Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 147 regular room tiles (21 each of food, living, utility, outdoor, sleeping, corridor, downstairs)
- 48 specialty room tiles (fountains, grand foyers, towers)
- 7 throne room tiles (classified as specialty rooms)
- 28 royal attendants
- 20 bonus cards
- 7 castle tokens
- 7 player aids
- Scoring sheets
Setup
Sit around a table with equal space between players. The castles will be built between the players.
NOTE: If this is your second consecutive game, mix up the seating assignments randomly (by order of age, birth month and day, hair length, etc.).
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Shuffle the 7 throne rooms tiles and place 1 between each pair of players (where the castles will be built). Place a wooden castle token (found inside the tile tray) on the table below each throne room. Remaining throne room tiles and castle tokens can be put away.
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Give 1 player aid to each player. Remaining player aids can be put away.
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Set the small tray containing the double-sided specialty rooms (fountains, towers, and grand foyers) and the royal attendants (painter, knight, fire juggler, and beautician) in the middle of the table. IMPORTANT: Do not mix these tiles in with the rest of the regular room tiles.
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Place the large tray in the middle of the table with all the regular room tiles face down as shown. The tray is designed for each compartment to hold exactly 9 tiles. If you didn't shuffle the tiles at the end of the previous game, you will need to shuffle them on the table before placing them in the tray.
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Shuffle the bonus cards and place them as a face-down stack in the small tray.
Gameplay: Overview
The game is played in 2 rounds. At the start of each round, you draw a hand of 9 tiles. On each turn, you secretly choose 2 tiles to place face-down in front of you, and pass the rest of your hand to the next player. To finish your turn, you flip your 2 selected tiles face up and—after discussion with your partners—place 1 of them in each of your two castles.
The tiles you select and their positioning in the castle determine how many points you score at the end of the game.
Building Your Castles
Each castle is "side-view". Your throne room is at the ground level. From your throne room, your castle can be expanded "up" and "out" in all directions. Placing a tile above your throne room (e.g., the Firewood Storage) starts another floor of the castle, and makes the castle taller. A tile placed next to your throne room (e.g., the Wine Room) is on the same floor of the castle as your throne room, and makes the castle wider.
NOTE 1: All tiles you place above the ground level must be supported by a tile below. Tiles on the ground level or below ground must be adjacent to other tiles, but do not have support requirements.
NOTE 2: There is no limit to the height or width that your castles can reach, as long as all placement requirements are met.
NOTE 3: All tiles in a castle must be oriented in the same direction so that you and your partner can read the room name on the tile, and all tiles must be placed adjacent to at least one other tile in the castle (they must share an edge). This means that of the first 2 tiles you place in your castle, at least one of them must be adjacent to your throne room.
NOTE 4: Food, living, utility, outdoor, and sleeping rooms can only be placed at the ground level (throne room level) or above. Corridor rooms can be placed on any level of your castle, including below ground, and downstairs rooms can only be placed below ground.
There is a reminder of this on your player aid.
During each turn, 2 tiles will be placed into each castle (1 comes from you and 1 comes from your partner). You and your partner can choose the order in which the 2 tiles are placed into the castle. New tiles must share an edge with at least one existing tile.
Gameplay: Details
Players conduct the steps below simultaneously.
Round One
Draw 9 regular room tiles from the tray and hold them secretly in your hand. Then take the following steps in order:
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CHOOSE: Secretly, and without any communication about the game with other players, choose 2 of the tiles from your hand to play. Place the remaining tiles face-down underneath the castle token to your left. This signals to the other players that you have finished choosing your tiles. When you have finalized your choice, you may not change it.
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REVEAL: Once all players have chosen their tiles, all players simultaneously reveal their chosen tiles.
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PLACE: You may now openly discuss strategy with your partners to determine the best location for your chosen tiles. You must place one of the tiles you chose into the castle to your left, and the other into the castle to your right. You can choose which tile goes into which castle after discussion with your partners.
You may discuss anything you want with your partners during the Place step, including which tiles are in the stack you just passed to them.
During each turn, 2 tiles will be placed into each castle (1 comes from you and 1 comes from your partner). You and your partner can choose the order in which the 2 tiles are placed into the castle.
After ending the Place step, tiles in the castles are set in place and cannot move.
