Arcana

Welcome to Cadwallon, a city whose guilds are famous for their cunning. In Arcana you run one of them, sending loyal agents into a series of district encounters against your rivals. The prizes are Stake cards: prominent citizens, useful locations and valuable treasures, won through bribery and power struggles, and they all count toward your victory points. Under the hood it is a trick-taking and area-majority card game with hidden choices, special powers and a bit of deck building, for two to four players and about an hour. This is the 2009 original; the version described by the publisher is a revised edition from 2011, and it is a fantasy game for ages thirteen and up.