Castle Up Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Get Started
  • Common Setup
  • Player Setup
• The Board
• Action Cards
• Building Cards
• Card Attributes
• Card Back
• Card Status
• Resources
  • Gold
• Eras
• How to Play
  • Rounds
• Turns
  • Purchase Action
    • 1.- Purchasing Building Cards
    • 2.- Refurbishing Building Cards
    • 3.- Promoting Building Cards
    • 4.- Purchasing Action Cards
  • City Limits
  • Performing Active Actions
• Battle Phase
  • 1.- Attacks
  • 2.- Damage and Destruction
  • 3.- Extra Battle Phases
  • 4.- Defense
• Repair
• Ending the Game
  • Card Points
  • Controlling a Suit
  • Total Victory Points
• Game Modes
  • Optimizing Game Lenght and Variety
  • 3-4 Players
• Asymmetrical Castles
• Action Cards
• Feasts and Fury Expansion
• FAQ
• Icons Quick Guide

Get Started

In CastleUp, all information is transparent: players won't hold any hidden cards or resources. Every card and resource a player possesses will be visible to others.

Common Setup

First of all, divide the building cards into three stacks according to their era, identifiable by the era icon located at the top left corner of each card. Shuffle these stacks separately. Then, arrange them face up in the center of the table in chronological order: Era I on top, followed by Era II, and Era III at the bottom. This deck will be known as the drawing deck. Leave Castle cards and Action cards out of this deck.

Draw cards from the drawing deck and lay them out below it. To maintain a consistent game length, each round should always involve dealing 4 cards. In two-player games, place 3 of these cards in the trade row and discard the fourth. For games with three or four players, place all 4 cards without discarding any.

Next, position the 4 action cards beside the building cards. Together, the building and action cards comprise the trade row.

(Era icon can be found at the top left side of the card.)

Player Setup

To determine the starting player, the one who owns the most real-life castles gets to decide who starts. In the event of a tie, a player will be chosen at random. The selected player will then receive the initiative token.

To ensure fairness, the first half of the players will start with a single gold token, while the second half will start with two gold tokens. In a three-player game, only the last player receives two gold tokens.

All players will begin with the special Castle card in their city (placed in front of them).

(This is how the board should look at the start of a two-player game: The drawing deck and the discard pile are placed above the 3 building cards next to the 4 action cards. The discard pile should start with one card.)

You are ready to start playing!

The Board

Each player will play their cards in front of themselves to represent their built city. Beside their city, players should keep all their personal resources, which must remain visible to all other players. The starting player will also hold the initiative token.

At the center of the table, set up the drawing deck, discard pile, and the building and action cards for the current turn, as illustrated. These building and action cards constitute the trade row, the backbone of the game where players find the cards essential for their progression.

(Diagram labels: Drawing Deck; Discard Pile; Building Cards; Action Cards.)

Action Cards

There are only four of these special cards in the game, and they cannot be held for more than one round. These cards offer unique actions that can be taken instead of acquiring a building and can prove useful in specific scenarios:

• Take initiative: Secures you the initiative token on the next round.
• Collect taxes: Grants additional resources.
• Loot the peasants: By consuming a battle phase, it yields extra resources.
• Prepare defenses: Provides defense points.

Once acquired, these cards remain on your board until the beginning of your next turn, at which point they must be returned to the board.

Building Cards

These cards represent buildings and districts. They belong to three different eras (I, II and III) and will have one of the four available suits:

• Red: Offensive, military cards.
• Green: Merchant, resource gathering cards.
• Blue: Civilian, defensive and utility cards.
• Golden: Wonders and special cards.

Card Attributes

(Diagram of a building card labelled: Suit, Title, Cost, Era, Endurance, Actions.)

• Suit: The type of district the building belongs to, used to score points at the end of the game, but also in some card synergies.
• Title: Identifying the building.
• Cost: The payable resource cost required to obtain the card from the trade post in your city.
• Era: The era this building belongs to and when it was constructed.
• Endurance: Amount of damage this building can absorb in a single battle without being damaged (or destroyed if it was already damaged).
• Actions: List of one or more actions the building can perform.
  • Active: Actions without any special icon. You will have to exhaust the card to perform any action, by rotating it. If a building has multiple active actions, you will have to pick which one to use on a single turn.
  • Passive: Represented by the hourglass icon, this action can be used as many times as needed, even if the building is exhausted (but not damaged).

