Castles
Castles Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
To Win the Game
Be the first player to complete a Kingdom containing at least one of each of the cards shown here. (Not shown are the WIZARD, MINION, and MAGICK cards, as they are not required to win.)
Actions During A Turn
A player may perform ONE* action during their turn:
- Draw a card.
- Top off a stack. During a turn, a player may Move ONE card in a pile to the top of the stack. The order of the other cards in the pile must not be disturbed, only ONE card may be placed on top.
- Wage War. If the player has a CASTLE and an ARMY (the GENERAL, CHAMPION, and ARMS cards) s/he may Wage War on another player.
- Move. If a player has a CASTLE, s/he may Move the top card in a stack from one column to another, left or right. Kingdoms without CASTLES cannot Move cards.
- Play a WIZARD card. (See the WIZARDS below.)
Actions After A Turn
After a player concludes his/her turn by Drawing a card, Moving, etc., s/he may announce "Block!" followed by the point value of the Blocker(s) to block the opponent's next card draw. (See "Blocking.")
*Alternatively, a player may at this time call upon a WIZARD's special power to "Block Draw" or "Block Move." This means it's possible in some situations to play two WIZARD cards in one turn.
The Cards
Let's begin by describing the cards in the game:
The CASTLE
The CASTLE unites your Kingdom, and you must have a CASTLE to win the game. It cannot be lost to War or any other maneuver. When a player Draws the CASTLE card, it cannot be Blocked. In fact, any cards used to Block the CASTLE, including all cards in the stacks in the entire Blocker's column, are automatically sacrificed if the CASTLE is Drawn.
The WIFE and HEIR
You can't keep a WIFE card until you have a CASTLE, and you can't keep an HEIR until you have a WIFE. You may have a total of one WIFE and three HEIRs in your Kingdom. Extra WIFE or HEIR cards Drawn during the game are discarded. Note that a WIFE may be Upgraded to a higher value card. The WIFE and HEIR cards are considered Danglers, and may be sacrificed as losses during game play, but not so fast! You do need both to win the game.
The DUKE, COUNT, and BARON
In order to win, you must have one of each NOBLE: a DUKE, a COUNT, and a BARON, arranged in that order in your Kingdom. As you acquire these cards they do not stack, but are added to your Kingdom from left to right as shown here. You may only have three NOBLEs at any time.
As play progresses, you will probably end up with more than one DUKE, COUNT, or BARON. As your goal is to have one of each type, you will replace redundant NOBLEs with the NOBLE you need as they arise in the deck. The unwanted NOBLEs are discarded as they are Upgraded with new cards. As you probably won't acquire the NOBLEs in the correct order during play, you will need to use some of your turns to Move your NOBLEs into the correct heirarchy by swapping adjacent positions. In this case, only the NOBLEs change positions, not the LANDS, FRUITS, and SERFS below them.
The LANDS, FRUITS, and SERFS
The LANDS, FRUITS, and SERFS form stacks as they are acquired. As soon as the first NOBLE is added to the Kingdom, the stacks immediately form a column beneath that NOBLE. If a link in the column is broken (let's say you have a FRUITS and SERFS card but no LANDS), the FRUITS and SERFS cards are considered Danglers as they are not attached to the NOBLE.
As play progresses, you'll fill out the matrix of LANDS, FRUITS and SERFS as shown here. Each row and column must be filled out so as not to leave empty holes in the array of cards. (The layout diagrams in the original rules, marked YES and NO, are card images and are not reproduced here.)
As you draw new cards, if any new LANDS, FRUITS and SERFs cannot be added to your Kingdom without leaving a hole in the array, the cards will form stacks beneath the first (ie: left-most) NOBLE. They will pile up until it's possible to begin moving them. You will have to sacrifice turns to slide them over one stack at a time until they are in the proper positions to win the game.
The Army: The GENERAL, CHAMPION, and ARMS
The GENERAL, CHAMPION, and ARMS cards form stacks as they are acquired, arranged in a column beneath the CASTLE. One of each is required in your Kingdom to win. They do not Move left or right.
