Dark Castle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Aim of the Game
• Sequence of Play
• Phase 1: Action
  • 1. Move Character
  • 2. Explore a Room
  • 3. Cast Spell (Optional)
• Phase 2: Replenish
• Game End and Final Scoring
• Description of Towers
• Description of Characters
• Strategy Tips

Components

• 38 Room cards
• 5 Secret cards
• 1 Princess card
• 2 Reference cards
• 5 Tower tiles
• 1 Deserted Tower tile
• 1 Hero tile
• 1 Dark Lord tile
• 1 Round marker

Game Setup

1. Randomly assign one character to each player, with one player taking the Hero tile and the other taking the Dark Lord tile. Place the tiles in front of themselves.
2. Place Deserted Tower tile above the Dark Lord tile and then place the other 5 Tower tiles face up in random order in a hexagonal arrangement to form the "Castle area."
3. Place the Round marker on the space marked with "1" on the Deserted Tower.
4. Shuffle the 5 Secret cards and randomly remove 1 card into game box. Neither player may check its identity.
5. Continued, shuffle the Princess card with the remaining 4 Secret cards, and place 1 card face down under each Tower tile.
6. Shuffle the 38 Room cards and place 2 cards face down beside the Castle area to form the "Discard pile". Place the remaining cards face down in the center of the Castle area to form the "Draw deck".
7. Continued, draw 6 Room cards from the top of the Draw deck, and place 1 card between each Tower. (Note: Cards beside the Tower where the characters are located should be turned face up, while the others should remain face down.)
8. Each player receives 1 Reference card. Place the cards in front of themselves.

Aim of the Game

In Dark Castle, two players resume the Hero and the Dark Lord, respectively. They take turns to move between Towers and explore Rooms to collect the Magic stones of 5 different colors. Using the power of these stones, players can cast spells to interfere their opponents.

The game is played for 6 rounds. At the end of the game, the player with the most Magic stones of a color will control the Tower of the same color and gains mana. The player with the most mana will cast the ultimate spell to defeat his opponent and win the game.

Sequence of Play

There are 6 rounds in a game. The Hero is the starting player in the odd-number rounds, and the Dark Lord is the starting player in the even-number rounds. Round number is indicated on the Deserted Tower tile by the Round marker.

There are 2 phases in a round, proceeding in the following order:

• Phase 1: Action
• Phase 2: Replenish (Skip replenish phase in round 6)

Phase 1: Action

Beginning with the starting player, players take turns until each has had 2 turns. (EX. Hero → Dark Lord → Hero → Dark Lord.)

During their turns, players must perform actions in the following order:

1. Move Character

Player must move their own character across 1 Tower in either clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

Note:

• Player must move their character. They cannot stay at the same Tower.
• Player may not move the opponent's character.
• There can be only 1 character stopping at each Tower.
• When the Dark Lord moves, he can pass through the Hero and stop at the next Tower. However, the Hero cannot pass through the Tower where the Dark Lord is located (See page 12 for "Character Powers").

Example: On the Dark Lord's turn, he moves across 1 Tower clockwise to the red Tower. Since the red Tower is occupied by the Hero, the Dark Lord passes through the Hero and ends on the blue Tower.

2. Explore a Room

Player may choose to explore one of the Rooms adjacent to the Tower and receive the corresponding Room card. If player chooses a face down card, reveal the card.

Note: If there is no card left beside the Tower, player receives no card this turn.

If the card received has a "Colored Magic stone" (red, yellow, green, blue or purple), place the card in the "Magic area" ABOVE the player's Reference card.

If the card received has a "Morphing stone" (star-shaped icon with "<" or ">" arrows), place the card in the "Exhausted area" BELOW the player's Reference card following the rules below:

1. Cards must be placed in the same orientation. They cannot be rotated.
2. If there is no card in the Exhausted area, the first card placed initiates a new row.
3. If there are other cards in the Exhausted area, player may choose to place the card on the top or on the bottom of the row.
4. All cards in the Exhausted area must be placed in a way that the Magic stones on the left side of the cards are visible by both players.

Note:

1. The "<" or ">" arrows on the Morphing stones indicate the direction the stone will morph into, either the color on the left or the right if it, depending on the arrows.
2. It may happen that the arrows of Morphing stones point to another Morphing stone. If the arrows are pointing at the same direction (e.g., ">" and ">"), they will morph into the same color as the first Magic stone of that direction. If the arrows of Morphing stones are pointing to at each other (e.g., ">" and "<"), they will morph into colorless stones, which is the situation you should avoid as much as possible.

Example: The Dark Lord receives a Room card with 2 Morphing stones with arrows "<". He places the card on the right side of the row. Since there is another Morphing stone on its left with an arrow "<", thus during final scoring these 3 Morphing stones are considered 3 blue Magic stones.

Example: On the Hero's turn, since he cannot pass through the blue Tower where the Dark Lord is located, he must move counterclockwise to the yellow Tower. He can only take the Room card with the yellow Magic stone on the left of the yellow Tower because there is no card on the right side.

