Once Upon a Castle
Once Upon a Castle Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 2 dice
- 1 two-sided "Castle" paper pad
- 4 sets of 10 colored tokens
- 4 two-sided personal boards
- 36 Guest cards (16 "Apprentice" cards, 20 "Great Architect" cards)
Object of the Game
Score the maximum points by drawing your ideal Castle piece by piece. If you build up your Castle judiciously from what the roll of the dice throws at you and transform it into the most prestigious one, you will win the game.
Set Up
Players decide together which version they want to play: "Apprentice" or "Great Architect":
- The "Apprentice" version is an easier and faster game designed for new players or younger ones.
- The "Great Architect" version is more challenging, for more seasoned players, as the Guests come with various powers and effects, which makes playing and scoring different.
- Each Player is given a personal board and 10 tokens of one color. Players display their personal board with the chosen game version facing up (green for the "Apprentice" version, blue for the "Great Architect" version).
- Each player also gets one sheet from the Castle pad and chooses which side they want to draw. Each sheet offers one side with an outline of a Castle and one blank side, for those who like to let their imagination run free!
- For the "Apprentice" version, take the cards with a green back, shuffle them and place them in a pile, face down, in the center of the table.
- For the "Great Architect" version, take the cards with a blue back, shuffle them and place them in a pile, face down, in the center of the table, then flip over the first 3 cards, Guest sides visible.
Each player then grabs a pencil or a ball pen to draw with; colored pencils or felt pens are also allowed, if you feel like bringing life to your Castle!
The youngest player, the first to play, takes the 2 dice and starts the game.
Playing the Game
"Apprentice" version
The first player rolls the 2 dice.
- For each "Wood", "Stone", "Gold" or "Food" resource showing on the dice, place one token on one of the matching squares of your board. Each of those resources appears 3 times on your personal board. So you decide which square is better for you.
- Draw 2 residents in your Castle for each die with the "Resident" printed on it, by filling out the shadows already there. Always start with the first one on the top left and continue from the left to the right. When the first line is filled out, start on the next line.
- If a die has a "?" on it, you can choose any side on that die.
Note: meanwhile, the other players do not stay put, as they can also choose the action of one of the two dice. Then, accordingly, they can either place a token on their personal board or draw 2 residents. If there is a "?" on one of the dice, they also choose the side they favour on that die.
- Players who have already used all their tokens on their personal board cannot fill in new squares.
- They cannot move a token already on their board either.
- Players who have placed their tokens on all the squares showing one type of resource cannot place a new token for that same resource if it is drawn again by the dice. That chance is then lost.
At the end of their turn, each player can remove the tokens which complete one line or one column on their personal board and draw the corresponding part of their Castle.
Note: If a line and a column that cross each other are both completed, the player must select one to build their Castle from, not both.
You can however end up drawing several parts of the Castle if you have several completed lines or columns at the end of your turn which do not cross each other.
Resident scoring track
Rolling a die showing the "Resident" side equals drawing 2 residents (filling in 2 of the resident shadows on your personal board). At the end of the game, the total number of residents you have drawn places you within a snake-shaped scoring track of resident groups; you score the value of the group your last resident falls in (see "Score for the group of the last resident drawn" under End of the Game):
| Residents drawn (running total) | Group size | Score for that group |
|---|---|---|
| 1–7 | 7 | 0 |
| 8–13 | 6 | 2 |
| 14–18 | 5 | 5 |
| 19–22 | 4 | 10 |
| 23–25 | 3 | 15 |
| 26 | 1 | 20 |
The Different Parts of the Castle
Players will have to build 12 main parts of their Castle for it to be considered finished: the Donjon's 4 Floors, the 4 Towers and the 4 Walls.
The Donjon's floors
Players who have added a floor on their Donjon immediately draw a card from the Guests pile and the point value on the card will be counted at the end of the game.
Towers
There are several ways to draw the Towers, which will allow you to score more or less points.
A player can draw one Tower and print its score value on it.
The first player to build 4 Towers can claim the right to draw the Sun and get a 4 point bonus at the end of the game from it.
