Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Renovations Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Renovations 1st Edition Setup
  • Renovations Setup
    • First Time Setup
  • Player Setup
• Gameplay
  • Round Overview
• Buying & Placing Renovations
  • Downstairs Renovations
• Scoring Renovations
• Completing Renovated Rooms
• Game End with Renovations
• Drawing New Renovations
  • Sleeping Room and Moat Rewards
• Final Scoring
• Renovations with Other Expansions
• New Favors and Bonuses
  • King's Favors
  • Bonus Cards
• Royal Decrees
  • Double Decree Variation
  • During the Game
  • Final Scoring

Components

• (6) 100 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 150 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 200 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 250 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 300 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 350 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 400 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 450 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 500 Renovation Tiles
• (6) 600 Renovation Tiles
• (22) Royal Decree Cards
• (5) Bonus Cards for Collector's Edition
• (5) Bonus Cards for 1st Edition
• (4) King's Favors for Collector's Edition
• (4) King's Favors for 1st Edition
• (4) King's Favors for 2nd Edition
• (4) King's Favors for Royal Collector's Edition

Setup

Renovations 1st Edition Setup

Use this setup when playing with the 1st Edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

1. Place the Contract board in the middle of the table. Use the side with 4 Favor Circles for 4 players. Use the other side for 2 or 3 players. Place the other boards around it. On the left, place the 100-300 Room board. On the right, place the 350-600 Room board. At the top, place the Corridor board.
2. Shuffle the Bonus card deck and place it face down on the board.
3. Place the coins in a supply pile near the board where everyone can reach them.
4. Flip the King's Favors face down and mix them up. Reveal 1 Favor per player and place them face up on the board. Return all unused Favors to the box.
5. (Renovations icon) Shuffle the Room cards. Instead of counting out 11 cards per player, use the chart to the right to create the Room deck and place it face down on the board. Return all unused cards to the box.
6. Count out the correct number of Room tiles of each size for your player count, as well as the correct number of Hallway tiles and Stairs tiles. Stack each set of tiles face down on the corresponding space on the board.
7. (Renovations icon) Shuffle the Renovation tile stacks of each size and place them in their tray next to the board.
8. Determine how many Room tiles are available each round at your player count. Reveal that many Room cards from the top of the deck. For each card you reveal, take the top Room tile of the indicated size and place it face up under the market on the scoreboard (the Master Builder will arrange them later). (8b) When finished, place all revealed Room cards face up in the discard pile next to the Room deck.
9. (Renovations icon) Draw 1 Renovation tile of each size shown on the Room cards you drew in step 8. Place these face up below the Room tiles on the market. Renovations aren't assigned to prices on the track, so their position and order do not matter.

Players	2	3	4	5
Room cards	17	23	29	35

Players	Large Rooms (350-600 and Stairs)	Small Rooms (100-300 and Hallways)
2	4	5
3	5	7
4	6	9

Renovations Setup

The first time you add this expansion to the base game, mix in all new Bonus cards and King's Favors with the base game components. (If you have the 1st Edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig, see page 3 for setup. Use the matching Bonus cards and King's Favors.) Most Bonus cards and Favors do not require specific expansions, and those that do can be discarded during play if you are not playing with that expansion (see page 13).

Setup changes for the Renovations expansion are marked with the Renovations icon. The new Renovation tiles can be used with any edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

NOTE: You can only play with 5 players if you are also using the Towers expansion.

First Time Setup

1. Place the scoreboard at one end of the table.
2. Shuffle the Bonus card deck and place it face down on the board.
3. Place the coins in a supply pile near the board where everyone can reach them.
4. Flip the King's Favors face down and mix them up. Reveal 1 Favor per player and place them face up on the board. Return all unused Favors to the box.
5. (Renovations icon) Instead of counting out 11 cards per player, use the chart below to create the Room deck and place it face down on the board. Return all unused cards to the box.

