Emblems – Coins Over Crowns

The king is dead. No heir. Five families suddenly looking at the throne like it’s been left unattended for just a second too long.

That’s the situation in Emblems. And honestly, it doesn’t try to be subtle about it. You’re here for power. Coins decide everything. Whoever ends up richest after three rounds wins. Simple. At least on paper.

But once you start playing, it’s not that clean. It’s more about timing, reading the table, and occasionally watching your “perfect” move fall apart because someone dropped a Traitor at exactly the wrong moment. I mean… it’s medieval politics. Of course someone ruins your plan.

👥 3-5 players, ages 10+
⌛ Playing time: 20 minutes
📝 Designer: Adrien Bonnard & Romaric Galonnier
🎨 Artwork: Janice Perreux

🏢 Publisher: SAVANA (review copy provided)

Gameplay Overview

Each player gets one family, marked by a colour and emblem. You all get the exact same deck of fifteen character cards, numbered 1 to 15. No asymmetry here. Everyone has the same tools, which means the difference comes from how and when you use them.

You lay out three location cards vertically on the table: the Castle, the Village and the Port. For your first game, the rules suggest set A. Each player shuffles their deck, draws six cards and takes three coins. The game runs for three rounds.

Every turn, you secretly choose one card from your hand and place it face down in front of you. When everyone’s ready, the first player reveals their card and places it in one of the three locations. Then the others follow clockwise. If a card has an immediate effect, you resolve it straight away.

Here’s the part that makes you sit up a bit. Cards in a location must always be arranged in descending order. Highest value on the left, lowest on the right. If you play a card with the same value as one already there, you decide whether it goes left or right of it. That small choice can matter more than you think.

After all turns in a round are finished, you resolve end of round effects in each location, from highest value to lowest. Then you distribute coins according to the ranking shown on the location card. Cards that received coins are discarded. The rest stay in play. Everyone refills to six cards, the first player marker moves to the left, and the next round begins. After three rounds, whoever has the most coins wins.

That’s it rules-wise. It’s not a heavy rulebook. The weight comes from how the characters interact.

About the characters

High numbers look powerful. The King sits proudly at 15. You’d think that’s safe. It isn’t. If there’s a Thief in the same location, the King gets discarded. Gone. Royal drama, but not the fun kind.

The Hunter discards the highest value card in a location. The Guard moves an adjacent card to another location. The Traitor reverses how rewards are distributed in that lane, so suddenly the lowest value card might take first place.

For us, the Traitor shaped decisions even when it wasn’t on the table yet. If it hadn’t appeared, committing high value cards felt risky. I know that sounds obvious, but it genuinely changes how you read the game.

The Witch cancels end of round effects of lower value cards in her location. Not flashy, but very effective. The Merchant gains coins for each strictly lower value card in the same location. The Spy gains coins if it’s your only card there. The Bard pulls a card from another location into its own. The Alchemist copies the immediate effect of an adjacent card, which can lead to turns where the game suddenly looks very different.

And yes, sometimes you forget what’s still in play and get punished for it. I guess that’s part of the design.

Artwork and components

Visually, Emblems goes for a bright, storybook medieval look. It’s not dark or gritty. More tournament banners and stained glass than muddy battlefields.

Each family has a clear colour identity. That helps a lot once the table fills up. The character cards show portrait style illustrations with strong outlines and warm colours. They’re easy to read. Values are clearly printed in the corners. The layout is practical. Nothing fancy, just functional.

The three locations use scenic artwork. Castle, Village, Port. You can tell them apart instantly. Rewards are clearly printed, which is important because you’ll be looking at them constantly.

You get seventy five character cards, nine double sided location cards, coin tokens in two denominations, and a small wooden sword as the first player marker. The sword is a nice touch. It doesn’t change the game, but it looks good on the table. And let’s be honest, passing around a tiny sword feels slightly theatrical. In a good way.

Component quality is solid. Not luxurious, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a quick tactical game, not a collector’s showpiece.

Our experience

What stood out immediately was how contained the system is. You secretly choose, then reveal one by one. Every reveal can shift the balance. Because cards must stay in descending order, placement becomes a small puzzle. You’re not only thinking about value. You’re thinking about where the card will sit, who it will be next to, and what that means.

High values feel strong but also fragile. We saw several Kings disappear before scoring because someone revealed a Hunter later in the turn. That creates hesitation. Do you play your strong card now, or wait?

The Traitor caused some memorable situations. In one game, two of us invested heavily in the Castle, confident we’d take first and second place. Then a late Traitor flipped the ranking. A low value card suddenly scored first. I remember looking at the table and just laughing. Not because it was hilarious, but because what else can you do?

At three and four players, we felt there was space to read intentions. At five players, things became more unpredictable. More cards enter each location per turn, more effects trigger, and outcomes can change quickly. That’s not necessarily bad, but it is different. If you prefer careful planning with minimal disruption, this might frustrate you.

There’s also table politics. Stealing coins, reversing rewards, moving cards. If someone looks like they’re ahead, others can target them. I mean, you can pretend it’s purely strategic, but sometimes it’s just “don’t let him win again”.

Persistence between rounds is interesting. Only cards that scored are discarded. Others stay. That means the game state carries over. You can leave low value cards sitting there, waiting for a future Traitor to make them valuable. It creates a kind of delayed setup.

At first, it feels chaotic. After a few plays, you start tracking what’s been used. Has their Hunter already appeared? Is the Traitor still out there? It’s a small thing, but it influences your decisions more than we realised early on.

Still, I’ll say this. If you don’t enjoy direct interaction and the possibility that your plan gets undone, this isn’t for you. It’s not mean spirited, but it is confrontational.

Our thoughts

Emblems is less about controlling locations long term and more about controlling payouts in the moment. You’re not building an engine. You’re deciding who gets paid this round.

There’s no long term combo system. No gradual snowball. Each round partially resets. That keeps it tight and prevents runaway leaders, but it also means the game arc feels like three bursts of conflict rather than a slow build.

I guess that’s something to be aware of. If you love watching a strategy grow over time, you won’t find that here. It’s sharper and more immediate.

Compared to games like Oriflamme or Courtisans, Emblems feels a bit more volatile. Less about careful bluffing over several turns, more about reacting to what just happened. That doesn’t make it better or worse. Just different.

The theme works, but it’s mostly a frame. You don’t feel like a medieval ruler making grand decisions. You feel like someone trying to outmanoeuvre friends for coins. Which, honestly, is accurate enough.

Would I call it chaotic? At first, yes. After repeated plays, less so. There is strategy here. You just have to accept that control is limited. If you’re okay with that, the game creates lively turns and satisfying plays. If you’re not okay with that, well… maybe keep your crown in the box.

📝 We received a copy of the game from SAVANA.