Very rarely it may happen that both players working on a castle do not want to place tiles until the other player places first (in the spirit of partnership, we discourage this, but it can happen). If this happens, the oldest of the players places first.
REPEAT: If there is more than 1 tile under the castle token to your right, take those tiles and choose, reveal, and place again. When there is only 1 tile remaining under the castle, discard it face-down out of the game, and begin round two.
Round Two
Round two follows the same steps as round one, except that you put your remaining tiles face-down under the castle token to your right, and you pick up your tiles from your left.
Room Bonuses and Scoring
Whenever you place your 3rd tile of the same regular room type anywhere into your castle (e.g., 3rd sleeping room, 3rd living room, 3rd food room, etc.), the castle immediately (before placing any additional tiles) receives the specific bonus for that tile type. You and your partner for that castle should discuss and place the bonus together.
There is also a bonus whenever you place your 5th tile of the same regular room type (e.g., 5th sleeping room, 5th living room, 5th food room, etc.). When you do, immediately choose any 1 specialty room tile (even if you already have that same tile) and place it in your castle.
There is no bonus for 6 or more of a regular room type, nor is there a bonus for having 3 or 5 specialty rooms in your castle.
Your player aid describes the scoring and bonuses for each room type. Each room in your castle is scored separately at the end of the game.
Food Rooms
Must be placed at the throne room level or above.
Scoring: Each food room has 1 type of room that it wants to be either directly above and below it or directly to the left and right of it. The food room receives 2 points for each room it wants that is in the correct position. For instance, the Wine Room will score 2 points for a sleeping room directly above it, and 2 points for a sleeping room directly below it.
The Chocolate Room and Spice Room are a bit different. They score 2 points for a downstairs room in each of the two spaces below them.
A food room can score a maximum of 4 points.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd food room, immediately draw 5 tiles from the supply of face-down regular room tiles. Choose 1 of those tiles to place into your castle. Discard the other 4 out of the game.
If the tile you choose to place into your castle is the third (or fifth) tile of a particular type, take the new bonus for that type immediately after you place the tile, like normal. Example: You already have 2 living rooms in your castle, and with the food room bonus you choose to place a new living room into your castle. This gives you 3 living rooms. You should now immediately take the living room bonus for having 3 living rooms.
In the case that there are not 5 available regular room tiles remaining to be drawn, shuffle all the regular room tiles previously discarded back into the draw pile. Then draw 5 tiles.
Living Rooms
Must be placed at the throne room level or above.
Scoring: Each living room has a particular type of room that it wants to be surrounded by, and it scores 1 or 2 points for each of that room type that surrounds it. For instance, the Map Room scores 1 point for each sleeping room surrounding it.
NOTE: The throne room counts as 1 point for living rooms that want to be surrounded by specialty rooms.
Most living rooms can score a maximum of 8 points. Those that want to be surrounded by outdoor or downstairs rooms can score a maximum of 6.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd living room, immediately choose to place a royal attendant into one of the two spots for it in your throne room. At the end of the game, you will score 1 point for every room in your castle with the wall hanging shown for that royal attendant.
For instance, if you choose to put a Painter into your throne room, you will score 1 point for every painting in your castle at the end of the game.
The Chocolate Room is an example of a room with a painting.
You can use the downstairs room bonus to place another royal attendant in your throne room. It can be the same or a different royal attendant. If it is the same, you will now score 2 points for every room in your castle with that wall hanging.
Utility Rooms
Must be placed at the throne room level or above.
Scoring: Each utility room shows one room type that it wants to be connected to. The utility room scores 1 point for each room of that type that is connected to it. A room is considered "connected" if you can trace a path back to the utility room using only that room type. For instance, the game storage will score 1 point for each connected living room.
In the example shown, the Game Storage scores 5 points, because there are 5 connected living rooms (numbered 1 through 5). Note that the Taxidermy Showroom to the left of the throne room is not connected to the Game Storage because you cannot trace a line from the Taxidermy Showroom to the Game Storage using only living rooms.
There is no maximum to the number of points a utility room can score.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd utility room, immediately draw 3 bonus cards. Choose 1 of them to keep, and set it face-up beneath the castle. Discard the other two out of the game. At the end of the game, your castle will score points based on how well it meets the conditions shown on the card you kept. A list of the bonus cards and how they score are found below.