Card Back

(Diagram labelled: Repair Cost, shown on the gold icon at the top right of the back of the card.)

Buildings in players' cities can exist in one of three states: ready, exhausted, or damaged. Once a building is damaged, it will be flipped over to its gray side, which exposes the back of the card. This side displays the repair cost in gold required to repair the building back to its colored side.

Card Status

(Diagram shows a card in each of three states: Ready, Exhausted, Damaged.)

• Ready: Cards placed horizontally facing the owner. They represent a building that is ready to be used (by any action described in the card or in another card).
• Exhausted: Cards placed vertically not facing the owner. When a building uses an active action, it transitions from ready to exhausted state, and can't be used anymore until it's ready again, in most cases, at the beginning of the next turn.
• Damaged: Showing the grayed out back or flipside of the card. Cards that have been attacked by a force bigger or equal than its endurance value become damaged. These cards can't be used and need to be repaired.

* Cards can also be destroyed if an attacker deals enough damage to a damaged building again, or by dealing twice the endurance cost to an undamaged building. Destroyed buildings are placed in the discard pile.

Resources

(Resource icons: Manpower (fist), Supplies (crates), Food (roast meal), Any (gold question mark).)

Resource tokens are primarily used to pay for the construction of buildings, but they may also have secondary uses.

Resources can be gathered and stored in your city. There are three main resources (Manpower, Supplies and Food) and can be spent to purchase on the trade row. You will find a resource icon symbolizing the three resources in one, this means you can pick at your choice.

You can usually get these 3 base resources by using active actions from some building cards (such as your starting building, the Castle).

Gold

(Gold token.)

Gold is a wild token and a special resource that can be used as if it were any of the main resources.

Gold is a valuable resource, as it can be spent as payment for some card actions, but more importantly is used to repair buildings. (See Repair Section below for further context.)

You may trade 3 resources of the same kind for one piece of gold as many times as desired at any moment during your turn.

Eras

The era of each building is indicated on the top left corner of the card. As soon as a card from a new era is drawn and placed in the trade row, that new era begins, increasing the cost of the Initiative card, among other side effects.

(Era icons I, II and III.)

How to Play

The game is played over three eras, each comprising multiple rounds. During each round, players take their turns consecutively, starting with the player who holds the initiative token and proceeding clockwise.

Rounds

1. At the beginning of each round, before any player takes their first turn, set up the trade row buildings as outlined in the Getting Started section.
2. During a round, both building and action cards remain available for the entirety of the round and are not replenished until the beginning of the next round.
3. At the end of each round, discard all remaining building cards from the trade row by placing them on the discard pile in a top-down sequence. This means you'll stack them so that the last building card of the trade row ends up on top of the discard pile.

Action cards, however, will stay in place. If any action cards were acquired by a player during the round, they will be returned to the trade row at that player's turn.

Note that the Initiative token does not rotate to other players and will remain in place until another player purchases the Take Initiative action card.

(Card layout diagram: Drawing Deck and Discard Pile above a column of Building Cards #1 to #4 and a column of Action Cards #1 to #4. This image illustrates the card layout for a 3 or 4-player game. For a 2 player game, adjust by placing only 3 cards in the buildings section.)

Turns

At the beginning of each player's turn, the current player restores all exhausted cards, making them available again, and returning all action cards purchased during the previous turn.

Players start each turn with a purchase action and a battle phase. (Notice these are not represented by a physical token. Players start with one of each, but certain cards may grant additional purchase actions or battle phases.)

Then, the player has the option to perform the following actions, in any order, subject to cards availability:

• Purchase from the trade row, if cards and purchase actions are available.
  • Purchase a building card.
  • Refurbish a building.
  • Promote a building.
  • Purchase an action card.
• Perform active actions from ready cards, by exhausting them.
• Perform passive actions from ready or exhausted cards.
• Exchange resources for gold.
• Repair buildings.

The initial purchase action and battle phase can be utilized at any point during your turn, in addition to any action from cards you currently own or purchase during this turn. This grants you total flexibility to construct and employ the most effective combos!

