The Lady and the Tiger is a stunning card game illustrated by a former Disney animator

Just look at the artwork for The Lady and the Tiger, the new game from Jellybean Games. Just look at it!

This eye-wateringly gorgeous little game is the latest project from Dracula’s Feast and Scuttle! designer – and Jellybean founder – Peter C. Hayward, with former Disney animator Tania Walker lending her talent to the illustrations.

They definitely have more than a touch of the Disney about them, too – there’s a certain Rajah of Aladdin fame look to the titular big cat on the box, while the crimson ‘lady’ could easily sit alongside Elsa, Jasmine or Mulan. Walker is no stranger to capturing animals in her art, having worked on The Lion King and George of the Jungle sequels during her time at the iconic film company.

Even the card backs are beautiful, with stylised tessellations of the lady and the tiger patterned in red and blue.

As for the game itself, The Lady and the Tiger is thematically inspired by Frank R. Stockton’s well-known short story The Lady, or the Tiger?, in which a person accused of a crime by the king must choose between two doors – one containing the lady whom they must then marry, the other the tiger, who eats them. You might also know the phrase for its wider use describing an unsolvable conundrum.

In the game, one player is trying to match their door card with cards they pick up, with their opponent attempting to mislead them by bluffing. They then swap until one reaches 10 points.

There’s also a solo mode, Hoard, included, where a single player attempts to collect all of the treasure from the rooms within six rounds.

A third multiplayer variant expands the player count up to six people and plays much like party game favourite Skull, with players bidding on how many cards match the door card in the middle of the table.

The Lady and the Tiger has raised more than six times its $5,000 target on Kickstarter, sitting pretty – very pretty – at $32,000 with a few days left in the campaign, which will end this Thursday, April 6th.