In the rare case that there are not 3 bonus cards available to draw, shuffle the bonus cards that were previously discarded back into the draw pile, then draw 3.
Outdoor Rooms
Must be placed at the throne room level or above.
Scoring: Each outdoor room has a particular type of room that it wants in the castle. It scores 1 point for each room of that type present anywhere in the castle. They do not have to be adjacent to the outdoor room. For instance, the Grand Balcony scores 1 point for every sleeping room in the castle.
There is no maximum to the number of points an outdoor room can score.
IMPORTANT: Outdoor rooms have blue borders, meaning they are open to the sky. No room tile may be placed above a blue-bordered room. The outdoor room itself may be placed above rooms with other borders.
You may always place other rooms to the right or left of a blue-bordered room.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd outdoor room, immediately place a fountain.
Fountains are a specialty room type and can be placed at the throne room level or above. They always score 5 points.
IMPORTANT: Fountains have the same limitation as outdoor rooms—room tiles cannot be placed above them.
Sleeping Rooms
Must be placed at the throne room level or above.
Scoring: Each sleeping room scores 4 points if your castle has all 6 other regular room types by the end of the game. It does not matter where in the castle the other room types are placed.
Each sleeping room scores 1 point if your castle does not have all 6 other regular room types by the end of the game.
A sleeping room can score a maximum of 4 points.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd sleeping room, immediately place a tower.
Towers are a specialty room type and can be placed at the throne room level or above. They are worth 1 point for each room below them, including rooms beneath the throne room level. For instance, the tower in the example scores 4 points.
There is no limit to the number of points a tower can score.
IMPORTANT: Towers have the same limitation as outdoor rooms—room tiles cannot be placed above them.
Corridor Rooms
Can be placed anywhere in the castle.
Scoring: Each corridor room has a particular wall hanging that it wants to be surrounded by, and it scores 1 point for each wall hanging of that type surrounding it. For instance, the Echo Chamber scores 1 point for each torch surrounding it.
The wall hanging in the throne room counts as 1 point for corridor rooms that want to be surrounded by that type of wall hanging.
A corridor room can score a maximum of 8 points.
IMPORTANT: Corridor rooms may be placed anywhere in the castle, including below the throne room level. Along with downstairs rooms, they are the only regular room type that can be placed below the throne room level.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd corridor room, immediately place a grand foyer.
Grand foyers are a specialty room type, and can be placed anywhere in the castle (just like corridors). A grand foyer scores 1 point for each surrounding room. A grand foyer can score up to a maximum of 8 points. The grand foyer in the example scores 5 points.
The throne room counts as 1 point for the grand foyer, even if both halves of the throne room surround the grand foyer.
Downstairs Rooms
Must be placed below the throne room level.
Scoring: Each downstairs room wants a particular room type above it, and it scores 1 or 2 points for each of that room type anywhere in the same vertical column of the castle. In the example, the laboratory scores 2 points.
There is no maximum to the number of points a downstairs room can score.
IMPORTANT: Downstairs rooms must be placed below the throne room level. You may have more than 1 level of downstairs and/or corridor rooms below your throne room level.
You may play a downstairs room that (at the moment you place it) does not have any tiles above it, as long as it shares an edge with at least one other tile already in the castle. The same principle applies to corridor rooms and grand foyers that you place below the throne room level.
Bonus: When you place your 3rd downstairs room, immediately choose any other room type bonus. You may choose a bonus that you already obtained earlier or a bonus you have not yet obtained.
If you choose a bonus you have not yet obtained (for instance, if you choose the food room bonus but you do not yet have three food rooms in the castle), you are still eligible to receive that bonus later. So, if you later place your 3rd food room into the castle, you may still take the food room bonus, like normal, even though you already received the food room bonus when you selected it with the downstairs room bonus.
If you choose to take a living room bonus, and have already received the living room bonus by placing 3 living room tiles, you may place a second royal attendant (same or different) in the throne room.
Throne Rooms
Each throne room has 2 particular room types that it wants to be adjacent to, and 2 specific adjacent spots where it wants those room types to be. The throne room scores 2 points for each of the two spots that has either of the room types it wants.
A throne room can score a maximum of 4 points.