"It is recommended to use as many actions as possible to develop your city during your turn, unless holding back offers a strategic advantage. This approach will keep you competitive with other players."

Purchase Action

Each turn, you have the option to purchase cards from the trade row by spending Purchase actions (you start your turn with one). Place the newly acquired building or action card in your city. Newly purchased cards are always in a ready state. There are three distinct methods to purchase building cards from the trade row, each requiring the use of a purchase action.

1.- Purchasing Building Cards

(Diagram: Soldiers Barracks card with its cost shown in the dashed "Card Cost" box.)

Within a purchase action you can get a building card available in the trade row. Building cards' cost can be found on the top right corner.

2.- Refurbishing Building Cards

You can refurbish any non-exhausted buildings in your possession to repurpose their resources to construct a new building from the trade row. When you refurbish a building, the cost of the new building is reduced by an amount equal to the resources on the buildings you are refurbishing. The refurbished building cards will then be discarded. Refurbishing is considered a purchase action, and any excess resources from the refurbished cards will be lost.

Damaged buildings can also be refurbished, but only half of their resources (rounded down), chosen by you, can be used.

** Note that you can refurbish more than one building at a time for a single purchase.

Example: Charles owns an Archery Range (costing 2 manpower) that he no longer needs, and he wants to purchase a Workshop (costing 5 supplies + 1 manpower). He can choose to refurbish the Archery Range, sending its card to the discard pile, thereby reducing the cost of the Workshop to just 5 supplies.

3.- Promoting Building Cards

You can promote buildings from a lower era to a higher era, by spending a purchase action. Promoting is similar to refurbishing but without the need to pay extra resources.

Only certain buildings from eras 2 and 3 can be promoted from earlier era buildings. The required building for promotion is specified under the building name on the higher era card. For example, a Militia Barracks can be promoted to a Soldiers Barracks at no additional cost, but the purchase action will still be consumed, and the Militia Barracks card will be discarded. Cards with promotion prospects are indicated by the gear icon near its name.

(Diagram: Militia Barracks promoted to Soldiers Barracks.)

Note: Some cards, such us Castle or the Heavy Crane, grant the ability to perform an additional purchase action. This means you could potentially acquire two building/action cards, or one of each, in the same turn. Purchase actions are generally limited, making this extra action particularly valuable.

(Diagram: Heavy Crane and Castle cards, marked with the Additional Purchase Action icon.)

4.- Purchasing Action Cards

Like building cards, getting action cards requires you to spend a purchase action. Each card has a special treatment.

• Take the Initiative: As the eras progress, the cost increases. In the 1st era, you must pay a resource of your choice, escalating to a gold token by the 3rd era.
• Collect Taxes: This action costs no resources. It provides more resources to the player as the eras advance.
• Prepare Defenses: This action costs no resources. It provides more defense points as the eras advance. However, this card must be exhausted when used to defend, meaning it can only be used to stop one attack.
• Loot the Peasants: Free in terms of resource cost, but it requires spending a battle phase and enough attack points to gain resources of your choice. This action is not dependent on the era.

City Limits

You are limited to having a maximum of 7 building cards in your city at any time (including your Castle!). There may be occasions where you need to refurbish or upgrade your buildings, not necessarily because it's immediately beneficial, but to free up space for new ones. Keep in mind that cards from newer eras tend to be stronger and offer more value.

Performing Active Actions

By exhausting a ready card, you can use one of the actions displayed on it, which are separated by a vertical divider. These actions may include adding resources, attack or defense points, purchase actions, attack phases, or even performing other custom actions.

(Diagram: a Market card exhausted to obtain 2 resource tokens (Supplies and Food).)

Battle Phase

The battle phase revolves around two key elements: the attack and the defense points.

A player can initiate a battle phase by exhausting as many attack cards as desired and selecting a single target. Defense points act as nullifiers, reducing incoming damage from attacks by their value.

For example, 6 attack points against 2 defense points will result in 4 inflicted damages. This damage is applied to the endurance of the building.

(Diagram: 6 attack vs. 2 defense = 4 damage applied to the building's endurance icon, shown as -4.)

