Backstories - Emerald Wedding
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An anniversary party. A dangerous general. A top-secret hard drive. And you, Agent Nyx, are already in.
What it's about
A tabletop spy adventure that plays like a point-and-click game
You are agent Nyx. Your mission is clear: infiltrate General Darcosa's wedding anniversary party, retrieve a top-secret hard drive, and get out alive. Your tools are just cards — but these cards hide a mechanism that will make you forget you're holding a deck.
Backstories Emerald Wedding is the second adventure in the series by Jules Messaud and Anthony Perone, published by Lucky Duck Games and brought to Italian by Gateongames. Each action card has perforated notches: you place it on the back of a location card and, like in an old PC point-and-click game, the game reveals what happens. Talk to the guard. Observe the painting. Use the glass. Every choice matters, every choice has consequences.
You can play solo or cooperatively with up to six players. There are no rigid turns, no timer: there's just the story unfolding based on what you decide to do. And with over seven possible endings, finishing one game only means you've seen a third of the cards in the box.
What they say abroad
"It's a pulpy spy thriller worth hacking into."
A classy spy thriller worth tackling.
— Meeple Mountain
An old PC point-and-click transformed into playing cards. You try every object, talk to every character, and the story reacts.
The secret of Emerald Wedding in one line
Backstories: Emerald Wedding
One of the few narrative adventures that works better solo than in a group. Make every move without mediation, experience the mission like an interactive novel.
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on rules, international reviews, and play sessionsYour arsenal
What you hold in each game
Nyx's Identity
Special agent, no license to kill. You must infiltrate with cold blood — muscles are of little use here.
Perforated action cards
Talk, explore, use, observe. Each card has notches that match specific location cards — this is where the consequences are revealed.
Transparent cards
In this chapter, some cards overlap your character board, unlocking new interaction options.
The party landscape
Up to six location cards on the table — the scene in which you move. Each location hides clues, characters, and dead ends.
In an hour, you will have completed a mission or failed it with style. In any case, you won't have seen it all yet — return to the deck.
🎴Components2 types · 157 total pieces
🃏Recommended sleeves1 format · 156 cards
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The evening.
The briefing, the music, the first card
Read the briefing aloud. Someone dims the lights, someone puts on a spy movie soundtrack. Draw the first panorama card: General Darcosa's party is before you, with its guests, its waiters, and its guards. Where do you start?
The first action card that matches
Someone has an intuition: "try talking to the waiter." The Talk card goes on the back of the Waiter card — the notches match. Draw the indicated card and everyone leans over the table. The story has just taken its first turn.
The wrong choice that isn't wrong
You use the object on the switch. All the lights go out. Maybe it wasn't the right move, but now you're in the dark and you hear footsteps. Someone laughs, someone is genuinely worried. The game never tells you "you made a mistake" — it tells you what happens.
The moment when everything is decided
You are near the general's office. The hard drive is within reach. Someone suggests forcing the door, someone wants to wait. You discuss for ten real minutes, then someone takes the card and places it. The next card is turned with a pounding heart.
An ending. Then the deck to browse.
The ending arrives — one of many possibilities. Someone wants to replay it immediately, someone wants to first browse the unused cards to understand what you missed. And you realize that you've only seen a piece of this mission.
How to play
The flow of every choice
No rigid turns, no timer, no complicated rules. You think, you decide, you reveal. Repeat until the end.
The panorama cards on the table show the current scene — characters, objects, locations. Discuss among yourselves what you notice, what might be important, what makes you suspicious.
You hold cards like Talk, Explore, Use, Observe, and others. Decide together which action to take and which element of the panorama to apply it to.
Place the action card on the back of the target card. The perforated notches reveal a code that tells you which card to draw and read — or indicate that the action leads to nothing.
The story progresses. You collect objects, accumulate statuses (wounded, observed, suspected), the panorama changes. You start again from step 1 — until one of the seven possible endings.
