Catapult Castle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Card Effects
• Optional Rules
• Solo Play
• Components and Setup
• Gameplay Overview
• Gameplay in Detail
• If You Hit
• If You Miss
• Game End
• Final Scoring

Card Effects

Extra Shot: After you take your shot for the turn, you may take an additional one.

Magic Toss: Any time you take a shot this turn, you may choose to throw the Catapult ammo from your hand, instead of shooting it from the Catapult. You must still take the shot from the outside corner of your Player mat, and your hand may not go above the Player mat during the shot.

Strong Ammo: Any time you take a shot this turn, if the shot goes in a tower that is stacked on top of another tower, take ALL the towers in that stack (not just the top one).

Note: This means that if a Strong Ammo card was played prior to the shot, they do not take any of the towers in the stack – the Reinforced Roof protects all the towers below it in the stack too. When stacking towers, you may not stack on top of a Reinforced Roof.

Reinforced Roof: Instead of placing this card in the discard pile, place it face-up on top of any tower. The next shot that would go in this tower this game doesn't count – the player does not claim the tower for themselves. It is treated exactly as if the shot missed, and the ammo used for the shot is placed back in the supply pile. Then, this card is placed face-up in the appropriate deck's discard pile. If ammo bounces off the card, this also removes the Reinforced Roof.

Optional Rules

• If playing with beginners or small children, don't use the cards for their effects – only use the cards to stack Castle towers.
• If playing with particularly skilled players, you may use the sides of the player mats with 3 squares instead of 4. This does not change how many Castle towers start on your mat – you will just have to stack the extra tower on one of your other ones at the start of the game. Every player draws a card from their deck at the start of the game (the person to the right of the Start Player will still draw an additional one). Otherwise, play as normal.

Solo Play

Set up the game using 4 Player mats (like in the 2 and 4 player games), and using all the towers. Begin the game with exactly 18 ammo, 1 "Magic Shot" card and 2 "Strong Ammo" cards. (The printed text reads "Magic Shot"; the card itself is titled "Magic Toss" in the Card Effects section.) Twice during the game, you may rearrange the towers into any legal configuration, including stacking them up to 3 towers high. Each shot may be taken from any corner. If you shot ammo and missed, you do not get it back – you only have exactly 18 shots for the whole game. If your shot went into a tower that is not on the Player mat your Catapult fired from, remove the tower from the mat entirely. Once you have taken 18 shots OR all the towers have been removed from the mats, you score 1 point for each tower you removed from play, plus 1 point for each ammo left over (if any).

Points

• 1-4: Need more practice!
• 5-8: Beginner catapulter
• 9-12: Experienced catapulter
• 13-14: Expert catapulter
• 15-16: Master catapulter!
• 17-19: Catapult commander!
• 20+: Catapult WIZARD!

Components and Setup

1 Catapult: Give this to the player who most recently lost a kingdom. They will be the Start Player for the game and take the first turn.

32 Cards: Sort these into 4 decks based on the picture of royalty depicted on the back of the cards. Shuffle each deck separately and give one to each player, returning any that are left over to the box. Place your deck beside your assigned Player mat. The player immediately to the right of the Start Player draws 1 card from their deck and adds it to their hand as a bonus for going last.

4 Player Mats: Assign each player a mat.

• For 2 or 4 players, place the 4 mats next to each other in the center of the table as illustrated. Make sure the side with 4 squares is face-up on each mat. When playing with 2 players, the players' mats should be directly across from each other (with a mat not assigned to either player to the right and left of you).
• For 3 players, place 3 of the mats next to each other as shown, and return the last one to the box – it will not be used this game. Make sure the side with 4 squares is face-up on each mat.

16 Castles Towers: When playing with 2 or 4 players, place 1 tower on each empty square on the Player mats. When playing with 3 players, place 1 tower on each empty square on the Player mats. Then stack an additional tower on each mat by taking a card from the corresponding deck, placing it on top of the innermost tower, marked by the red dot, and stacking the 5th tower on top of that. Return the left over tower to the box.

36 Catapult Ammo: Place these in convenient supply piles near the Player mats.

Gameplay Overview

You will take turns firing one shot with the catapult. If it goes in a tower, you claim that tower and add it to your Player mat, and the person you took it from draws a card. This continues until all the ammo has been used, or one player has no more towers. Then the player with the most towers wins!

Gameplay in Detail

The player with the Catapult takes the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise around the table.

On your turn, do the following in this order:

Place the Catapult at the outside corner of your player mat as shown. It may face in any direction you like, but it must be at the corner of your mat furthest from the center of the table, and it may not overlap the mat at all.

Note: if you would like your catapult to be higher while shooting, you may place the game box underneath it.

Play cards from your hand, if you have any you would like to play. The card effects are described at the end of the rules. Place played cards in a face-up discard pile next to your deck.

Shoot the Catapult! Load 1 Catapult ammo from a supply pile into the Catapult, then pull back its arm and release to shoot the ammo.

If You Hit

• If the ammo landed inside a tower, you may immediately take that tower piece and add it to your player mat. The player whose tower you just took may draw a card from their own deck. Then your turn ends – pass the Catapult to the next player on your left.

• If you have an empty square on your mat, the tower must be placed there. If you have multiple empty squares, you may choose which one to place it on.

• If you do not have an empty square on your mat, you must stack the tower on one of the towers that is already there. To do this, take the top card of your deck and place it face-down on any tower on your player mat (without looking at the card). Then place your newly acquired tower on top of this card.

  Note: If you do not have any cards left in your deck to do this with, you must give up a card of your choice from your hand instead. The card is still placed face-down on the tower.

• If your shot went inside a tower that is stacked on top of another tower, you only take the top tower – not the entire stack! When this happens, take the card that the stacked tower was standing on and place it face-up in the matching deck's discard pile.

• Do not remove the ammo from the tower! It will remain inside the tower for the rest of the game.

• If you need to draw a card but there are none left in your deck, shuffle your discard pile face-down to create a new deck. If there are no cards in the deck or discard pile, you may not draw a card.

If You Miss

• If you miss and the ammo does not land inside another player's tower, your turn is over. Return the ammo that was just shot to a supply pile and pass the Catapult to the player on your left, they will take the next turn.

  Note: If the ammo went inside a tower but bounced out, this does not count. It must stay inside the tower in order for you to take it.

Game End

At the end of every turn, check to see if one of the following things is true:

• All the ammo is inside towers and there is none left in any supply pile

  OR

• Any player has no towers left on their mat

If either one of those things is true, the game ends immediately and you proceed to final scoring.

Final Scoring

Count the number of Castle towers on each player's mat. Whoever has the most on their Player mat, wins!

If there is a tie, the player with the most Catapult ammo inside towers on their mat, wins.

If there is still a tie, the player with the most cards in hand wins.

If still tied, the player who went later in turn order wins.

For example: If the Start Player had the same number of Castle towers, ammo, and cards as the player who went third in the game, the player who went third would win the tie.