Base price: $25.
5 – 10 players.
Play time: 45 – 90 minutes.
BGG Link
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 1
Full disclosure: A review copy of Lovestruck was provided by Rabble.
So my friend really wanted to watch a specific season of The Bachelor, and I think I’ve honestly never seen a single man so woefully underprepared for a dating show. I think we haven’t watched the finale yet, so don’t spoil it for me. This, this season of The Bachelor from 2020 or whatever. But it made me think a lot about the idea of love through the lens of reality TV. And what better way to dig into that than playing a board game? I sure cannot think of one. So let’s find out!
In Lovestruck, players are contestants on a reality TV show. But what’s your goal? Is it to try to find a romantic partner that you can spend your entire life together? Or is it to try and get a ton of social media followers so you can get famous? Either way, getting together with someone and causing a lot of problems can potentially get you to either goal. Make a scene, make a romance, or just make a disaster with dates and bombshells and maybe, a little bit of love. Can you build a lasting connection? Or at least one that lasts long enough to get you some followers?
Contents
Setup
Not a ton! Set out the boards:
Let each player choose a Character and place their token in the pool to start:
Then, set up the Intention Cards for your player count and shuffle them, dealing each player one:
- 5 players: 4 right reason cards, 2 wrong reason cards
- 6 players: 5 right reason cards, 2 wrong reason cards
- 7 players: 5 right reason cards, 3 wrong reason cards
- 8 players: 6 right reason cards, 3 wrong reason cards
- 9 players: 7 right reason cards, 3 wrong reason cards
- 10 players: 7 right reason cards, 4 wrong reason cards
Each player gets one! Shuffle the action cards:
You should be ready to start!
Gameplay
Gameplay is pretty easy! Just like a dating show, you’ve got a variety of actions you can take in the Villa and some very fun dates you can go on. Just … be sure to get into character. It’s important.
Each round is one episode, and it takes place at the Villa or on a Date. The current Main Character acts first each round.
Villa Rounds
To start, each player draws the indicated number of cards. During a Villa Round, each player goes around taking one of their Villa Actions. They can enter into couples, break up, look at their partner’s Intention Card, or start Rumors (among other things). All these actions cost cards, and some cost Love or Drama cards, depending on the action. Some may raise Viewership, though, so watch out! At any point, if Viewership hits 10 Million, the game immediately ends and all players here for the Wrong Reasons win.
In the final episode, each player gets to take a second Villa Action in turn order after everyone has taken one.
Date Rounds
Date rounds play a little differently. The Main Character gets to choose a set number of people and send them on a date! (We usually make players say what the date is going to be and describe to us how it goes after the fact.) The Main Character does not have to go on the date, and even players who are already coupled up can be sent on the date! Good times.
The players sent on the date each draw a card, and then choose a Love or Drama card from their hand to play. Then, those cards are shuffled and revealed!
- If all cards are Love Cards: -1 Viewership! That’s boring.
- If any card is a Drama Card: +1 Viewership! Exciting and dramatic.
The cards are then discarded.
End of Game
The game ends after the 10th round, or if Viewership hits 10M. In either case, all players reveal their Intention Cards. If Viewership has hit 10M, all players here for the Wrong Reasons win! Otherwise,
- If two players here for the Right Reasons are in a couple, they both win.
- If a player here for the Wrong Reasons is in a couple with a player here for the Right Reasons, the Wrong Reasons player wins! They use the relationship to make themselves famous.
- If two players here for the Wrong Reasons are in a couple, they both lose! That’s toxic.
- All single players lose. This is a dating show!
As a bonus challenge, if there is a single player remaining who is here for the Right Reasons, they win! They’re invited back to the show for the next season.
Player Count Differences
It’s definitely going to be more chaotic with more players, as you start feeding in more and more people here for the Wrong Reasons. That’s going to be most of it, honestly. You may find with more players, as well, that you get left off of dates in order to establish other players (since there will be … more). This means that Villa Actions become more important, both in terms of adjusting Viewership to your goals and sussing out other players’ Intentions. Tactical play becomes more important since you’ll get fewer opportunities to “test” specific players via dates. The game will also take longer with more people (more Villa Actions, generally speaking). I think the chaos of it all leans into the theme, though, so I wouldn’t be opposed to more players.
Strategy
- If you’re here for the Wrong Reasons, be subtle about your desire to boost Viewership. You can’t just go for it; other players can reduce Viewership on their turns and there are a lot more of them then there are of you. Instead, focus on outcomes. Convince players to break up; keep a couple Bombshell cards and claim you need the beneficial effects. Wait for another player to draw a lot of smoke by being there for the Wrong Reasons. It’s all helpful.
