Price: $23.99
(as of Dec 16, 2024 15:29:08 UTC - Details)

For thirteen days in 1962, the world stood at the brink of atomic destruction as the United States and Soviet Union faced off over missiles which had been placed in Cuba.  Would the USSR back down and remove the missiles?  Would the US push forward with a full invasion or send bombers towards targets within the Soviet Union?  Who would blink first? 13 Days is a game recreating the tension of those two weeks as players play cards which shape political events around the world. Will you spread the crisis to Berlin and Turkey? Will you take your case to the United Nations or play everything through the media? The choice is yours, but be careful—push your opponent too far and you can trigger World War Three, ensuring that the next war is fought by sticks and stones.
2 player card driven strategy game about the Cold War & Cuban Missile Crisis
No knowledge of the crisis or war games is necessary
Plays in 30 to 60 minutes
Game includes a play through example with commentary, and a separate historical guide for the history buffs
Perfect for fans of Twilight Struggle
Reviewer: MIchael
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great, tense, quick-playing 2-player game
Review: 13 Days is a tight, suspenseful, 2-player card-driven game playable in less than an hour. The players become either President Kennedy or Premiere Khrushchev, vying to increase your nation's prestige without triggering global thermonuclear war during the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.Each round, the players draw a hand of cards and take turns playing cards, either for the event listed on the card, or for the number of operations points on the card. If the US player plays a card with a Soviet event, it must be played for the points - but the Soviet player gets to decide whether the event triggers or not. The same applies when the Soviet player uses a US card. NATO cards may be used for either the event or the points by either player.Using cards for ops points will push the world closer to nuclear war. Some events also cause the same problem. If you end a round above the limit, you trigger the war and lose. If both players end a round above the limit, everyone loses. Although in global thermonuclear war, pretty much everybody loses, no matter who started it.If you've been looking to get into games like Twilight Struggle, Labyrinth: The War on Terror, or card-driven wargames, such as Washington's War, For The People, etc., this game is a great gateway to the genre. The rules are simple, but the game gives a great depth of strategy. There are lots of decisions to make - and lots of ways to lose.Overall, we love this game. Our board game collection is roughly 250 games, and 13 Days is one of my very favorites.

Reviewer: JessDoo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Awesome game!
Review: Wow, this is a really cool game for 2 players. Played this a couple times with my husband tonight. Neither of us have a particular interest in history or war, but we both found this game entertaining. We love playing board games and recently became interested in purchasing the game, Twilight Struggle. I read that 13 Days might be a good prerequisite to Twilight Struggle if you're unfamiliar with this type of game, so we went ahead and tried this one out first. I'm really really glad we did because this game had a pretty steep learning curve for us at first (so I would imagine we would've been totally lost trying to learn TS first!).  We had to read the rulebook carefully, watch a video on how to play, and refer to the rulebook multiple times throughout our first playthrough of this game. However, by our 2nd game, we both felt like we were getting a hang of the gameplay and rules. By then, we were both commenting on how much we enjoyed this game!The gameplay has a few moving parts that keep you thinking. Each player looks at 3 agenda cards and then selects 1 to become their hidden agenda (what we thought of as secret quests). You place your country's flag icon at all 3 possible agenda locations, so your opponent has an idea of where your focus might be, but they don't know which of the 3 you kept. Next, you take turns playing strategy cards in order to place/remove cubes or play Events cards. You are working on gaining influence (aka placing the most cubes) on the battleground or defcon track listed on your hidden agenda without triggering nuclear war, while also preventing your opponent from gaining influence that might accomplish their hidden agenda. I'm sure that all sounds pretty confusing and boring, but once you get a few rounds under your belt things start coming together.We will definitely be playing the crap out of this game this summer. Finally, something a little different to add to our collection!

Reviewer: Steve & Rachelle
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great "thinking" game
Review: Excellent game. In short - it's a Cold War version of the Prisoner's Dilemma and requires some of the forethought one would associate with chess and even a certain degree of card counting acumen. The rulebook could use a re-write for better clarity and some of the cards could be more specific (i.e. the Scramble card Event says you can "place cubes", which left me scratching my head wondering if it meant I could also remove cubes...), but overall it is a great game. I'd recommend looking up the simple 1 pager rule sheet on boardgamegeek.com. (Free downloadable Word doc.)

Reviewer: Derek
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great game in a small box
Review: Great game in a small box;. this game provides the feel of Twilight Struggle without requiring you to put aside 3 hours for setup and play. I love Twilight Struggle and wanted to introduce my Girlfriend to the game so i bought this to ease her into the setting and the mechanics. My only complaint is that the rulebook is unclear in some cases however, you can find many clarifications on sticky rules easily with a quick google search.

Reviewer: Thel A. Monteiro
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A true and intense historic game
Review: "13 Days" faithfully portrays all the tension that the world followed in that era. The cards dictate the pace of the game as players devise their strategies to prevent the Defcom level from reaching number 2 at the same time. I recommend everyone who is interested in historical games.

Reviewer: Sharon L.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Twillight Struggle Express
Review: Tight 2-player game which uses a similar multi-use, historically-inspired card approach and evokes the tense bluffing and strategic tug-of-war of Twilight Struggle, within a much shorter playing time. While Twilight Struggle has more depth and complexity, this game will hit the table more often for us, as it scratches a similar itch without requiring the same massive commitment of time or table space.

Reviewer: MJ in SLC
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Love this game!
Review: Excellent game! A simplified version (so I am told) of Twilight Struggle. This one is much shorter, with great opportunities for strategy and bluffing. It fills a hole in my collection for a good 2-player strategy game that plays in about 30 minutes with low luck and challenging play.

Reviewer: mikewill
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Five Stars
Review: Awesome nerve racking game for 2. Easy to learn and fun to play.