There is typically only one battle phase per turn, unless specific cards grant an extra one. During a battle phase, you can engage only one enemy card.

1.- Attacks

When you declare your target for an attack, exhaust your attacking cards and tally the total damage they collectively deal. If the attack points are equal to or exceed the endurance of the targeted building, the building is considered damaged and must be flipped over, rendering it inactive.

(Diagram: a Goldmine building takes -4 damage and is flipped over to its damaged side.)

Important: Damaged buildings cannot perform any actions, whether active or passive, and will not count towards victory points at the end of the game.

2.- Damage and Destruction

Damaged buildings retain their original endurance points but become vulnerable to destruction. If a damaged building is attacked again and the incoming damage meets or exceeds its endurance, it is then destroyed and sent to the discard pile.

(Diagram: a damaged Goldmine (endurance 4) takes 4 damage and is sent to the Discard Pile.)

Furthermore, buildings can also be destroyed directly from an undamaged status if they receive damage that is twice or more than their endurance value.

(Diagram: an undamaged Goldmine (endurance 4) takes 8 damage and is sent to the Discard Pile.)

Important: When a building is destroyed, whether gradually in two steps or instantly in one shot, the owner is entitled to immediately recover half (rounded down) of the card's cost as compensation.

3.- Extra Battle Phases

Some cards may grant extra battle phases, allowing you to initiate additional attacks. Each attack within these phases is computed separately. It's important to note that in order to damage or destroy a building, your attack points must equal or surpass the target's endurance points in a single battle. Attack points cannot be shared between battle phases.

4.- Defense

Defending players may choose to prevent an attack by activating defense points in the same manner as attacking, namely by exhausting defensive cards. Defense points will reduce the incoming attack points, and only the excess damage (if any) will be considered against the building's endurance. Defense points can be used to protect any of your cards.

This is the only instance where a player can exhaust cards during another player's turn. This includes not only the defense cards themselves but also any combos that generate resources, which can then be converted into defense points.

Similar to attacking, defense points must be resolved within a single battle.

For example, if your defense card generates 5 defense points and the attacker applies only 3 attacking points, the excess 2 defense points will be lost, even if the attacker has a second attack prepared. All attacks should be designated and calculated before the defender applies defense points for that particular battle phase.

(Diagram: 3 attack vs. 5 defense = 2 wasted defense points.)

Remember: All attacking cards must be exhausted and have their targets defined before the defender applies any shields in every battle phase.

Example: Jane has multiple attacking cards: a Command Post (+ battle phase) and 2 Soldier Barracks (4 attack each).

Hanna has only one defending card: a Stone Wall (8 defense), among other buildings.

Given the Command Post's ability to offer an additional battle phase, Jane opts to use just one Soldier Barracks to attack a building with 3 endurance. This forces Hanna to use (and exhaust) her Stone Wall to defend against the first attack, potentially wasting some defense points. Then, with her second attack phase, Jane successfully damages one of Hanna's undefended buildings.

(Diagram "Jane vs Hanna": Attack Phase: Soldiers Barracks (4 attack) attacking Stone Wall (8 defense, defending). Command Post gives +1 Attack Phase. A second Soldiers Barracks doesn't attack yet. Extra Attack Phase: the second Soldiers Barracks makes an Undefended Attack!)

Repair

When a building is damaged, the card is flipped over to reveal the back, displaying the repair cost. The cost for repairing buildings ranges from 1 to 3 gold pieces. During your turn, you can repair any number of your own buildings, provided you can afford the repair costs.

Additionally, some cards allow for free repairs without the need to spend any gold pieces. This action is defined with the following icon: (free repair icon).

(Diagram: a Town Hall card showing its repair cost of 2 gold.)

Example: Charles has two damaged buildings among his cards: a Market and an Archery, each requiring 1 repair point to fix. Unfortunately, he doesn't possess any gold, but he does have 3 manpower tokens, which are sufficient for his needs.

By exchanging 3 resources of the same type for gold, he converts these 3 tokens into a single gold piece. He decides to repair the Market, leaving the Archery still damaged.

Ending the Game

When the drawing deck is down to its last card, the game enters its final stage. There will be one more round as long as there is at least one card left to place in the trade row. After this round, the game concludes and players will proceed to count their points.

