A two-player card game you can play in about ten minutes just beat a packed field to win Best Card Game (General) at the UK Games Expo 2026 Judges' Choice Awards, and you can try the whole thing for free tonight. Duel for Cardia is a fast, tense little duel from Hans im Gluck, the German publisher behind a shelf of modern euro classics, and it proves you don't need a big box to win over a panel of judges.
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Find events near youHere's the clever bit. Both players start with identical 16-card decks and draw a hand. Each round you both play one card face down, then flip together. The higher number wins a Signet Ring, but the card that loses fires off its ability, which can swing the next clash or upset your opponent's plan. So leading with your strongest card is rarely the obvious play. First to five Signet Rings wins control of the city of Cardia.
Designers Mathieu Rivero and Faouzi Boughida have built in plenty of replay for such a small box. There are two decks of differing complexity that you can mix and match, plus a set of location cards that each tweak the rules, so no two duels feel quite the same. It is pitched at ages nine and up and plays in 11 to 20 minutes, which makes it a tidy warm-up or a filler between heavier games.
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Start organising for freeIt saw off finalists FlipToons and Otter to take the category. Best of all, Cardia is free to play in your browser on Board Game Arena, no download needed, so you can learn it before buying. Grab a friend, or find a local game night to test it on.
Sources: UK Games Expo | Tabletop Sentinel | Board Game Arena
