まんじゅうフォビア (manjû-phobia)

Description

Players explore the strange comedy of hidden fears, where each person secretly decides what they are truly afraid of and what no longer scares them. By observing the cards opponents take and avoid, players try to identify each other’s real phobias and force those feared objects onto them. But too much exposure can backfire: once someone faces the same fear repeatedly, exposure therapy kicks in, and what was terrifying may stop being scary altogether. Manjû-phobia is a trick-taking game about deduction, hidden information, and manipulating opponents’ scoring conditions. Each player receives cards, then secretly determines whether their personal phobia card is “scary” or “not scary.” A field phobia is also established, using the opposite fear status from the one the player did not choose. During tricks, players score -1 point for taking cards representing things that are scary to them and +1 point for taking cards that are not scary. Players must infer what their opponents truly fear and push those cards onto them. However, when a player collects three or more scary cards, Exposure Therapy activates and changes the scoring situation, making repeated fear potentially less harmful or even advantageous. The player with the highest score wins.

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