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Magi-Nation Duel
- 2–4 players
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- 2000
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The Spoils
2006
Rules assistance for The Spoils
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 40 min
- 13+
- Complexity 2.8/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for The Spoils
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Spoils is a board game released in 2006 for 2–6 players, 40 minutes per game, and ages 13 and up. It was designed by Josh Lytle, Dylan Mayo, and Ken Pilcher and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers and Hand Management.
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About the game
The Spoils, a card game first released in 2006 by Tenacious Games, taps into other card games such as Magic: The Gathering and Magi-Nation for some of its gameplay mechanisms, but the game is uniquely its own. You start the game with a figurehead or faction card in play that determines how you begin your turn and which actions you are allowed to take. These factions have special abilities, unique to each faction card. Players need to amass resource cards in order to play characters, tactics, items and locations, with each of these card types often having subtypes. Players may drop any card from their hand face down as a resource, but cards dropped in this manner will not count as having any resource icons – and you need those to play cards. The resource icons come in the form of five trades, which are: Banker (Greed icon) Rogue (Deception icon) Warlord (Rage icon) Gearsmith (Elitism icon) Arcanist (Obsession icon) Discontinued at January 1st, 2017.
Designers
Publishers
- Tenacious Games
- Arcane Tinmen
Questions and answers
The Spoils supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Spoils is 40 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Spoils for ages 13 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Spoils has a complexity rating of 2.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Spoils belongs to these categories: Card Game, Fantasy, and Humor. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers and Hand Management. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Spoils are: Josh Lytle, Dylan Mayo, and Ken Pilcher. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Spoils as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.