Duos

• Designer: Johannes Schimdauer-Koenig 
• Publisher: CMYK
• Players: 4 or 6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43gI4bB 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Duos is a cozy and collaborative team game from Johannes Schmidauer-König. Work together to create unique hands of cards. You might need a flush one round and all odd numbers the next. Your secret weapon is that your teammate can slip you cards at the perfect time to complete your goals!

Duos is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

Duos is a game that has been around the block a few times.  Originally I came across this game as Portal of Heroes.  It was a solid game, but was missing something.  A few months later, it came back in a team-only format, straightforwardly called Team Play.  The addition of the collaborative play between partners really elevated the game.  Now, in 2025, there is an updated version with bright graphic design, called Duos.

The players split into teams of 2 players (you must have 2 or 3 teams to play), and they sit so that players alternate with each other.  There are two decks of cards in the game.  The first deck has four copies of each number 1 through 8 in blue and in magenta.  There is also a deck of goal cards, each of these having a scoring criteria printed on them.    Each deck is shuffled.  Each player is dealt a Goal card face up in front of them, this is their personal goal.  The rest of the deck is placed on the table and the top card is flipped next to the deck, and this is the common goal.  The number deck is given to someone, and the first player is dealt 1 card, the next player is dealt 2 cards and then everyone else gets 3 cards.   The remainder of this deck is also placed on the table and three cards are displayed face up next to it to form the market.

Players are now given a chance to look at their hand of number cards and everyone is given the chance to take a mulligan – that is to discard their personal goal and draw the top one from the deck. This second goal card must be kept.

The game now starts with the player to the left of the dealer.  First check to see if you have more than 6 cards in your hand at the start of the turn; if you do, discard down to six cards.  Then, there are always three options on a player’s turn, and they can be done in any order.

A] Complete a goal – if you have cards in your hand that satisfy either your personal goal or the common goal on the table, you discard the corresponding number cards and put the completed goal card face down in your team’s scoring area.  It is helpful to splay the cards so that everyone can see how many completed cards are in the scoring area.  Be sure to draw a new Goal card to replace the one which was completed.  The player who completed the goal always has the option of calling a mulligan on the newly revealed goal card, though the second choice must be taken no matter what.  You are never obligated to fulfill a Goal card, and there is no limit to the number of goal cards you can fulfill in a turn.

B] Draw 2 cards – you can draw cards from the face up market or the top card from the deck.  The face up market is instantly refreshed, so you always have 4 possible cards to choose from.  You can complete a goal between draws.

C] Pass cards to your partner – you can pass 1 or 2 facedown cards to your partner.  You are not allowed to communicate with your partner while doing this.

Play then passes clockwise to the next player who goes through the same process.  The end of the game is triggered when a team has collected 8 goal cards.  All players including the player who triggered the end get exactly one more turn, and then the game ends.  At that point, teams simply sum up the points on their completed goal cards to calculate their score.  The team with the highest score wins, ties broken in favor of the tied team with the fewest completed goal cards.

My thoughts on the game

This has been one of my favorite partnership games (along with Tichu, Crokinole and Ingenious).  The game itself is so simple, yet there is so much that can happen strategy wise though clever observation (and some lucky card draws).  As stated, the goal is complete goal cards – whether they be your personal one or the common goal card which any player can complete. 

It helps to keep a close eye on what people are collecting.  Sure, people start the game with an unknown hand, and people will also draw cards from the top of the deck – but for the most part, you’ll likely see the majority of the cards that a player draws, and with that information, you can usually figure out which goal card they might be working towards.  Definitely watch what your partner is picking up.  You might be able to figure out what they are looking for, and then if that card becomes available on your turn, you can pick it up and then pass it to them!

Duos is great because the turns are so short – it doesn’t take long to go through your three action choices.  Additionally, as I mentioned above, it really behooves you to pay attention to what everyone is drawing, so players generally have very little down time.

Another part of the strategy in Duos is managing the mulligan rule for the goal cards.  For me, when I’m looking at my personal goal card, I’m often likely to take a mulligan if either I have no cards in my hand that seem to work towards that goal OR if the goal is too similar to what my partner is collecting.  It’s harder to work together (i.e. pass useful cards to each other) if both halves of the partnership want the same kind of card.  But, there is plenty of possible help if I’m looking for only blue cards while my partner wants magenta… At the second level of the game, you might also end up choosing to take a mulligan if the point value of the card isn’t high enough – and you need to catch up!

The art direction for the entire line is colorful and distinctive.  I’ve found that people either love it or not.  The bright magenta boxes are most definitely eye-catching.  It’s hard not to notice them on your table or gameshelf.  I do like the way that the game comes with a bright slip cover and then has a nicely patterned inner box that opens like a book..  The entire set of Magenta games looks great together with the interior box patterns peeking out of the cutouts in the outer sleeves.   The colors on the cards are similarly bright in magenta and blue with humongous numbers that can clearly be seen across the table. There are also nice little touches in the box, including a little folder pocket on the inside cover to hold the rules.

Duos is an amazing game to play when you have an even number of gamers, and it works great with both veteran and casual gamers.  I’m pretty excited to have a brand new copy of the game because my Team Play cards were well worn out from so much play.  I look forward to giving Duos the same love in the years to come!

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Dan B.: I’ve played Team Play many times and am forced to agree with Dale that it’s a very good game (and definitely better than Portal of Heroes). I am happy with my nice small copy of the original game but am happy to see the game available again in the US.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!  Dale, John P, Jim, Dan B.
• I like it.
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43gI4bB