Captain Tsubasa is a 2 player game based on the manga and anime of the same name. This Japanese manga and anime from the 1980’s is hugely popular not only in Japan but also around the world. It is about football (soccer). In the game you play a football match between two key teams in the story, Nankatsu and Toho. This is a card game, and you will see many characters from the series. If you are a fan, this will be fun. 

 

 

The game is divided into two halves, and you play 6 rounds in each half. You have your own deck of cards and you draw cards from it. At the start of a round, each player also drafts one card from a common pool. Every round one player is the attacker and the other the defender. You take turns playing cards until there are nine cards in total played, or both players pass. Cards have various effects, and one of them is giving you strength in attack, passing or defense. You may also get tokens for one of these three aspects. When the card play phase ends, the attacker must decide whether to attempt to score a goal or to retain ball possession. Attacker and defender compare their attack (or passing) and defense strengths respectively. They may add tokens to increase their strengths. They also roll dice to add to their strengths. If the attacker has a higher total, they score a goal or retain ball possession. Retaining possession means not scoring a goal, but remaining the attacker in the next round. If a goal is scored or an attempt fails, the other team becomes attacker next round. 

 

 

There is no board play or pawns on a football field. The characters in the story and their strengths are represented by cards. Goalkeeper cards make it possible to save a round you are about to lose. There are some special attack and special defense cards which let you play a form of rock paper scissors. 

 

 

There is an ebb and flow like a football match. You take turns attacking. You try to maximise your odds by utilising your cards well. There is some luck in the game, not just in terms of the die rolls, but also in terms of card draw. I think that’s a good thing because it’s exciting. Football is supposed to be like that. 

 

 

There is some deck building in the game. You only have a small deck. Whenever your deck runs out, you will shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck, and you continue to draw. During the game you can remove cards, and you can recruit new cards. This adds some longer term strategy. You can customise your football team.