Royal Match
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🏳️🌈 Why it’s here
What we found
- Queer storyline central to play
According to the game’s rulebook
“only the royal matchmakers (players) can restore peace by arranging a queer poly marriage to unite the kingdoms” - Queer themes
According to the game’s own description
“arranging a queer poly marriage to unite the kingdoms” - Tagged queer by its creator
According to the creator’s own tags on itch.io
🤝 Inclusive design ⓘInclusive design is separate from a game’s queer labels. It marks games whose design is deliberately inclusive even when not queer-themed: romance or marriage mechanics with no gender constraint, character creation without a forced gender binary, gender-neutral rules language, or table safety tools. Each marker shows where we found it.
- Romance/marriage mechanics with no gender constraint
According to the game’s rulebook
“Royal Match (The Perfect Polycule - A Marriage of Equals)”
Description
Game Overview Royal Match is a card game for four players. The game emphasizes strategy and negotiation instead of chance and secrecy. It can be played using a deck of playing cards, tarot cards, Uno cards, or any similar set of tokens grouped into four suits. It is designed to be accessible and adaptable to suit the needs and preferences of a wide range of players and play styles. Game Experience A game of Royal Match consists of multiple rounds in which players score points. Each round has a number of possible end states: 1 player can win, 2-4 players can jointly win, or 1-4 players can lose. This incentivizes players to form ad hoc alliances and rivalries throughout the game. Within a given round, all players’ hands are known to all other players. Rather than having a player only focus on their own hand, this incentivizes players to pay close attention to all players’ hands to see who is a threat and who is a potential ally. Depending on the preferences of the group playing, rules can be added or removed to shift the game toward a fast-paced competitive style or toward a leisurely narrative style. Game ThemeThe four kingdoms are at war (again) and only the royal matchmakers (players) can restore peace by arranging a queer poly marriage to unite the kingdoms. However, while all the matchmakers have come to the Match Ball with the stated intention of negotiating peace through dance, long-standing rivalries may lead some matchmakers to deliberately sabotage the process by inciting royal inbreeding or a revolution of the common folk. Open Beta Royal Match is currently in an open beta test. Please feel free to play the game with your family or friends and then let me know how your experience went.