Why it's different from other narrative games
Six things that make it special
Ingenious perforated cards
The physical mechanism of the notches transforms the deck into a point-and-click. You don't read a numbered paragraph: you combine two cards and discover what happens. Such a simple idea that it amazes every time.
Seven endings, not one
The mission doesn't have a correct solution. It has different ways of ending — some triumphant, some disastrous, some melancholic. Your choice of style leads you to one of these.
Zero setup, zero rules
Open the box, read the briefing, draw the first card. You're playing in five minutes. Perfect for evenings when you don't want to spend an hour explaining a manual.
Transparent cards
New to this chapter: some cards overlap your character board, unlocking new interaction options. An evolution from the first Backstories that adds depth without complicating.
Perfect solo play
Few narrative games truly work alone. Here it's just you and Nyx — you don't have to mediate with anyone, the mission is yours. It's one of the most recommended titles for those seeking a solo adventure.
Better written than the first
Those who played "Solo in the Ice" confirm it: the writing here is more mature. Fewer arbitrary dead ends, credible dialogues, tension that builds like in a Mission Impossible movie.
How the mission ends
Different endings, one truth
There is no single way to win. There are different ways to reach the end — some heroic, some broken, some you didn't even know were possible.
Mission accomplished
- You retrieve the hard drive and escape Darcosa's lair
- The ending changes based on the methods you chose — discreet, violent, diplomatic
- Unused cards tell what might have happened
Mission failed
- You are discovered, captured, or neutralized in one of the possible negative endings
- Some endings are not true failures — they are unexpected changes of course
- You reset the deck and start over: one game reveals only a third of the cards
Backstories Emerald Wedding is a cooperative narrative adventure that plays like an old point-and-click. Complete in an hour, replayable to discover everything you missed.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ about Backstories: Emerald Wedding
Can I play if I've never tried the first Backstories?
Yes, no problem. Emerald Wedding is a completely standalone mission — the story, characters, and setting are new. Those who played "Solo in the Ice" will recognize the perforated card mechanism, but the protagonist and plot are independent. In fact: many recommend this as an entry point because the writing is more mature.
How replayable is it? Once finished, is it disposable?
One game reveals about a third of the cards in the deck. This means that a second and third game will show you scenes, characters, endings, and developments you hadn't even imagined. Realistic replayability is 2-3 games, then the story is revealed — but those two or three games are significantly different from each other.
Does it really work well solo?
Yes, in fact, it's one of the formats where it works best. No mediations, no discussions: just you, Nyx, and the deck. Many players describe it as a "gamebook with a physical mechanism" — perfect for a solo evening with dim lighting and a background soundtrack.
Is it really cooperative or is it just a shared story?
It is cooperative in the purest sense: there are no separate roles, every choice must be discussed and agreed upon by the group. Up to six players can sit around the table and decide every action together. There is no competition, no official majority vote — discussion continues until an agreement is reached.
Are there violent or unsuitable contents?
The game is rated 12+. Being a spy thriller, there are tense situations, action scenes, and references to violence — but nothing explicit or graphically gory. The setting is typical of Mission Impossible or James Bond films, not a horror.
Is the game in Italian?
Yes, this is the official Italian edition distributed by Gateongames. Rules, cards, and narrative texts are all translated into Italian — fundamental for a game where correctly reading and interpreting the story is 90% of the experience.
Backstories: Emerald Wedding is a cooperative narrative board game for 1-6 players (ages 12+, approximately 60 minutes). Designed by Jules Messaud and Anthony Perone, published by Lucky Duck Games and distributed in Italian by Gateongames. Main mechanic: narrative choices with a perforated card "point & click" system. You play agent Nyx on a mission to General Darcosa's lair to retrieve a top-secret hard drive. Second adventure in the Backstories series, after "Solo in the Ice." Seven possible endings, 156 cards in 80×120 mm format, zero setup, Italian rulebook. Excellent for solo play and cooperative play with up to six players. Available on FroGames.it.
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