3. Cast Spell (Optional)

Player may select one card from their Magic area with Magic stone of the same color as the Tower the player is currently located. Move the card to the Exhausted area, following the same rules as placing Morphing stones. (See page 6 for details)

Player may now cast spell and activate the magic effect of the current Tower. See page 11 for details of magic effect of each Tower.

Example (Continued): Since the Hero is at the yellow Tower, he decides to move the Room card with yellow Magic stone he received this turn to the Exhausted area to activate the magic effect of the yellow Tower.

Phase 2: Replenish

After both players have finished their 2 turns, the replenish phase begins:

• Remove the 2 remaining Room cards in the Castle area face down to the Discard pile.
• Draw 6 Room cards from the top of the deck and place 1 card between each Tower. (Note: Cards beside the Tower where the characters are located should be turned face up, while the others should remain face down.)
• Pick up the Round marker, and place the Round marker back by advancing 1 space on the round track. And then the next round begins.

Game End and Final Scoring

After completing the action phase of round 6, the game ends and final score is calculated in the following steps:

1. The Hero chooses 1 of the 5 Towers and flips over the Secret card below the Tower. If the Secret card is the Princess, the Hero gains 3 mana.
2. Both players reveal any card received from the purple Tower effect. Compare the number of Magic stones possessed by both player in each color, including cards in the Magic area, Exhausted area, and cards received from purple Tower effect. (Note: Colors of the Morphing stones will change depending on their relative locations to other Magic stones, see page 6 for details.)
   • If a player possesses more stones of a color: That player gains control of the Tower and receives the Secret card under the Tower.
   • Tied in a color or neither player possesses the stone of a color: None of the players control the Tower.

Example: The Hero has 3 red, 4 yellow, 2 green, and 2 purple stones. The Dark Lord has 2 yellow, 5 green, 3 blue, and 2 purple stones. The Hero takes control of the red and yellow Towers, and the Dark Lord controls the green and blue Towers.

3. After comparison, players gain mana as the followings:
   • Total mana on the Tower controlled by player.
   • Bonus mana on the Secret cards. Each Secret card marks a different color of Magic stones. For each Magic stone of the indicated color a player possesses, he receives 1 mana. Note: Morphing stones does not count toward the Secret card bonus.
   • Calculate the total number of Treasure Chests on the Room cards, and score according to the chart below:

# of Chests	1	2	3	4	5
Mana	1	2	4	7	10

• If the Hero finds the Princess by correctly guessing which Secret card she is hidden, he receives 3 bonus mana.

Example: Tower tile mana: 7+6=13. Treasure Chest mana: 2. Secret card mana: 2+1=3. Successful rescue mana: 3. Total mana: 21.

4. The player with the highest mana wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player with the Princess wins.

Description of Towers

• Red Tower [Mana 7]: Spend 1 extra Magic stone of any color and activate the Tower effect of THAT color. Note: If another red Magic stone was spent, activate any Tower effect (excluding red).

  Example: The Dark Lord moves to the red Tower. He has 2 red and 1 green Magic stones in his Magic area. He has the following options:

  1. Move 1 red and 1 green to the Exhausted area, and activate the green Tower effect.
  2. Move 2 reds to the Exhausted area, and activate any Tower effect.

• Yellow Tower [Mana 6]: Check the Secret cards under any 2 Towers, and put them back under the Towers again. You may choose to swap the locations of these 2 cards secretly.

• Green Tower [Mana 5]: Select 1 card from opponent's Magic area and move it to the Exhausted area in the location of your choice, respecting the card placing rules.

• Blue Tower [Mana 5]: Your opponent chooses and discards 1 card to the

  Note: Your opponent may discard any 1 card from his Magic or Exhausted area, but NOT the cards gained through the purple Tower.

  (Editor's note: the printed rule text for the Blue Tower ends mid-sentence after "discards 1 card to the"; the source PDF gives no destination, and it is transcribed as printed.)

• Purple Tower [Mana 6]: Shuffle the Discard pile, draw 1 card and keep it face down in front of you. It will be included for final scoring. Note: If a Morphing stone is drawn, it does not have any effect during final scoring.

Description of Characters

• Dark Lord: When moving, the Dark Lord can pass through the Tower where the Hero is located, but the Hero cannot pass through the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord possesses the dark magic of controlling crows. He is always surrounded by the black barrier of countless crows that no one has ever broken through.
• Hero: During final scoring, the Hero may choose 1 of the 5 Towers and flips over the Secret card below the Tower. If the Secret card is the Princess, the Hero gains 3 mana.
  • Special ability (only once per game): The Hero may exchange his location with the Dark Lord. Note: The Hero may use this ability anytime during his turn.

The Hero is on an adventure to rescue the princess trapped in the castle, which is probably the beginning to all fairy tales, isn't it?

Strategy Tips

Hero must take advantage of the yellow Tower effect to find the Princess in order to gain bonus mana. The Dark Lord must take advantage of his barrier power to limit the Hero's movement. Beware of the locations of both characters, and try to active Tower effects that help you most in the given situation.