The CHAMPIONs are Blockers, and they may be used alone or in concert with an ARMS card to Block an opponent's Draw. CHAMPIONs, or CHAMPIONs plus ARMS cards, may be freely used as Blockers before a Kingdom has a CASTLE. Once a CASTLE is in place, the CHAMPION and ARMS stacks must be controlled by a GENERAL before they can be used to Block. If there is no GENERAL to stack beneath, the CHAMPION and ARMS cards are considered Danglers. Once a player has a CASTLE and all three ARMY cards, s/he may choose to Wage War on another player during their turn (Waging War is explained below.) The ARMS card on its own has no power.
The WIZARDs, MINIONs, and MAGICK
The WIZARDs, MINIONs, and MAGICK cards are not required to win the game, but you will need to employ them to influence the course of play. Let's examine the WIZARDs:
WIZARDs, in General
All WIZARD cards are acquired in the same fashion as the NOBLEs, meaning they do not form stacks. They fan out from the center of the Kingdom from right to left. A player can have a maximum of three WIZARD cards, and may Upgrade WIZARDs during the course of the game to acquire different magical abilities. Whenever a player opts to use a WIZARD's special power, that WIZARD is immediately discarded. MINION and MAGICK cards left behind become Danglers and are marooned until another WIZARD is drawn to control them, or until they are moved one at a time to an adjacent WIZARD column. Unlike NOBLEs, WIZARDs do not move or swap positions.
Once a player acquires a CASTLE, the player MUST have a WIZARD in place to use MINIONs and MAGICK cards for Blocking. No WIZARD equals no Blocking!
During a turn, a player may opt to sacrifice any WIZARD card to Draw TWO cards from the deck. Only one of these cards may be kept, but the player now has a choice between two cards. Normal Blocking rules apply, so it's quite possible to waste a WIZARD in an attempt to get a desperately needed card.
WIZARD Powers
WARLOCK ("Stop Block"): If another player announces that they are Blocking you, you may play this card to override the Block and Draw a card freely. You discard your WIZARD, then Draw a new card. If you draw a CASTLE, the player who tried to block you loses no cards.
WITCH ("Skip Row"): Play this card to fly a card from an inner column to an outer column, skipping a column in between. The middle column must contain a card! Also, the flying card may not leave an empty hole behind.
MAGICIAN ("Block Draw"): Play this card at the end of a turn to Block an opponent's Draw. Your opponent may still Move, Wage War, etc., they just cannot Draw a card.
MAGE ("Draw Discard"): Play this card to Draw the topmost card from the discard pile. The opponent cannot Block this play.
SORCERER ("Snatch Draw"): Play this to snatch an opponent's last Draw. The player discards the WIZARD and adds the snatched card to their Kingdom. It is then the opponent's turn again. This may be played to snatch Victory away from your opponent on their last Draw to win. Very annoying!
ADEPT ("Block Move"): Play this card at the end of a turn to Block a player's Move from one column to another. This WIZARD card may also Block the WITCH from "Skip Row"-ing. The opponent may still perform a Draw, Wage War, etc., they just can't Move a card.
The MINIONs
Stacking beneath the WIZARD cards are the MINIONs, the evil beings employed by WIZARDs to do their dirty work.
The MINIONs are Blockers, meaning that they may be used alone or in concert with MAGICK cards to Block an opponent's Draw. During the pre-CASTLE phase, when a MAGICK card is linked to a MINION, the player may use the MAGICK card to Block independently so as not to risk losing both cards. A MAGICK card alone has no Blocking power. MINIONs alone, or MINIONs + MAGICK, may be used as Blockers without a WIZARD before the Kingdom has a CASTLE.
ONCE A CASTLE IS IN PLACE, the MINON and MAGICK stacks must be controlled by a WIZARD before they can be used as Blockers. If there is no WIZARD to stack beneath, the MINION and MAGICK cards are powerless Danglers.
To Begin
Each player Draws a card, and these are kept as the first cards in each Kingdom. The player with the high card has the first turn. A WIFE or HEIR card must be discarded, but the point value is still valid for determining turn order. If it's a Draw, the players keep their cards and Draw again until the tie is broken. The CASTLE always goes first.
