Universal Fighting System
| Designer(s) | Ryan Miller |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Jasco Games |
| Players | 2 |
| Age range | 13 and up |
| Playing time | 10–30 minutes |
| Random chance | Some |
The Universal Fighting System (UFS) is a collectible card game designed by Jasco Games.
Games of UFS represent a fight between two characters in hand-to-hand combat. Characters are drawn from original properties as well as a number of licensed ones, such as Mega Man, The King of Fighters XIII and Darkstalkers. The sets are cross-compatible – cards from multiple licenses can be included in the same deck, and characters from different universes may face each other in a match.
Players begin a game of UFS with a character card in play. This is the character they have chosen to fight as. A player's character determines their hand size, starting vitality, and grants unique abilities which a deck is typically built to make use of. The primary objective of the game is to reduce the opponent's vitality to 0.
Unlike most CCGs, a game of UFS does not involve monsters or other creatures. Damage is dealt by playing attack cards, which the opponent will have an opportunity to try to block with a card from their hand. An attack has different properties such as speed (how hard it is to block), the damage it will deal, and a zone that the opponent's block must match to stop all of the damage. Attacks also have various abilities on them, and may be enhanced by abilities on other cards.
A second major departure from other CCGs is that the costing system in UFS is not static. In order to play a card in UFS, players must pass what is called a "control check". This entails discarding the top card of one's deck, and comparing its control value (in the lower right) to the difficulty of the card he or she is trying to play. If the control is greater than or equal to the difficulty needed, the card is played at no cost. Otherwise, the player must "commit" (turn sideways) a number of foundation cards (the second major card type) equal to the difference, or else the card fails to be played and is discarded.
During a turn, each card attempted gets +1 difficulty for each card before it, and the turn player may continue trying to play cards until one of them fails (failing a card ends the turn). So, the cost of a card can vary from zero to several resources, depending on when it is played during a turn and the value of the control check.
Players draw cards up to their character's hand size at the start of each turn, so the typical turn of UFS involves around 3 to 5 cards played by the turn player, plus some number of blocks by the opponent if attacks were played.
Between the sheer number of cards played, (nearly all of which have an ability or two) the risk-reward decisions inherent in the control check system, and the unknown nature of what blocks or attacks the opponent might have, UFS is higher in complexity than most other CCGs, and the skill-luck balance leans more strongly towards skill.
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