhere or like the Fantasy Strike setting and characters you should check out Flash Duel. This game is also simple enough for kids and yet still fun for adults. Flash Duel has been updated. Read my review of Flash Duel 2.0 here.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 6 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6