Caylus FAQ
86 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- Do players collect the 2-denier income on the first turn on top of their starting money?
- How many deniers does each player start with?
- Are deniers, resource cubes and houses limited, and what if they run out?
- Are the green residential tiles limited?
- Is the Jeweller part of the base game, and how many Architects are there?
- What does the prestige building with the shield and residence symbol do?
- Are deniers and resources hidden information?
- Can I build any available building, or only the top tile of a pile?
- What are fixed, neutral and special buildings?
- Can Caylus be played with six players?
- Are the rules different between the first and second editions?
Income and Placing Workers
- How much income do I get each turn?
- How much does it cost to place a worker?
- Do I get a denier for passing first?
- After I pass, can I place more workers that turn?
- Can I place more than six workers in a turn?
- In what order are workers placed in phase 2?
- Can I place a worker on a residence, prestige building or unbuilt space?
- Can two workers occupy the same space?
- Can I place a worker on a building I cannot or do not want to use?
- When do I score the point for another player using my building?
- When do workers beyond the provost come back?
- In what order do players move the provost in phase 4?
Special Buildings and the Provost
- Where can the worker on the Gate move?
- If I have passed, can I still move a worker that is on the Gate?
- Must I move the provost when I use the Merchants' Guild?
- Can I buy cloth earlier in the turn to pay for the Joust Field?
- Can I use the Joust Field several times in one turn?
- Can I put a second worker in the Inn, including the left space while my other worker sits on the right?
- When does the Inn's 1-denier discount start?
- Can I take my worker back from the Inn and place it again this turn?
- How do the stables change the turn order?
- Does the order after the stables decide who takes favors at castle scoring?
- Can I place a worker on the Gold Mine even when the road before it is empty?
- Where can the provost go?
- Can players make deals about moving the provost?
- Which buildings are guaranteed to activate regardless of the provost?
- How far does the bailiff move each turn, and can he go backward?
Building Activation and the Lawyer
- What does the owner get when another player uses their stone production building?
- Does the stone building's bonus cube come if the provost never reaches it?
- Can the Peddler and Alchemist deal in two cubes of the same type?
- Can I pay two wood for the Peddler or Marketplace?
- Is gold a wild cube that can replace any resource?
- Can I make several exchanges at once at the church, bank, tailor or marketplace?
- Can one worker build more than one building at the Carpenter, Mason or Architect?
- What if there is no free space on the road to build?
- Can I build over fixed buildings or on a space I choose?
- What can the Lawyer turn into a residence?
- What does the Lawyer cost and give?
- If I transform a building with a worker on it, when does the change happen and does the worker still get its action?
- Can I rebuild a building the Lawyer replaced in the same turn?
- Can I build a residence with the Lawyer and upgrade it with the Architect in the same turn?
- Where can a prestige building be built?
- Can the Architect build residences?
Building the Castle and Scoring
- What makes up a castle batch?
- How many workers and batches can I put into the castle?
- Do I lose points for putting a worker in the castle and not building?
- Can I choose which castle section to build in?
- If a section fills, may later players start the next section in the same turn?
- How do I score for castle houses?
- Who gets the royal favor for the most batches in a turn?
- If nobody builds in the castle, does anyone get the most-batches favor?
- When is a castle section scored?
- In what order are scoring favors taken?
- Which houses count when a section is scored?
- Does the castle phase come after buildings, so I can spend what I produced?
Royal Favors
- How exactly do I use a royal favor?
- Can I use the same favor line twice in one phase?
- If two castle sections score in the same turn, can a line be used twice?
- Can I still choose a line whose marker cannot advance?
- When do columns 3-5 of the favor table open?
- Can I resolve several favors in any order?
- Can a Church's favor be spent on building another building?
- What does the building line do?
- Does the column 5 building favor make a prestige building free?
- What do the resource and denier lines give?
- Do markers retreat or skip spaces?
- Can I take more than four favors in one turn?
- What is the simplified favor variant?