Fighting games meet poker in this extraordinary product.

(Editor's Note: "Unplugged" is what I call my series of articles for analog games. It's for card games, board games; really any game that isn't a video game. I hope you enjoy.)

If you're anything like me, you don't have a head for fighting games. You want to get into them, they're a blast to watch pros play, and they each have unique characters that you want to get to know. But you just can't get past opening every fight by leaping forward and throwing a kick as your most advanced fighting tactic. Well for people like me, there is a solution in the card game called Yomi.

Yomi is a card game that boils fighting games down to their most simple form: Rock, Paper, Scissors. Only in Yomi, it's Attack, Block, Dodge/Counter. You and your opponent pick characters, like you would in a fighting game, draw your opening hand, and then start laying out cards one at a time to see who can capitalize on who. What this does is break down tedious combo memorization and remove barriers until all you have left is the mental game.

In Yomi, it's all about reading your opponent's tendencies and trying to plan around them. The only thing that's random in this game is the cards you get, but just like in Poker, even a bad hand can bring you victory if you read your opponent's just right. You can try and lay out your opponent with a well-timed combo, or save up your aces for a super attack that devastates half their health in one blow. It's all up to your strategy!

It's a brilliant marriage of gameplay archetypes. Each deck plays differently and has different strengths and weaknesses. Each character has their own styles and movesets that makes playing them feel entirely unique. You'll even be rewarded with new ideas and combinations the more you dig into individual characters. You'll learn what works and doesn't work against your foes, and just like in a fighting game, you'll evolve your play style to overcome them.

Now to be clear, this isn't a review. It's also not me whipping out a glowing recommendation for a game I love. It's to let you know that this game is awesome, it's real, and it's second incarnation is currently on Kickstarter. I'm not normally one to link to Kickstarter, but this is something I already know works, and want to recommend to people as an excellent game to check out. If you're even remotely interested, you can try the game now, without spending a dime, by checking out the online version at http://www.fantasystrike.com/game/

Have you played Yomi before? What's your impression of it, whether you have or haven't? Do you like hearing about analog games? Feedback and comments are always welcome!