Pairs: Faen Deck

Renowned fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss was generous enough to make Pairs a part of his world. It doesn't yet appear in the books, of course, but we've created this deck based on archetypes from his best-selling book, The Name of the Wind. And who knows, Pairs might just show up in the Four Corners world at some point in the future.

The Faen deck contains images of central characters from The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear, illustrated by fantasy artist Nate Taylor. The game also contains a Faen-style Pairs variant called Hawthorn. 

• Theme: High Fantasy, based on the works of Patrick Rothfuss
• Art by: Nate Taylor
• Variant Game: Hawthorn
• Download the Faen Deck Rules (PDF, 1.3 Mb), including the rules for Hawthorn
• Download the Pairs Companion Rulebook (PDF, 5.6 Mb)

Pairs is a "New Classic Pub Game" featuring an unusual deck of cards. The deck has only the numbers 1 through 10, with a different number of each card: 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, and so on, up to 10x10. 

In the basic game, points are bad, and you score points by getting a pair. So, if you have a 10, there are 9 other cards that could pair it up, and you'll get 10 penalty points if you do. Players take turns deciding whether to take another card, or fold, trying to avoid scoring points. When you fold, you have to take points, but only the smallest card in play.

Hawthorn plays a little like Pairs, but with a hand of cards. Players take turns playing cards from their hand, and taking cards from the deck, in an effort to last the longest without drawing a pair. Also, rather than paying the penalty in points, players keep score with chips.

Pairs was designed by veteran game inventors James Ernest and Paul Peterson, and released in October 2014. There are many different art decks to choose from, but they all work for the same game (and many variant games!)