Walls
There are 3 ways to draw Walls, which will bring in more or less residents.
Note: Walls do not score points but are used as supports to draw Flags which themselves bring points.
Flags
Flags are not essential to finish your Castle but they bring extra points. There are 4 ways to draw Flags. Each Castle can hold 2 Walls supporting 2 Flags, and 2 Walls supporting 1 Flag.
Note: Only 6 Flags can be drawn on one Castle, and these can be positioned only on Walls already in place!
End of the Game
A player who has completed the twelfth and last main part of their Castle can claim the right to draw a Cloud worth 4 points, and this ends the game immediately. The other players can still draw whichever parts are already present as tokens on their personal board, in the order of play, but the dice will not be thrown again.
Players can then count their score with the help of the banner above the drawing:
Score for Towers + Sun/Cloud Bonus + Score for the group of the last resident drawn + Score for Flags + score for Guests.
The player with the highest points total wins the game.
Great Architect Version
The game is played the same way as in the "Apprentice" version, except that the Guest cards will impact the game much more than with just their point value.
- When a player is drawing one of their Donjon's 4 floors, they choose one of the 3 visible Guests on the table to place beside their Castle. One of the cards from the pile is then flipped over so that there are always 3 visible guests in the center of the table.
- There are 3 different kinds of Guests:
- The "Bolt" guests' powers are immediate as they appear in the game and can be reactivated later in the game.
- The "Hourglass" guests' powers are permanent as long as they are inside your Castle.
- The "Crown" guests bring in much more points at the end of the game.
Each guest's powers are described more precisely at the end of the rules.
- Also, in the "Great Architect" version, two special effects are linked to the guest on the personal board's grid:
- "Food" and "Gold" can reactivate the "Bolt" guest's powers.
- "Stone", "Food" and "Gold" make it possible to steal a guest from another player. If that guest is a "Bolt" guest, the player activates its powers.
The end of the "Great Architect" version is strictly identical to the end of the game in the "Apprentice" version previously explained.
The Guests in the "Great Architect" Version
VP = Victory Points.
Bolt (their powers are active when a player gets them and can be reactivated)
- Architect (1VP): place a token on a square on your personal board and get 1 resident.
- Bohemian (1VP): get 4 residents.
- Logger (1VP): get 2 Woods.
- The dog Dagobert (1VP): roll a die, get twice the result.
- Magician (1VP): move 2 tokens on your personal board.
- Merchant (1VP): get 2 Gold.
- Miner (1VP): get 2 Stones.
- Peasant (1VP): get 2 Foods.
Hourglass (their powers are active as long as they are in the player's Castle)
- Shepherdess (1VP): the "?" side of a die allows you to draw a Cloud worth 2 extra points in the sky instead of placing a token. You get to keep the Clouds added this way even if your Shepherdess is stolen.
- Guard (1VP): your "Crown" guests cannot be stolen.
- Knight (1VP): the "resident" side of a die allows you to place a token on a square on your personal board instead of filling out 2 residents.
- Monk (1VP): the "Gold" side of a die allows you to draw a Flag worth 2 points instead of placing a token on your board. You get to keep the Flags added this way even if your Monk is stolen.
- Cook (1VP): the "food" side of a die gets you 1 food and 1 resident. Residents acquired this way stay with you, even if your Cook is stolen.
- Troll (1VP): you can use your Wood as Stone and vice versa.
Crown (their power comes at the end of the game)
- Courtesan (?VP): this card is worth 1 point per "Crown" guest at the end of the game, including it.
- Princess (?VP): this card is worth 1VP per Tower at the end of the game.
- Jester (?VP): this card is worth 1VP per floor of the Donjon at the end of the game.
- Queen (3VP): no powers.
- Prince (?VP): this card is worth 1VP per Wall at the end of the game.
- King (?VP): this card is worth 1VP per Flag on your Castle.
© 2018 Blue Orange. Once upon a Castle and Blue Orange are trademarks of Blue Orange Editions, France. Made in China. Designed in France. www.blueorangegames.eu