Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Fortune & Famine is a strategy card game, set in medieval times of magic. You play as the ruler of a growing kingdom, attempting to store more grain in 12 rounds than opposing rulers.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Auction/Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
Deck Construction
Build a deck before play by selecting cards under defined construction rules.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Specialist Worker Placement
Place workers with different capabilities or restrictions on action spaces.
Variable Player Powers
Each player has different abilities, restrictions, or strategic advantages.
Read the full game description
Fortune & Famine is a strategy card game, set in medieval times of magic. You play as the ruler of a growing kingdom, attempting to store more grain in 12 rounds than opposing rulers. To do that, you will spend silver to bid against other rulers on worker cards which produce unique goods or services for your kingdom. You will need to balance your silver and grain economies, and take some risks. The primary risk-reward comes in the form of FAMINE cards, which show up with increasing regularity as the game progresses. You can store as much of your grain as you wish to safety for a single silver coin. This makes it economically beneficial to leave your grain growing as long as possible. But beware! When FAMINE strikes, you will lose half of it! Variable player powers are built in with six rulers. Each ruler gives a unique power to their kingdom. Rulers can be distributed randomly at the start or chosen by each player for the cost of less starting silver. If all else fails and you think an opposing ruler is running away with the game, you may be able to slow them with judiciously played evil wizard cards, although each wizard will cost a precious spot in your kingdom! -description from designer