RuneBags

A tactics game for two, played in your browser. Drop runes into a seven-column board and line up four of yours to win the round — then, between rounds, build a bag of runes whose powers bend the rules.

How a game goes

1. Each player draws two runes from their own bag. In turn, you drop one into a column: it falls to the lowest free cell.
2. Line up four of your runes — across, down or diagonally — to win the round and take a point from the shared pool of 10 points.
3. Between rounds, visit the shop: add runes to your bag, remove one, or combine two identical runes into a stronger one.

The first player to hold the majority of the points still in play wins the game: 6 of 10 at the start. A drawn round takes a point out of play, and the majority can drop with it — 5 of 9 after one draw.

What makes it different

• Hidden hands. Your opponent never sees the two runes you hold — unless Uruz is on the board. Bluff, bait, then strike.
• A bag that grows. Like a deck you build as you play, your bag decides what you draw next.
• 24 rune powers. Push a column up from below, take a second turn, copy a power, anchor a rune that nothing can move: each rune bends the board its own way.
• Power has a price. Cursed and corrupted runes are strong, but they slip neutral runes into your bag, and neutral runes clog your hand.

Five ways to play

• Against the computer, at five levels from Easy to Expert. No level sees your hand: each one weighs the hands you might be holding.
• With a friend online: share a room code, a link or a QR code.
• Ranked: quick play and challenges between accounts move an Elo rating, with a ten-minute clock. An account needs only an email address — no password.
• By correspondence: look for an opponent and close the app; the game starts when someone answers, you have a day for each move, and a notification tells you when it is your turn.
• At the table, with the free print-and-play kit.

Free, and made in Quebec

RuneBags is free, with no advertising and nothing to buy. It is made by Piero Barrette, who also created Hexaequo, a strategy game for two.