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Age of Rivals

Fast-paced strategy boardgame!

Ratings

Age

9+

Category

Board

Languages

English

Age of Rivals is a strategy card game that distills the complexity of a civilization-builder into a quick, competitive format. Over the course of three 'Ages,' players draft cards to build up their city's economy, culture, and military. With over 200 unique cards and dozens of characters to choose from, every game requires a new strategy. Balance your resources to survive your rival's attacks while ensuring your city earns enough points to be remembered by history. It features deep single-player campaigns and fast-paced ranked multiplayer.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

89/100

Age of Rivals is a revelation for anyone who loves deep strategy but doesn't have an hour to spare for a single match. It compresses the '4X' experience (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) into a ten-minute card game. The drafting mechanic is brilliant; every card you pick feels like a major branch in your civilization's history.

What I love most is the balance between military, economy, and culture. You can't just win by building the biggest army; if your opponent has a stronger economy, they might just buy their way to victory or outscore you culturally. The 'End of Age' scoring rounds provide constant tension. It's one of the few card games where I feel like I'm building an empire rather than just playing numbers on a table.

Dinsun reviewed on: Tue Feb 24 2026

Features

1

Fast 10-minute matches

2

Over 200 cards to unlock

3

No in-app purchases (Full Game)

4

Single-player & Rank Multiplayer

5

Deep tactical synergies

Tips & Walkthrough

Gameplays

Screenshot

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Q&A

Not exactly. While it uses cards, there is no deck-building before the match. All players draft from a common pool, making it more like a digital board game.

Ratings & Reviews

Reluctant, but happy
Thu Nov 22 2018 Ocel🌌

I choose my purchases carefully and enjoy board/card games very much. After playing this for several hours I am happy to say it was a good purchase. It takes a little while to see how all the cards can work together but after playing the computer a few times you get the hang of it. Very well thought strategy choices a long with absence of ‘direction’ by choosing a character make this a good choice for those looking to add to their card game fix. I’m a big fan of star realms so a quick strategy fix is right up my ally.

Frustrating
Tue Jul 02 2019 Somedoodripping

At first I liked the game, but the more I have played it the more I hate the randomness and the grind is really bad... Did you win against a hard computer and think you should earn a decent amount of gold towards a pack? You have a 70% to get 40g, 20% chance to get 60, and 10% chance to get enough to get a pack. The grind is real with this game. Have an ability that triggers when you play a card? If the computer plays one that triggers on play, theirs trigger first, and if that ability kills your card... then your ability never triggers because screw you. Yet another stupid rule. Does the computer need 1 card to screw up everything you are doing on their last draft? 9 times out of ten they manage to get exactly what they need. Round 2 & 3 are garbage because it’s random which of the 8 cards you get, this is the dumbest game mechanic ever... hey lets play D&D, you roll 8 die then at random the game will decide which dice count... stupid. Round 4 is frustrating, because there is animation to put each card out then animation to tame each card away... it’s like watching a terrible PowerPoint presentation that is over animated.

Good gravy this game is amazeballs!
Thu Jan 04 2018 muzegit

What a treat it was to discover this gem of a game. (Thanks TouchArcade!) I have lost 75% more games than I have won but let me tell you, when you pull off a win (rare in my experience) it feels great! I have already unlocked all the cards but boy howdy was it a challenge! My only gripe (purely cosmetic) is that I was not blown away by the artwork, it’s good but I wish each card had a unique design. Regardless though, the gameplay, design and FUN factor makes this game a MUST HAVE for CCG strategy game enthusiast. Kudos to the Dev for creating such a fun and affordable game. More please!!!!

Fast fun. Smart design.
Sun Feb 21 2021 Trentron

I highly recommend this game to anyone considering it among the seemingly endless alternatives on the App Store. The truth is, however, that I have not come across anything else like this game. The multiplayer is fast and really well integrated. The UI and graphics work great together and facilitate allows the player to zone in and just play. No pay to win mechanics and a limited pool of improvements which is very quick to max out so the focus is all on the core gameplay which is really enjoyable and deep enough to keep your interest.

Really top notch
Thu Feb 15 2018 seepieceeggshell

Plays well on iPhone, perfectly dialed in to last 10-15 minutes per game, and provides deep strategy and tactics. The balance seems excellent - I have beaten AI and human players with various strategies including mass military, economic dominance, mass culture with defensive cards, and multifaceted synergy decks. It all just depends what comes up to draft, and what decisions your opponent makes. Just feels like everything is viable but situational which is as good as it gets. Also, perfect premium model with free unlocks to ramp up complexity. THANK YOU DEVS AND PLEASE KEEP DEVELOPING THIS GAME. IT IS A BLAST AND HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL MOVING FORWARD

Great game. One desire: more diverse artwork.
Mon Jul 01 2019 McJockman

Truthfully I have no gripes about the game. Aesthetically, thematically, and mechanically great to play. Diverse artwork for ruined and knocked art cards, and maybe even for each individual card, are the only things this game could improve. That's it. Everything else is phenomenally done. Edit: I also experience severe lag against the hard AI sometimes. Additionally, I'll lose by 1 or 2 points every time this occurs. Not sure what's up with that but a fix would be nice.

Wow! -- 35-year gamer
Fri Dec 01 2017 lostproductivity

I came in guns blazing with military options, and it's hilarious that you need a paean or musical or warrior poets or ownership-swapping rogues to meddle in culture production. It took about 5 games to win the first time, but it's a real brain-expander to get into it! I just wonder if losing to harder opponents pays more... I would take a dive every time for more parting gifts if that's the case. My friend Cheesy George would probably exploit it. Yeah, Cheesy George. On another topic - I cannot STAND multiplayer usually. They do it so right in this game.

Frustrating
Wed Mar 07 2018 baslack

First, let me say, at first blush this is a fun and difficult drafting game. However, because it is difficult, bugs are all the more painful. I have a pet peeve that will result in an uninstall with me. That is at the end of a hard fought game, the program locking up with no option for save/reload and or continue. A game in which this can happen is a game in which the developer has not valued the time of their customer. Unless your implementation is bulletproof, you need the ability to save state. No save game in progress means, no ability to recover. So despite liking the gameplay, Age of Rivals has been uninstalled.

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