The dominance of swipe-left-or-right matchmaking and competitive reality shows already gamifies IRL romance, so it seems more than appropriate for dating to be an entire subgenre in gaming. Lovestruck is one such offering.

The board game is the latest brainchild of Rabble, a New York startup specialising in adult party games that are quick to learn and fun to play in groups, emerging from a booming indie market of crowdfunded games catering for more eclectic tastes than your motheaten Monopoly edition can provide.

Lovestruck fulfils the company’s USP, with a slim booklet of instructions and plenty of visual aids to get you playing as soon as possible. A game, they explain, “about finding love on reality TV”, those familiar with the likes of Love Is Blind or Love Island will get the concept and humour fast. For instance, characters to play include archetypes like ‘The One Over 30’ and ‘The One With A Trust Fund’. If you’re also familiar with games like Secret Hitler, in which some players work in secret to achieve a covert objective without being discovered, you’ll also be quick on the pickup.

Playing in a group of 5-10, you work your way through 10 episodes (rounds), with some of you there for the ‘right’ reasons – true love – and others the ‘wrong’ ones – fame. The former players work to couple up while the latter try to push up the ‘viewership’ scale. Playtime is about 30-40 minutes.

In neon pink, yellow and green, Lovestruck is almost aggressively eye-catching and well-designed for the ease of play promised. In a group of five, my testers and I made few mistakes on a trial run, even when things descended into roleplayed dating drama and silly innuendo. A solid recommendation for your game night rotation, and an attractive shelf item.  

Price: £19.53 (plus postage). Info: here

words HANNAH COLLINS