Players	2	3	4	5
Room cards	17	23	29	35

6. Count out the correct number of Room tiles of each size (printed on the back) for your player count, as well as the correct number of Hallway tiles and Stairs tiles. Stack each set of tiles face down in the corresponding space on the board (each space shows how many rooms for each player count).
7. (Renovations icon) Shuffle the Renovation tile stacks of each size and place them in their tray next to the board.
8. Determine how many Room tiles are available each round at your player count. Reveal that many Room cards from the top of the deck. For each card you reveal, take the top Room tile of the indicated size and place it face up under the market on the scoreboard (the Master Builder will arrange them later). (8b) When finished, place all revealed Room cards face up in the discard pile next to the Room deck.
9. (Renovations icon) Draw 1 Renovation tile of each size shown on the Room cards you drew in step 8. Place these face up below the Room tiles on the market. Renovations aren't assigned to prices on the track, so their position and order do not matter.

Players	Revealed Rooms	Excluded Prices	Revealed Renovations
2	5	1000 and 2000	5
3	6	1000	6
4	7	None	7
5	8	None	8

Player Setup

10. Give each player a Foyer, a matching player marker, a player aid, and 15000 in coins.
11. Randomly choose a player to be the Master Builder and give them the Master Builder token.
12. The Master Builder places their player marker on "0" on the score track (score tower for 1st Edition). The player to their left places their player marker on "1," followed by the next player to the left on "2," etc. until each player has placed their player marker.
13. ROYAL DECREES: Shuffle the Royal Decrees deck and deal 2 more cards than the number of players to the player on the right of the Master Builder. This player secretly chooses 1 Decree to keep, then passes the remaining Decrees to the player on their right (in reverse turn order). This continues until each player has chosen 1 Decree.

The Master Builder will receive 3 Decrees to choose from; after they choose 1 to keep, they return all unselected Decrees to the bottom of the deck. All players then simultaneously reveal their Decrees and place them face up in front of themselves.

TIP: Once you are familiar with Royal Decrees, you may remove specific Decrees from the deck before starting the game.

14. Deal each player 3 Bonus cards face down. Each player chooses 2 cards to keep and puts the 3rd on the bottom of the Bonus deck. Players should keep their Bonus cards secret but may look at them at any time.
15. The Master Builder starts the first round by arranging the Room tiles on the market (see pages 4-5).

Gameplay

Round Overview

1. Draw New Rooms: The Master Builder fills each empty space under the market by revealing Room cards from the deck. (Skip this step in the first round.)

   NOTE: The Master Builder also draws new Renovation tiles to replace ones that have been bought (page 10).

2. Price Rooms: The Master Builder sets the price of each Room tile by rearranging them however they like under the market.

3. Buy Rooms: Starting to the left of the Master Builder and going in clockwise order, each player takes a turn to buy a Room or collect 5000 in coins.

   NOTE: Instead of buying a Room, you may buy a face up Renovation tile for 5000 in coins (see next page).

4. Add Coins: Add a 1000 coin to each Room tile left on the market.

5. Pass Master Builder: The Master Builder token passes to the next player to the left and a new round begins.

Buying & Placing Renovations

Whenever you would buy a Room, you may choose to buy a Renovation instead. Each Renovation costs 5000 in coins (regardless of size). Payment is made to the Master Builder as normal (or to the supply if you are the Master Builder).

When you buy a Renovation, you must place it on top of a Room with the matching square footage that does not already have a Renovation on it. If you do not have a Room where you can place a Renovation, you may not purchase it.

Downstairs Renovations

You may renovate a Downstairs Room with a Renovation tile that does not have the Downstairs type, as long as it is the correct size. However, the renovated Room is still downstairs and can only be connected to other downstairs Rooms and Stairs.

Likewise, you may renovate a regular (upstairs) Room with a Renovation tile that does have the Downstairs type. The renovated Room is still upstairs and can only be connected to other upstairs Rooms and Stairs.

If you have an odd number of completed Downstairs Rooms, and you renovate a completed Downstairs Room, you can no longer count that Room towards earning your next Downstairs completion reward.