Ending the Game
After round two is over, each castle is scored. Each player takes a score sheet and calculates the score for the castle to their left (see example). Once this is complete, compare the scores for the castle to your left and the castle to your right. Your personal final score is the lower of the scores of your 2 castles. The player with the highest final score wins.
FIRST TIE-BREAKER: Winners compare the scores of their higher-scoring castles. The player with the higher score wins.
SECOND TIE-BREAKER: Winners compare the number of total specialty rooms among their two castles. The player with the highest total wins. Example: If James and Cindy are tied after the first tiebreaker, and James has a total of 7 specialty rooms in his two castles and Cindy has a total of 6 specialty rooms, then the tie is broken and James wins.
If there is still a tie, players share the victory.
After the game ends, we recommend that players shuffle all of the regular room tiles on the table and place them randomly face-down in the tile tray. That way the game is set up and ready to go the next time you play. Make sure to separate out the specialty rooms and put them away before shuffling the regular room tiles.
Two-Player Variant
Set up a 2-player game as if there are 3 players. That means there will be 3 throne rooms, each with a castle token below it. The third player is called "Ludwig". The 2 human players will be building a castle together, like normal, and each human player will also be building 1 castle with Ludwig.
Round One
During round one, each player draws 9 tiles. Ludwig also draws 9 tiles (place them in front of him, as if he were a human player). Do not look at Ludwig's tiles.
During the Choose step of each turn this round, the player to the left of Ludwig will shuffle and randomly pick 2 of Ludwig's tiles. They should look at those tiles and choose 1 of them to keep for the castle that he shares with Ludwig and 1 for the castle that the other human player shares with Ludwig. Place both of Ludwig's tiles face up, each near the castle it was chosen for. Then the human players choose their own 2 tiles from their own respective tile stacks.
When both human players have finished choosing their tiles and all stacks (including Ludwig's) have been passed to the left, conduct the Reveal and Place steps. Each human player chooses where to play their own tile and also where to place Ludwig's tile into the castle they share with Ludwig.
For any bonuses achieved by 1 of Ludwig's castles, the human player sharing that castle with Ludwig chooses and places the bonus.
Once the Place step is finished, repeat the steps as normal.
Round Two
Round two follows the same steps as round one, except that the human player to Ludwig's right will shuffle and randomly pick 2 of Ludwig's tiles each turn, assigning 1 to each of Ludwig's castles.
At the end of round two, score all castles like normal. Note that it is possible for Ludwig to win the game, and both human players to lose!
Castle Tokens
- Mespelbrunn Castle
- Lichtenstein Castle
- Hohenschwangau Castle
- Burg Eltz
- Neuschwanstein Castle
- Hohenzollern Castle
- Reichsburg Cochem
Bonus Cards
- 1 point for each different regular and specialty room type in your castle, not including the throne room.
- 4 points per royal attendant in your throne room.
- 2 points per downstairs room in your castle.
- 2 points per sleeping room in your castle.
- 1 point per room below ground level, including specialty rooms.
- 1 point per room on level 3 and higher, including specialty rooms.
- 2 points per living room in your castle.
- 2 points per food room in your castle.
- 1 point per total height (count the total rows in your castle).
- 1 point per total width (count the total columns in your castle).
- 2 points per outdoor room in your castle.
- 2 points per corridor room in your castle.
- 3 points per room that is fully surrounded. This can include the throne room. The throne room can help to occupy 2 spaces around a room for the purpose of this bonus card.
- 2 points per room whose spaces above, below, to the left, and to the right are all occupied. This can include the throne room.
- 2 points per utility room in your castle.
- 2 points per specialty room in your castle, including the throne room.
- 2 points per different regular room type in the six locations shown around your throne room.
- 1 point per occupied space surrounding your throne room.
- 4 points per regular room type of which you have 5 or more tiles.
- 2 points per regular room type of which you have 3 or more tiles.
Credits
The designers would like to thank Stonemaier Games, Bezier Games, Margaux O'Malley, Brian Blankstein, the 2nd Friday Playtest Group, Table Treasure Games, all our amazing playtesters, Chicagoland Games Dice Dojo, and the talented artists, editors, and graphic designers who brought this game to life.
© 2018 Stonemaier LLC. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a trademark of Stonemaier LLC. The Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a trademark of Bezier Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.