Card Points

Earn points by maintaining undamaged cards within your city, with the point value increasing for cards from more recent eras. Additionally, cards belonging to the golden suit are especially valuable, offering extra points. For detailed information on the point distribution for each suit and era, please refer to the table provided below.

(Card points table. Columns: Era I, Era II, Era III. Red, blue and green suit cards (sword, scroll and chest icons): 1, 2, 3 points. Golden suit card: 2, 3, 4 points.)

Suit	Era I	Era II	Era III
Blue (scroll), Red (swords), Green (chest)	1	2	3
Golden	2	3	4

Controlling a Suit

Securing control over the majority of base suits (red, blue, and green - note that the golden suit cannot be controlled) is a key factor in achieving victory, offering 3 points for each suit under your control. To establish control over a suit, you must have more undamaged buildings of that suit than any other player. When a tie occurs for the number of buildings, priority is given to those from the 3rd era. If the tie remains after considering the 3rd era, the focus then shifts to 2nd era buildings. Should a tie still persist, control of the suit is shared, with each player gaining only 1 point instead of 3.

Example:

Cards / Players	Petra	Ramon	Mark
Red Cards Era 1	0	2	0
Red Cards Era 2	2	1	2
Red Cards Era 3	1	0	1

Given that each of the three players holds three military cards, control is determined by comparing the number of 3rd era cards each player has. In this case, Petra and Mark are tied. Since they also have an equal number of 2nd era cards, they establish shared control of the military suit. Ramon, having fewer cards from the 3rd era, is not considered for control. Players normally earn 3 extra points for controlling a suit; however, due to the shared control, both Petra and Mark will receive only 1 additional point each for their joint control of the red suit.

Total Victory Points

Certain cards may award additional points or offer the flexibility to be counted as the color of your choice, complementing the base points provided by the card's era and the bonus points for suit control. To calculate the final score for each player, combine these cards with the base and control points. In the event of a tie, the deciding factor will be the number of golden cards a player holds; the player with the most golden cards prevails. If there is still a tie, with players having an equal number of golden cards, then the victory is shared.

Enjoy Castle Up!

Game Modes

Optimizing Game Lenght and Variety

Although CastleUp is initially designed to be played with all cards, our development process revealed that the game experience improves by removing a few cards from each era. We recommend the following approach for an optimal game duration and increased variability:

Randomly remove two cards from each era. Proceed with the standard card shuffling and setup process with the remaining cards.

This method shortens the game length while maintaining a fresh and engaging experience each time you play.

Custom Card Removal: For more experienced players, manual card removal is also a valid approach. If players prefer a less aggressive game, they can choose to remove red cards or cards with high resource demands, for instance. This allows for tailored gameplay that suits the group's preferences.

3-4 Players

While the general rules detail how to play CastleUp in a duel (two players), we also offer guidance for games with three or four players. The key adjustment in this mode is the attack direction to maintain game balance.

Clockwise Attacks: We recommend that players attack in a single direction, specifically clockwise. This means Player A can only attack Player B (to their left) and will be attacked by Player C. This system remains consistent whether there are three or four players.

Changing Attack Direction: To change the attack direction, players must acquire the Loot the Peasants Action Card. This card features an icon that allows players to alter the attack order. The card can be used in the following ways:

1. Direction Change Only: Purchase the card to change the attack direction without utilizing a battle phase.
2. Resources Only: Purchase the card to gain the specified resources without changing the attack direction, by spending a battle phase.
3. Dual Use: Purchase the card to gain the resources and change the attack direction simultaneously.

When the direction is changed, attacks will proceed counterclockwise. Until it's changed again.

(Diagrams: the board at the start of a three-player game, and at the start of a four-player game.)

Asymmetrical Castles

The base game starts with a generic castle, giving all players the same opportunities. This is ideal for initial games, ensuring balanced play.

For advanced players, we have included special cards featuring asymmetrical castles. These castles allow for unbalanced games, creating richer and more varied gameplay experiences.

Basic castles do not have a suit and do not interact with cards or provide points. However, many asymmetrical castles are associated with a suit, offering the benefits of that suit, such as scoring points or synergizing with cards.