Blocking
As a player moves to Draw a card, the opposing player may call out "Block!" if they have a Blocker in their Kingdom.
The total point value of the Blocker(s) is used against the Drawn card. If the Drawn card is less than the Blocker(s), the Drawn card is Blocked and placed into the discard pile. If the values are a match, the Blocking card(s) and the Drawn card are both lost. If the Drawn card is the highest in value, the Blocker(s) are lost and the Drawing player adds the new card to their Kingdom. In the "pre-Castle" phase of the player's Kingdom, only the Blocking cards themselves are at risk to be lost. There is no "collatoral damage" to the rest of the stacks or to the Kingdom.
ONCE THE PLAYER HAS A CASTLE uniting their Kingdom, the penalty for an unsuccessful Block is greater than just the isolated Blocking card(s). If the Drawn card overwhelms the point value of the Blocker(s), the Blocking player must dig into their stacks to sacrifice more cards to equal the loss. The MAGICK stack is lost first, using each successive card from the top of the stack down. Then the MINION stack is lost the same way. If the MINION and MAGICK stacks are eaten up and you still haven't matched the loss, you must either sacrifice your WIZARD, or the losing player may sacrifice their Danglers (if s/he has any) to equal the lost value, working from the top card down in the stacks. If the only cards available are higher value than the shortfall, they must still be lost to cover the difference.
The same concept applies if the CHAMPION and ARMS are doing the blocking. The loss may be distributed across the Danglers and the ARMY cards, as the player chooses. Once the entire ARMY is lost, if there is still a shortfall of points, the damage carries over to the NOBLE columns, working from the outer column and up from the lowest stack.
The original rules illustrate this with three worked examples ("Block 30" against a 70-point Duke, with Left choosing which cards to sacrifice). Those examples are card images and are not reproduced here; the loss must total 70 points in each.
Danglers
Any cards that are not directly connected in a column are considered Danglers, and may be sacrificed to fulfill a point loss when losing a Block or War. As always, the cards are lost from the top card down in the stack. The WIFE and HEIR cards are also considered Danglers.
Moving Cards in the Kingdom
During a turn, a player may opt to shift one card from the top of a stack in one column one position left or right to another column. You may only make Moves if you have a CASTLE. In this way the balance of power may be shifted, and cards may be re-positioned in the Kingdom. (A more powerful MINION may be moved to align with a higher value MAGICK card, for example.) These moves take place in the NOBLE and WIZARD columns only, as ARMY cards do not move. Cards may not move and leave holes behind.
Waging War
Once a player has a CASTLE, GENERAL, CHAMPION, and ARMS, s/he may choose to WAGE WAR. The attacker adds up the point value of their top-most GENERAL, CHAMPION and ARMS cards and plays these against the outermost column of their opponent's Kingdom. (Either a NOBLE and their holdings, or a WIZARD and their MINIONs and MAGICK.) The attacker sacrifices their ARMY cards for an equal value of cards from the victim.
If the victim doesn't want to lose the cards being attacked, s/he must sacrifice his/her ARMY cards or Danglers to defend them. The ARMY cards are lost in layers moving from the bottom of the column to the top. So first an ARMS would be lost, then a CHAMPION, then a GENERAL, then back to the ARMS again. A point shortfall must be completely covered, even if it means a card with MORE point value must be lost. Ultimately a victim may distribute losses across Danglers, ARMY, and NOBLE columns to soften the blow of the attack. The NOBLE's holdings are always lost from the top of a stack down, starting from the bottom of the column and working up. So every SERF in a stack must be lost in order before moving to the FRUITS stack, and then the LANDS. You cannot pick and choose from the cards, they must be sacrificed in the order they are revealed in the stacks. If the NOBLE is lost and more points are still needed to make up the difference, losses are then taken from the bottom of the next NOBLE column up to the top, stack by stack.
The End
The first player to complete their Kingdom is the winner! Games usually last between 20 to 30 minutes. Have fun!