TIP: To remember if a renovated Room was originally a Downstairs Room, you can look at the color of its walls (Downstairs walls are darker).

Downstairs Renovations Example (diagrams 1 and 2 omitted).

Although this Room has been renovated to 2 upstairs types, it is still downstairs, so it can't be directly connected to new upstairs Rooms.

Scoring Renovations

After placing a Renovation, score it the same way you would a standard Room:

1. New Renovation VPs: Gain the VP value in the top left of the Renovation tile.

2. New Renovation Bonus/Penalty: If the Renovation you placed has a bonus or penalty in the center, gain or lose VPs as indicated.

3. Other Room Bonuses/Penalties: If the new Renovation activates bonuses and/or penalties on other Rooms in your castle, gain or lose VPs as indicated.

   Each Renovation has 2 Room types, which each independently trigger relevant bonuses and penalties on other Rooms in your castle. You may even score a connection bonus on connected Room twice, if it awards VPs for both of the Renovation's types.

NOTE: When you place a Renovation, you do not lose (or gain) any VPs for the Room type, bonus, or penalty that was covered up. However, from now on, you will no longer score bonuses or penalties on the covered Room when placing other new Rooms (you will score bonuses on the Renovation tile instead).

Scoring Renovations Example (diagram omitted): The red player buys the Midnight Snackery and places it on the Guest Bedroom. Red scores 1 VP for the Snackery itself, plus 3 bonus VPs for connecting it to a Food Room (the Anteroom). They also score 3 bonus VPs for connecting a new Sleeping Room to the Anteroom. In total, red scores 1 + 3 + 3 = 7 VPs. Note that red does not lose any VPs they previously scored from the Guest Bedroom.

Completing Renovated Rooms

When you complete a Room with a Renovation on top of it, you gain the completion reward for both of the Renovation's types. You do not gain a completion reward for the covered Room.

When you place a Renovation on a Room that you've already completed, you gain both completion rewards for the Renovation immediately after you score it.

Completing Renovated Rooms Example (diagram omitted): The blue player buys the Undercroft and places it on top of the Sitting Room, which is already complete. After scoring VPs for the Undercroft, they immediately gain completion rewards for it. It counts as both an Activity Room and a Downstairs Room, so they gain 5 VPs, and since they already have 1 completed Downstairs Room, they gain another completion reward of their choice.

Game End with Renovations

When playing with Renovations, the game only ends when both the Room card deck runs out, and at least two room stacks (including Stairs, Hallways, and/or Moats) have been depleted. If the Room deck runs out before at least two stacks are depleted, shuffle the Room cards and continue drawing them as usual. The game will end on the turn that at least 2 room stacks are depleted.

Drawing New Renovations

When the Master Builder draws new Rooms at the start of the round, they may also need to draw new Renovations to replace those that have been purchased. Do not place coins on Renovations that are left at the end of the round.

Each time the Master Builder draws a new Room card, they first reveal a matching Room tile, then check if there are fewer Renovations than the number that were available at the start of the game (the same number as Room tiles that should be on the market). If there aren't enough Renovations available, the Master Builder reveals the top Renovation matching the card they just drew and places it with the other Renovations.

If there are no Renovations left in the matching stack, the Master Builder does not draw a new Renovation and moves on to the next Room card. If they draw a Room tile that was placed on the Room deck (by a Sleeping Room completion reward), they treat this the same as a Room card and draw a Renovation tile of the matching size.

There should never be more Renovations than Room tiles available, but there may be fewer Renovations than Room tiles (for example, because players purchased more Renovations than Rooms in the previous round). If the Master Builder does not draw enough Room cards to fully refill the Renovations, do not draw any additional Room cards. Instead, play the round with fewer than the allowed number of Renovations, then attempt to refill them again in the following round.

Sleeping Room and Moat Rewards

When you earn a completion reward for a Sleeping Room or Moat, you may not look through or take Renovation tiles (you may take standard Rooms only).

