There's a lot about Cosmic Encounter that I like. I like the table interaction, negotiation, wild asymmetry of powers. But I really don't like the autistic hyper sperg rules, phases, multiple card systems which are mostly irrelevant. Is there a simplified, streamlined Cosmic Encounter? I really feel like you could play this with a deck of cards and just whatever tokens you had lying around, maybe stealing the alien power cards that work when you throw away all of the garbage. Does this already exist? Even some kind of print-and-play variant is fine. Because I feel like this is so close to being a great game, but it gets bogged down in turbo spergery for no reason.

>>96008209 (OP)
been meaning to play this but I can't find a group to try it with, as I'm aware it doesn't work with just two players

>>96008841
There is an official duel variant. But it looks really bad imo. To me the fun of Cosmic is that it's a giant betting/bluffing game that everyone plays at all times. Very poker-ish, but way more fun, barring the fiddly bits.

>>96008862
I know a lot about it and out sounds right up my alley, but I was unaware of the fiddly part. A shame, it does sound cool on paper.