In the world of gamers there tends to be those tied to a computer screen and those who prefer the more tactile option of board games.
Rare are the times the two meet up, both preferring what they see as the advantages of their chosen gaming passion.
But a few games try to bridge the gap.
Yomi: The Fighting Card Game from designer David Sirlin can be counted among those efforts, and quite frankly it might be the best effort in the realm.
The game's introduction gives some insight into Sirlin's attempt to have the card game simulate a computer fighting game such as 'Mortal Combat.
"Yomi: Fighting Card Game is a competitive card game that stimulates a battle between two Fantasy Strike characters. Each deck represents one character and doubles as a regular deck of playing cards.
"Yomi" is Japanese for "reading" as in reading the mind of the opponent. The Yomi card game is designed to distill the high-level mind games from fighting game tournaments into a card game that, itself, stands up to serious tournament play.
"Yomi teaches you to pay attention to small clues that indicate how people think and act. Developing your Yomi skills might give you an edge in other games and even in other areas of life," details the material.
Each player has a deck of cards, based on one of a growing range of characters, with which to do battle.
A chosen character has an established number of hit points. The object of the game is to reduce the opponent's hit points to zero through winning combats and performing combos.
Players have a hand of seven cards drawn from their 57-card decks.
"Play a card from your hand face down on the table. This is called your "combat card." Your opponent plays their face down combat card at the same time.
Each Yomi card has one move on the north edge of the card and a different one on the south edge (a few cards have the same move on both edges though). The edge you put closest to your opponent is the move you're choosing this turn. The move on the other edge has no effect."
"Once your combat card and your opponent's combat card are face down on the table, reveal them simultaneously."
Once an attack is revealed, and the winner determined, it may allow the winner to chain together follow-up cards, as in a video game, to cause massive damage if the cards fall your way.
Yomi also has an element of bluffing, since some cards 'trump' actions, but since they are revealed at the same time, you must consider if a big offensive card should be used, or held in reserve.
The game plays out quickly, although there is something of a learning curve, since each card can be played to two different effects.
There is also the rock, paper, scissors attack matrix to get a handle on.
Attack beats throw, throw beats block or dodge, which in turn defeats an attack.
Once mastered games can play quickly, which is a bonus to a game of this style.
With a growing range of characters, each with a somewhat different strategy based on their deck strengths, there are also a tonne of options to explore.
Definitely one to have if you like quick fight games with enough strategy and luck mixed to satisfy fans of both.
Check it out at www.sirlingames.com
