Recruits is a popular card game played by the critters in the forests of Wrenwood. It combines elements of strategy, luck, hand management, and blind bidding, making it an exciting and competitive game. It is played in taverns as gamblers wager bets and by travelers wanting to pass the time at night during camp. The game has been around so long that many variations have surfaced.
Players try to outbid each other to draft the best team of Recruits, earning the most points to win. Several Recruits are available to bid on at a time, each with different point values. Players take turns laying down cards in bids for the highest total pair of cards in hopes of claiming the Recruit. With restrictions on what cards can be placed for bidding, players will block other players, stall recruitment, and force others to waste cards, all while carefully managing their hands and planning the next move. When all the bids are placed for a given Recruit, the pile is resolved, and the Recruit goes to the highest bidding player. At the end of the game, the player with the highest point total in Recruits wins.
—description from the designer