Marrying Mr. Darcy is a Tabletop Card Game adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in which players take the roles of various single ladies from the story and vie for the affections of the eligible gentlemen. Throughout the game, players collect attribute cards, such as Beauty, Wit, or Dowry, which correspond to the Relationship Values of the gentlemen. Players also can either help or sabotage their fellow players. Event cards, which simulate various happenings in the book, can also dramatically change a player's fortune.
More information can be found at the game's website.
This tabletop-game provides examples of:
- Action Initiative: Players' Cunning attribute determines who goes first in the proposal stage, which becomes crucial if more than one player is gunning for the same suitor.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: All the characters receive some measure of Generic Cuteness in the artwork, even "plain" characters Charlotte Lucas or Mary Bennet, although other characters do look more attractive than they do. Averted for Mr. Collins.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Drawing a certain card elicits a surprise proposal from Mr. Darcy. Following the book, however, accepting this proposal achieves significantly fewer marriage points than one at the end of the game.
- Ascended Extra: Mr. Denny, a friend of Wickham and a very minor character in the book, is now a possible suitor alongside Darcy, Bingley, and the others. Also, Kitty and Mary, oft-neglected and occasionally Adapted Out Bennet sisters, are among the possible player characters, and have a chance to woo and marry any of the men.
- Brother–Sister Incest: To prevent this, Darcy is ineligible to Georgiana and Bingley is ineligible to Caroline. Special cards that relate to these characters will include exemptions for players playing Georgiana or Caroline.
- Dances and Balls: The Netherfield Ball and other similar events are presented in "party cards" that allow all players to roll a die to return their characters' actions and their results.
- Dreadful Musician: Some of the event cards have you roll a dice to determine the outcome of a musical performance, with this being the consequence of a bad roll.
- Elopement: Drawing the Elopement card can cause any character to run away with Wickham, which can only be undone at considerable difficulty, although it's not nearly as permanent or disastrous as the book event it's based on.
- Fan-Preferred Couple: [invoked] In the game, Mr. Collins is Mary Bennet's top suitor and Col. Fitzwilliams is Georgiana's. This is likely due to the many, many fan theories and fanworks that pair these respective couples.
- Gold Digger: Both Wickham and Col. Fitzwilliams have dowry requirements as part of their Relationship Values, although Col. Fitzwilliams has an alternate, much higher reputation requirement that can be used instead. This is based on Wickham being an outright fortune hunter in the book, and Col. Fitzwilliam being a younger son too poor to pursue the dowry-less Elizabeth.
- Good-Looking Privates: Col. Fitzwilliam is shown (quite fetchingly) in his uniform, although neither Wickham nor Denny are.
- Informed Attractiveness: Aside from Jane, who has a Beauty stat marked on her character card, the artwork for each character is completely irrelevant to their Beauty, which is determined by the attribute cards played.
- Not Blood Siblings: A variant rule set establishes that Caroline and Georgiana are both adopted, taking away the restrictions under Brother–Sister Incest.
- Official Couple: Having Elizabeth marry Darcy earns the greatest possible number of marriage points. Jane and Bingley aren't far behind. The other canon couples from the book don't even appear as the top suitor choices for their respective characters, implying they aren't the best path to happiness.
- Old Maid: If you either fail to attract any suitors or fail all your proposal rolls, you receive the Old Maid card.You are old. No one wants to marry you.
- Relationship Values: Each suitor has a unique mix of two attributes he is looking for (some suitor have an alternate for one attribute), based primarily on either their stated goals in the book, or in the attributes of their love interest, although there is some tweaking for Competitive Balance.
- Sugary Malice: Many of the Scandal or Event cards imply this.
- Variable Player Goals: Since every character has a different list of suitor values, and each suitor has different Relationship Values, the extent to which player goals conflict is hugely dependent on which characters end up in play. Caroline and Georgiana have little overlap, as neither is eligible for each other's top suitor, whereas Kitty and Lydia have only slight variations in suitor values, so are almost guaranteed to be gunning for the same men, if only as back-up plans. It is also possible to win the game as an Old Maid if your points from attributes are high enough, regardless of what they are in, so players may switch tactics if they realize they will never be able to attract one of their top suitors.
- Weddings for Everyone: The game ends with most players receiving and accepting proposals from their suitors, although it is possible to end up as an Old Maid.
