Castles of Mad King Ludwig

A tile laying game in which each player is trying to build an amazing castle, subject to the whims of the Mad King

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Add the game Castles of Mad King Ludwig to your collection!

Goal

Earn the most points by building the best castle

Number of Players

2 - 4 Players

Time to Play

90 minutes

Rapid Rules

Setup

Important: A large space is required to play this game.

  1. Place the contract board with the money values and place it in the middle of the table with the wide side facing players
  2. On each side of the contract board, place the room holder boards, and at the top of the contract board place the stairs and hallways board
  3. Place rooms, cards, stairs, hallways, and favor circles on the indicated spots on the boards
  4. Turn over the top 5/7/6 (for 2/3/4 players) room cards, and from left to right under the money values place corresponding rooms
  5. Choose a player to go first and give them the Master Builder token
  6. Place the scoretower and money supply where everyone can see them, and starting at 0 then adding one for each player moving clockwise, place each player's score marker on the scoretower
  7. Each player should receive a Foyer with their color, 3 bonus cards (keep 2), and 15000 Marks (money)

General Play

  1. The Master Builder draws room cards equal to the number of empty spaces on the Contract board and places any new and/or existing room tiles at any price they wish, as long as there is no more than one room at any price level.
  2. The player to the left of the Master Builder gets to build first
  3. The player may either
    • Buy a room or hallway or stairs and pay the Master Builder (or if the Master Builder is buying they pay the supply)
    • Pass on buying and receive 5000 from the supply
  4. If the player purchased a room they may place it in their castle as long as
    • At least one entrance from the new room aligns with the old one
    • No rooms overlap
    • The castle has at least one entrance that leads to an open area
    • Downstairs rooms and hallways must only connect to each other or stairs leading upstairs
    • No rooms are placed alongside the fence of a garden
  5. Player update their score
    • Adding number of points listed in the castle icon in the upper left corner
    • Adding or Subtracting points listed in the center of the room or adjacent rooms
  6. If a room is completed, a completion reward is earned based on the type of room
    • Living Room: Re-score the room
    • Activity Room: Add 5 points
    • Sleeping Room: Look through any single size of Room tiles and select up to 2 rooms to be drawn first for that room size and shuffle the rest
    • Outdoor Room: Earn 10000 from the money supply
    • Utility Room: Pick 2 bonus cards and keep 1
    • Food Room: Take another turn immediately
    • Corridor Room: Take a free hallway or stairs, with a maximum of only 1 reward of this type per turn
    • Downstairs Room: For every two that are completed the player gets to choose from any of the other rewards
  7. Players take turns repeating steps 2-5 until the Master Builder finishes their turn for this round
  8. The player to the left of the Master Builder becomes the Master Builder and players repeat steps 1-7 until the deck of room cards has been depleted

Winning and Losing