Description

To deliver deadly wounds and bring down your enemy, you must pursue and out-speed their escape. But can the paltry might of your attack penetrate their defenses? Become more powerful by changing your trait cards, and use your cunning to collect advantageous combinations—doubles, triples, and even the game-ending quadruple!

Players begin with four cards in front of them which represent their traits—speed, attack, defense, and health. Think of these traits as the player’s stats: the higher the number, the stronger, unless you seek to debilitate your opponent with the lower ones using a pair.

Each player’s turn consists of a variety of actions that they can perform depending on the cards currently in front of them. Players can choose to “focus” one of their traits, changing its value (whether higher or lower), by flipping over a card from a deck in the center of the playing field. Or they can choose to “attack” an opponent if they have sufficient speed and attack over an opponent’s own speed and defense, dealing damage to them. Finally, they can choose to perform a “gambit” on an opponent, in which they sacrifice a pair in front of them to replace an opponent’s trait (perhaps with something worse).

Additionally, players have a hand of trait cards that they draw under special circumstances and keep secret from others. When performing an action, they may use the cards in their hand to directly change their traits, offering themselves a secretive edge.

In short, Gladiators players compete to have the best stat values and try to inhibit those of their opponents. They may rely on the luck of the draw, or they may use their wits and cunning: to fight to become the last Gladiator standing.

—description from the designer