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Tournament at Avalon takes players to the land where Excalibur was forged, building on the innovative mechanisms of Tournament at Camelot with new characters, cards, and mechanisms, allowing players to focus on informal diplomacy or alliances alongside the standard combat of the original game. It's a deep, challenging experience all on its own, with extra depth and complexity for players who own both games!
In the game, you play as a legendary character, battling opponents with weapon cards: arrows, swords, deception, sorcery, and even alchemy. The more you injure your opponents, the better you fare in the tournament. However, even the most injured characters can make a complete comeback with the grace of Godsend cards and the aid of their special companions. This trick-taking game ends when one opponent has been injured to the point of death. The player with the most health is then declared the tournament victor!
In Tournament at Avalon, you also have cards representing the legendary enchantress Morgan Le Fay and a new set of location panels that grant additional advantages to a player when they are the host of a tournament round. If you have Tournament at Camelot, you can mix and match your favorite cards, playing with either ruleset or combining the two games to play an epic "Chaos of Battle" tournament with seven or eight players!
—description from the publisher
- Aggressive and cutthroat gameplay
- Adds chaos with gods and abilities
- High player interaction
- Can be a little long, sometimes over an hour
- One player found it confusing initially
- trick-taking with aggression
- The Crew
- Tichu
- Cosmic Encounter
- Origin Story
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Implied by upgrading superheroes and drafting cards.
- Combat — Players do damage to each other.
- Trick-taking — Core mechanic is trick-taking.
- Variable player powers — Character abilities influence gameplay.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Meaningful strategic decisions that then feed into a lot of random outcomes and very entertaining random outcomes.
- The game does the best like chain reaction type experience that I think I've seen in a game.
- It feels like Ethnos meets Quacks of Quedlinburg.
- It's got the same element as a game like Quacks where you might just have a bad round drawing. But it feels even worse in this game because you're playing a big two plus hour game and have a bigger overarching strategy. So for it to really not pan out it stings more.
- Number one goes to Arcs.
- This is the marriage of those two [heavy conflict interactions and trick taking].
- When you're able to pull something off, it feels like this game is so satisfying.
- Having the cards push you in different directions and like I can't do what I want, but how can I make something work? I find a lot more kind of compelling and replayable.
- It is a very rewarding game.
- I think he even recently said it's his top game.
- So much so that he was the one that requested to put it on our wedding registry.
References (from this video)
- Unique Arthurian theme, social interaction
- Variety with character abilities
- Niche appeal; may be less accessible to casual players
- social trick-taking and negotiation
- Arthurian tournament theme
- competitive yet lighthearted
- Teach You (The Mind Games)
- Poker-style trick-taking
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- negotiation_and_alliances — Players form and break alliances as the game unfolds.
- trick_taking — Hero/character cards lead to trick-taking rounds with special abilities.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's so nostalgic that it's like so much of me wants to own it
- I think this quite possibly could be my top game
- the Mind Games I really like the mind games
- the combination of bag building and push your luck is just really nice
- we'll be seeing Twilight Imperium on Caitlyn's no we will not
References (from this video)
- Innovative integration of trick-taking with ambitions
- High interaction and clever puzzles
- Enjoyable with a strong, engaged group
- Complex teach for new players
- Performance depends on the right group size and dynamics
- Mind-games and strategic deception
- Trick-taking tournament with magical powers
- Clever, competitive mind games with evolving powers
- Tichu
- Root
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card powers / twists — Special abilities and unpredictable interactions via card play
- high interaction / player-versus-player tension — Active interference and counterplay between players
- Positive player interaction — Active interference and counterplay between players
- Trick-taking — Players bid on and play tricks while ambitions drive scoring
- trick-taking with ambitions — Players bid on and play tricks while ambitions drive scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the dynamic map element, which that's unique to Catacombs, the other ones just have a static board, is a huge part of the fun of the experience.
- it's a game that allows as much thinking as you want.
- there's nothing like it.