---
product_id: 15196634
title: "The Duke"
brand: "catalyst game labs"
price: "¥52002"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/15196634-the-duke
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# 2 players max 30 min gameplay Chess-like strategy The Duke

**Brand:** catalyst game labs
**Price:** ¥52002
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> ♟️ Elevate Your Game Night Experience!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Duke by catalyst game labs
- **How much does it cost?** ¥52002 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/15196634-the-duke)

## Best For

- catalyst game labs enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted catalyst game labs brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Quick Play:** Enjoy a fast-paced game that fits perfectly into your busy schedule.
- • **Master the Grid:** Engage in strategic tile placement that challenges your intellect.
- • **Premium Quality:** Experience the tactile pleasure of high-quality wooden pieces.
- • **Competitive Edge:** Perfect for those who thrive on competition and strategy.
- • **Social Connection:** Forge deeper connections with friends through engaging gameplay.

## Overview

The Duke is a captivating tile placement and grid movement game designed for 2 players, offering a chess-like strategic experience. With a playtime of just 30 minutes, it features high-quality wooden pieces that enhance both the aesthetic and tactile enjoyment of the game.

## Description

Product Description          The politics of the high court are elegant, shadowy and subtle. Not so in the outlying duchies. Rival dukes contend for unclaimed lands far from the king's reach, and possession is the law in these lands. Use your forces to capture enemy troops before you lose the chance to claim the land for yourself. In The Duke, players move their troop tiles around the board and flip them over after each move. Each tile's side shows a different movement pattern. If you end your movement in a square occupied by an opponent’s tile, you capture it. Capture your opponent's Duke to win!             Set Contains:          1x The Duke

## Features

- Tile placement and grid movement game with a chess feel
- Playing time: 30 minutes
- Number of players: 2
- High quality wooden pieces

## Images

![The Duke - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91z0AJtLEBL.jpg)
![The Duke - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91x5kwkYbxL.jpg)
![The Duke - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/815+8jY4zkL.jpg)
![The Duke - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81xS5jmZEdL.jpg)
![The Duke - Image 5](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91wynvDxHXL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ring Side Review-Board Game of The Duke
*by E***D on July 25, 2015*

Product- The DukeProducer-Catalyst Game LabsPrice- $ 40 here http://www.amazon.com/catalyst-games-CAT13000-The-Duke/dp/B000BU6F5I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437752656&sr=8-2&keywords=the+DukeSet-up/Play/Clean-up- 30-45 minutes (2 players)Type-EuroDepth-mediumTL; DR-Chess, now with a touch of random. 94%Basics- Two meet on the battlefield, but only one can rule! The Duke is a miniature war between two dukes. The main goal of the game is to capture the enemy’s duke. If this sounds like Chess, then you’re on the right track. Two new mechanics separate this from Chess: 1) random piece draw and 2) variable piece movement. On a turn, you can do one of two things: draw a new piece or move/activate a piece. The pieces themselves have a miniature board on them indicating how they move, what squares they move to, and any special powers in each square. Some actions are moving across spaces, some are hopping over spaces, some moves are not moves as they just attack spaces at a distance. What is interesting is after a player does use a tile, that tile flips to another side, thus providing two different tactics for each piece. The other option is to spawn new pieces. Each player has a bag of tiles, and when they spawn a piece, the player randomly draws a new tile and places it adjacent to his/her duke. Play goes back and forth between the players as they capture tiles, move across the the board, and try to outwit one another to capture the opponent's duke. Last duke standing is the winner.Mechanics-I’m not a Chess player. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s never been my go to game. The Duke, though, is fresh enough to draw me in. The constant flipping tiles and random tile draw makes this an innovative game as pieces can change from a knight/bishop hybrid to some new version of a jumping rook. However the best part of this whole thing is the new moves are all balanced, as well as easy to use. No one peice will completely break the game, and no piece will leave you scratching your head as to how to play them. 5/5Theme-Theme is hard to do in a Chess game. This game has some nice wooden pieces as well as some decent board art. The tiles all do actions that their names would imply. Overall, its a well done version of a war between two flat kingdoms. 4/5Instructions-The rules to this game are a bit long. The Duke has a lot of ground to cover, but does it well. I’d like them to trim down the rules a bit, but they do have some excellent game aids to get you playing quickly. Those extra cardboard sheets will be the thing you most often reference as you plan out your attack. I’d rather have less than more, but sometimes more is not exactly more. 4.75/5Execution-Chess is a classic game, but this not only improves on that, it adds new game modes. You can fight a dragon, you can add new terrain to the map to challenge both players, and the game is expandable by adding heroes from classic literature. I love what comes in this book. 5/5Summary- I’m not a Chess player, nor is my wife, but we both liked this game. The simple nature of each tile really makes this game approachable. The random nature of the tiles also means that veteran players will have to adjust strategies on the fly, while new players won’t instantly be squashed. It’s got great components. I’d like to place the rules on a diet, and possibly give it a tad more theme, but overall, this is a game I can play. The true test is that this is a two player, head-to-head game and my wife will ask to bring this one to the table. That right there tell you that this is an excellently balanced, fun, fast game. 94%

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ More Variety than Chess
*by J***G on April 7, 2014*

This game does not get stale in the way that chess can (don't get me wrong, I love chess)... however, with the variability of pieces placed on the board due to the blind-draw aspect, this game stays fresh and yet there is still enough skill involved that an experienced player still has a better chance of winning against a novice, but the luck factor is strong enough to keep the game interesting, fun, and fresh... and lots of expansions if you get really into it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of the best abstract strategy games I have ever played
*by J***2 on November 3, 2016*

Very interesting game. It has some elements of it that feel a little chess-like, but it has some randomness in that every time you put a new piece on the board, it gets blindly pulled out of a bag.It has some great thinking and strategy, but because of the randomness of it and the fact that pieces keep changing what they can do, it's not a game that I plan out many moves ahead. This makes it quicker and more dynamic but at the same time less deep than Chess.I could imagine people getting really good at this game and having a different level of strategy. For me, it's a lighter but very fun game. One of the best abstracts I have played

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*Product available on Desertcart Japan*
*Store origin: JP*
*Last updated: 2026-03-07*