- If you’re here for the Wrong Reasons, you also should be careful about coupling up too quickly! If you’re in a Couple, either player can spend cards to look at your Intention. That’s pretty much always bad for you. However, if you’re hesitant to get into a couple because of that, that also looks bad for you. Play smart!
- Lean into the drama, either way. The drama drives the plot and players roleplaying may occasionally forget their win condition if they’re leaning into it enough. That’s almost always good for you.
- Just because a Drama Card was played does not mean that any player on the Date was there for the Wrong Reasons. Some players may have had no Love Cards in their hand and were thereby forced to play a Drama Card. They have to play one or the other! If you start a Rumor and a player who claimed to only have Drama in their hand has a bunch of Love Cards, well, that’s suspicious.
- Similarly, players who raise Viewership might not be there for the Wrong Reasons. They may be looking for a useful Bombshell effect or breaking up with a player they suspect is there for the Wrong Reasons! Not everything is cut-and-dry.
- Watch out for late-game couplings. Those players might be here for the Wrong Reasons and are trying to get with you so that they can win! You have a right to be wary, especially if it’s too late for you to inspect their card.
- If you can check someone else’s card, you really have no reason to lie. Why would you? It doesn’t really make sense to me to do that.
Pros, Mehs, and Cons
Pros
- The color scheme is striking, but very fun. It’s very summery and extremely bright. That’s fun on its own, I suppose.
- I appreciate that your partner’s identity matters more than your own, from a gameplay standpoint. It’s fun that you’re spending a lot more time worrying about them, and they consequently have to worry about you.
- This does take one of my favorite gameplay mechanics from Secret Hitler and uses it to good effect without all of Secret Hitler’s baggage and other flaws. I like that there’s no guarantee that three “good” players will have a successful date, just based on how the card flip works. I wish it worked a bit more similarly to Secret Hitler so it was more difficult to have successful dates, but this is still better than the Avalon-style of play where everyone has (equivalently) a Love and a Drama at all times.
- I think the dating show theme appeals to a wide variety of players. It’s fun to get into and lots of people watch reality TV, even though it sucks.
- I imagine folks would even be down for more characters. The characters we have are a lot of fun, especially for light roleplaying elements; I can imagine even more fun ones too.
- I like the bonus alternate win condition! It’s silly. It’s hard to do since you really need an odd number of players, but being invited back for next season is a goofy way to win a game.
- I think the roleplay elements help smooth over the normal arguments that pop up in social deduction games. It’s not you they’re accusing; it’s Chad, the guy you’re playing. It makes the game a bit less personal, I’ve found.
Mehs
- Starting a Rumor, as an action, feels pretty strong. You discard any two cards to steal one and then take any other action. So you net lose one card to see another player’s hand, which can be super helpful for upcoming Dates. It feels worth doing almost every round, if you can?
Cons
- This game kind of lives or dies based on your group’s tolerance for roleplay. If your group isn’t into it, I’m not sure it will hit as well since your characters are really critical (even if your character choice doesn’t impact gameplay). I’d definitely recommend thinking hard about whether or not you can get the group to go along before you play.
Overall: 7.5 / 10
Overall, I enjoyed Lovestruck, and that’s saying something, since social deduction is one of my least-favorite genres of games. Just straight-up think that half of the games devolve into arguing and the other half annoy me with very few exceptions. And there are exceptions (Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Insider, A Fake Artist, … others), but Lovestruck was a nice change of pace! It’s a lot closer to a classic social deduction game in that there’s a “good” team and a “bad” team, but them not knowing each other makes it fun, especially since two bad team members both lose if they’re in a couple. So your own intention doesn’t actually matter from a gameplay standpoint (for the most part); you care much more about other players. I think that’s fun! There’s a nice balancing effect for the Bombshell cards, as well. They offer big advantages and abilities, but they also push the game closer and closer to a loss condition for the “good” team. Is someone playing a Bombshell because they’re here for the Wrong Reasons? Or are they playing it to try and find a safe person to couple up with? At what point do you prioritize the individual or the group, and how does that reflect on you? It creates a super-fun tension in the game. I also love that you might be in a situation where you’re forced to play a Drama Card (which looks bad) because you had no Love Cards. It’s a bummer, since it sows discord. There’s a lot of fun moving parts, but I think the game works best if players get into character and take their characters seriously from a goofy roleplaying perspective. That might make the game a tougher sell for more “serious” board gaming groups, but it makes it a perfect fit before a movie night or just hanging out with friends. I had a good time with Lovestruck, and if you want to have your own reality dating show, you enjoy a light bit of social deduction, or you just have a soft spot for hot pink games, I’d recommend checking it out!
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