Players become leaders of wolf packs in Lone Wolves, competing across regions to become the Alpha. To assert your dominance and ensure victory, send wolves into the territories. The stronger wolf wins, strengthening your pack's position — but despite gaining a scar in battle and becoming a lone wolf, the weaker learns from the experience, improving his pack's status for the next encounter. In your struggle, know when to show your teeth — and when to go it alone.

Lone Wolves is a two-player dueling game with elements of trick taking and area majority that is played over thirteen rounds (tricks). Players start with thirteen cards, and each trick consists of players playing a single wolf card, of which there are five suits with each of cards 2 through 7 (thirty cards). Cards, however, are played in one of five territories of your choice, each awarding points to the player controlling it at the end of the game. The value of the card represents the force sent to that territory. The winning card in a trick remains face up, while the other player's wolf is flipped to its lone wolf side (with strength 1). The owner of the losing card gains a scar marker to place in a territory, and scar markers have effects such as awarding points for specific cards played in territories, changing strength values, or affecting points awarded in territories.

Distinguishing itself from most trick games, however, the trump suit in Lone Wolves is dynamic, changing as the game progresses! Once all scar tokens have been obtained from a territory, the corresponding color becomes trump; once it happens a second time, the trump color changes again. The back and forth of knowing when to take or lose the pass means there are no weak hands — just weak leaders!

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