Drawing New Renovations Example: Yellow is the Master Builder in a 5 player game. In the previous round, green bought a Room from the market, blue bought a Stairs tile, red passed, and yellow and orange each bought a Renovation. This leaves 7 Rooms on the market and 6 Renovations in the pool.

In a 5 player game, there should be 8 Rooms on the market, so yellow draws 1 new Room card. It shows a 350 Room, so reveal the top 350 Room and place it in the empty space under the market. Since there are fewer than 8 Renovations, they also reveal the top 350 Renovation. Since the market is full, yellow does not need to draw any more Room cards, so there will only be 7 Renovations available this round.

Final Scoring

Renovations score end-game bonuses as follows:

• Renovations do not score depleted stack bonuses at the end of the game.
• When counting total Rooms, complete/incomplete Rooms, or Rooms of a certain size, count each renovated Room as 1 Room. When counting Rooms of specific types, count each renovated Room towards both of its types.
• When counting total square footage, count each renovated Room's square footage once. When counting square footage of a certain type of Room, count each renovated Room's square footage towards both of its types.

Renovations with Other Expansions

Use the following rules when adding Renovations to other expansions:

• TOWERS: When drawing new Renovations (including at setup), if you draw a Tower Room card or there is a Tower on top of the Room deck, do not draw a new Renovation, and move on to the next Room card. Towers cannot be renovated.
• MOATS: When playing with Moats, gain 1 VP per moat for each type of Room shown on a Renovation (except Corridors and Outdoor Rooms). Renovations of any kind may be placed on Outdoor Rooms that are part of the Castle Gardens.
• SWAN TOKENS: Whenever a Renovation tile with a Swan icon on it is revealed, place a random Swan token face up on it. With Renovations, it is possible to run out of Swan tokens during the game. If this happens, any further Rooms or Renovations with Swan icons that are revealed do not receive tokens.
• SECRET PASSAGES: When you buy a Renovation, you may place any number of Secret Passages connecting the Room you renovate to other Rooms in your castle (as if you had placed a new Room). The Secret Passage score multiplier for connection bonuses applies to all Room types on renovated Rooms.

Renovations with Other Expansions Example (diagram omitted): The orange player places the Observatory next to their renovated Great Room and connects them with a Secret Passage. They score 3 VPs for the Observatory. Since the Great Room is both a Living Room AND an Activity Room, and the Observatory has a connection bonus of 2 VPs for both of those Room types, orange scores the Observatory's bonus twice. The Secret Passage doubles the bonus each time it is scored, so orange scores a total of 3 + 4 + 4 = 11 VPs. Since the Great Room and the Observatory aren't adjacent (and the Secret Passage muffles the sound between them), orange does not lose any points for the Great Room's adjacency penalty.

New Favors and Bonuses

King's Favors and Bonus Cards that deal with specific expansions are marked with an expansion icon (Towers, Swan Tokens, or Renovations). If a player draws a Favor or Bonus specific to an expansion you are not currently using, they may immediately reveal it, discard it, and draw a new one to replace it.

King's Favors

• Unique Room Sizes: Each player counts the number of unique Room sizes that appear in their castle. Do not count Hallways, Stairs, Foyers, or Barbicans.
• Unique Types: Each player counts the number of unique Room types that appear in their castle. Moat tiles are counted as a unique type for this Favor. Barbican tiles do not count as Moat tiles.
• Renovations: Each player counts the number of Renovation tiles in their castle.
• Fewest VPs: Each player counts their current VPs, and players are ranked from fewest to most. Make sure to score this Favor at the correct time during final scoring. Public Favors should be scored from left to right on the track. Tower Favors should be scored in clockwise order, starting with the Master Builder.