At the start of the game, players can decide manually which player uses each castle or do so randomly. The choice of distribution is left to the players' discretion.

(Diagrams: four asymmetrical Castle cards.)

Action Cards

Similar to the asymmetrical castles, we have introduced a second version for each of the four Action Cards. These new versions align with the original structure: a military card, a mercantile card, a defensive card, and one related to initiative. The secondary Action Cards are represented on the reverse side of the original cards.

Each game should always include one of each type of Action Card. While the classic version was designed with the original four cards, experienced players can opt to use the reverse side of the cards for a different gameplay experience.

Feasts and Fury Expansion

This expansion includes one new card per suit for each era, adding four new cards per era in total.

To maintain consistent game duration, we recommend removing four random base game cards from each era. Alternatively, experienced players can manually choose which cards to remove and add from the expansion to customize their gameplay experience.

For example, on a random balanced approach, consider removing six cards from each era of the base game and then adding the twelve new expansion cards before shuffling.

(Product image: Castle Up Feasts and Fury Booster expansion, 13 cards.)

FAQ

It is my first turn and I don't have resources other than gold, what do I do? "Remember the castle provides your resources. It's probably enough to purchase a building. If not, you can always Collect Taxes and save resources for the next turn."

Can I attack an opponent's Castle? "No, the castle is indestructible and cannot be targeted."

Can I refurbish my Castle? "Yes, you can refurbish the Castle. It won't give you resources, but you can use its slot to place another building that provides points at the end of the game."

I need to collect a resource token but there are none left? "Unfortunately, if there are no resource tokens left, you cannot collect one."

Is there any order to play the cards/perform actions? "You can play actions in any order as long as they are legal moves, including the two free actions (purchase action and battle phase)."

Does the Thieves Guild provide the same exchange I've got for free (exchange 3 resources for gold)? "No, the Thieves Guild allows you to exchange 3 resource tokens of any type for 1 gold token, unlike the standard exchange of 3 identical resource tokens for 1 gold."

When I change the initiative order, sometimes a player gets two consecutive turns, right? "Yes, changing the initiative order can result in a player taking two consecutive turns, especially in 2-player games. Use it to your advantage."

I'm not sure I understand Loot the Peasants. Do I purchase it? Do I attack it? "You do both. Like any card in the trade row, you need to purchase it first. Then, you use a battle phase on it to get resources back, unlike other action cards."

During an extra battle phase, can we only attack with non-exhaustible buildings? "Correct, only buildings that are not exhausted can be used to attack during an extra battle phase."

Then, if I defend (exhausting a defensive card), I can't use it to block a second attack? "Exactly, once a defensive card is exhausted, it cannot be used to block another attack."

What's the X in some cards (like Knights Barracks, Fortified Wall, or Tax Office)? "X refers to a variable detailed on the card, usually the number of your undamaged cards of a certain suit (red, blue, or green)."

Some cards, like the Dump or the Town Hall, allow purchasing buildings from the discard pile or the drawing deck. Does this count as a purchase action? "Yes, using these cards to purchase buildings does count as a purchase action. The primary advantage of these cards is that they allow you to purchase cards, sometimes at a reduced cost, from locations inaccessible to other players."

Can I refurbish two buildings together for a single building purchase? "Yes, you can. Any unused resources will be lost as usual."

Icons Quick Guide

• Purchase Action: You can obtain one card from the trade row, either a building or an action card.
• Battle Phase: You can initiate an attack phase by gathering attack points against a single opponent target (or the Loot the Peasants card).
• Attack Point: Used during battle phases to damage enemy building cards.
• Defense Point: Used during battle phases to reduce incoming attack points.
• Endurance: HP of a building, used during battle phases to determine if the building is damaged or destroyed.
• Eras I/II/III: Linear progress of the game timeline.
• Food/Supplies/Manpower Resource: Base resources used to pay for building purchases.
• Any Resource: You can use any of the 3 previously mentioned base resources instead.
• Gold Resource: Wild token used as any resource, also used for special purposes like building repair.
• Repair Action: You can repair a building entirely without having to pay any gold.
• Passive Action: This card action applies at any time, regardless if the card is ready or exhausted.
• Self-Damage: Damage this card to trigger an action.