Swamp is a quick puzzle game for the 2025 traditional deck contest that is akin to peg solitaire with cards. The grid of cards in play represents a swamp of animals that feed on each other, and as one animal gets eaten in this ecosystem another appears (you draw a card onto the layout), with the goal of finishing off the deck without causing ecological failure.
Clubs represent bears, Spades represent hippos and Hearts represent hogs, the three predators that eat not only each other but also the prey: ducks in the form of face-down cards (diamonds when drawn are placed face down.) On each turn you move a card one space to eat it, then place a new card on the space. Clubs only move vertically and eat spades, spades only move horizontally and eat hearts, hearts move in any direction and eat clubs but only if next to another heart before moving. All three animals mentioned eat ducks. If three clubs appear in a row horizontally, three spades vertically you lose, you also lose if you run out of legal moves.
Mobility is key; cards aren't as mobile as you think and it's easy to become restricted as the small field combined with movement restrictions can cause gridlock where you least expect it. Managing the number of animals in play matters when an imbalance either means not enough cards of a type to eat (and move cards to) or a bigger risk of losing through a three-in-a-row.
Mildly puzzling yet surprisingly chaotic, it's a real jungle out there.
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