Bonus Cards

• Renovations: Score 2 VPs for each Renovation you have.
• Swan Tokens: Score 1 VP for each Swan token you have.
• Castle Icon: Score 1 VP for each "1 VP" castle icon on Rooms in your castle. This counts 1 VP values in the corner of Rooms and renovated Rooms as well as 1 VP bonuses. It does not count -1 VP penalties, values/bonuses that are worth more than 1 VP, or VP values or bonuses on Moats.
• 0 VP Bonus Cards: After all other Bonus cards are scored, score 3 VPs for each Bonus card belonging to any player that scored 0 VPs. If no other Bonus card scores 0 VPs, this card scores 3 VPs for itself.
• Total Square Footage: Count the total square footage of your castle and score 1 VP for every 500 counted. This includes Moat tiles.

Royal Decrees

Each player drafts a Royal Decree that provides them with a unique bonus. Some Decrees take effect immediately when they are revealed at the start of the game; some may be used at specific times during the game; and some take effect during final scoring at the end of the game. Each Decree is detailed below.

NOTE: Royal Decrees that deal with specific expansions are marked with an expansion icon (Moats, Swan Tokens, or Renovations). If a player draws a Royal Decree specific to an expansion you are not currently using, they may immediately reveal it, discard it, and draw a new one to replace it.

TIP: Keep your Royal Decree face up during the game, and place it somewhere you'll easily see it during the game. This way you won't forget about your unique bonus and possibly miss out on taking advantage of it!

NOTE: Royal Decrees are only used when playing with the Royal Decrees expansion (Royal Decrees icon). Once you are familiar with Royal Decrees, you may remove specific Decrees from the deck before starting the game.

Double Decree Variation

Once you've become familiar with Royal Decrees, you can play with the Double Decree Variation if you have the Collector's Edition or Castles Expansions. But if you have just Castles 1st/2nd edition, you shouldn't (there aren't enough Decrees for this to work well over a series of games).

During Setup, add Royal Decrees equal to the number of players to the already prepared amount (so you will have 2 decrees per player with 2 left over). Each player takes 1 decree until it gets to the Master Builder, who takes 2. Then the cards are passed to the left with each player taking 1 more decree. This way all players will have 2 decrees that are active during the game.

During the Game

• Once per game, at any time, you may flip this Decree face down to look through the Room card discard pile, choose up to 3 cards, and place them on top of the Room deck in the order of your choice.
• When any other player sets prices as the Master Builder, they have only 15 seconds to do so. Use an app timer to ensure compliance. If the Master Builder runs out of time, you may set the prices of any remaining unpriced Rooms.
• After you set prices as the Master Builder, you may choose to take the first turn. Discard this in 2 player games.
• (Renovations icon) You may buy Renovations for 2000 each (instead of 5000).
• You may connect Downstairs Rooms to regular (upstairs) Rooms.
• When you buy a Room that has coins on it, you may remove any number of coins on it and return them to the supply. For every 1000 you remove, score 1 VP.
• When you buy a Room that costs 15000, pay only 10000 for it.
• When you would buy a Room, you may instead take any Room priced at 1000 or 2000 at . You still gain any coins on the Room. Discard this card in 2 or 3 player games.

Final Scoring

• When scoring depleted stacks, score 4 VPs for each Room or Moat from an empty stack (instead of 2 VPs).
• (Swan Tokens icon) When scoring sets of Swan tokens, score each set using the VP values on this card (instead of those in the Swans expansion). This does not affect the amount of coins you get when trading in Swan tokens.
• When scoring Bonus cards, score an extra 3 VPs for each card you have (regardless of how many VPs it would otherwise score).
• Score 2 VPs for each square Living Room icon on any Rooms in your castle. Only square Living Room icons count, i.e. icons used in bonuses and penalties for Living Rooms.
• During final scoring, score 3 VP for each distinct group of 2 unique contiguous rooms of the same type.

Final Scoring Example (diagram omitted): Green has 3 contiguous Food Rooms and 4 contiguous Living Rooms. The Food Rooms score 1 set of 2 contiguous same-type rooms for 3 VPs, and the Living Rooms score 2 sets of 2 contiguous same-type rooms for 6 VPs.