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| Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a tile-laying game where players compete to build the most impressive and point-scoring castle for the eccentric King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
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| Here's a breakdown of the core mechanics:
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| Objective:
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| The goal is to score the most "Castle Points" by building rooms, completing objectives, and managing your money.
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| Components:
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| * Room Tiles: These are the heart of the game, coming in various shapes, sizes, and room types (e.g., Living, Sleeping, Utility, Outdoor, Food, Corridor, Downstairs). Each has a point value, connection bonuses/penalties, and sometimes a completion reward.
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| * Foyer Tiles: Each player starts with one of these.
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| * Money (Coins/Marks): Used to buy room tiles.
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| * Favor Tiles (King's Favors): These are public objectives that award points at the end of the game based on meeting certain criteria (e.g., having the most of a certain room type, largest square footage of a type, etc.).
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| * Bonus Cards (Secret Objectives): Each player gets a few of these at the start, providing secret ways to score extra points at the end.
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| * Scoreboard: To track points and money.
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| * Master Builder Token: This token passes around, indicating who is the "Master Builder" for the round.
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| Gameplay Overview:
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| The game is played over several rounds, with each round having distinct phases:
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| * Master Builder Phase:
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| * One player is designated as the "Master Builder" for the round.
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| * The Master Builder draws a certain number of room tiles from stacks (sorted by size) and places them in a "market" or "contract display" at varying prices. They set these prices strategically. The prices typically range from very cheap to very expensive.
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| * Buying Phase:
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| * Starting with the player to the Master Builder's left and going clockwise, each player (except the Master Builder) chooses one room tile from the market to purchase.
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| * They pay the set price for the room to the Master Builder.
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| * If a player cannot or chooses not to buy a room, they can "pass" and take a fixed amount of money from the bank instead.
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| * Finally, the Master Builder gets to buy one of the remaining rooms, paying the bank instead of another player.
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| * Building Phase (Adding a Tile to Your Castle):
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| * After purchasing a room, players immediately add it to their personal castle blueprint.
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| * Placement Rules:
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| * Rooms must connect to an existing room (or your starting Foyer) via a doorway.
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| * Tiles can be rotated in 90-degree increments.
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| * Rooms cannot overlap.
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| * Downstairs rooms can only be connected to upstairs rooms via stairs tiles.
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| * Basement rooms often have special scoring rules that apply to all rooms of a certain type in your castle, not just adjacent ones.
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| * Immediate Scoring:
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| * When placing a room, you immediately score points for its base value.
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| * You also score points (or sometimes lose points) based on adjacency bonuses/penalties with rooms it connects to. For example, a Food room might give bonus points if adjacent to a Living room.
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| * Room Completion: If all entranceways of a newly placed room (or a previously placed room that now has all its entrances connected) are connected to other rooms, the room is "completed." Completing a room often awards a special reward, such as money, a bonus card, a Favor tile, or points.
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| * End of Round:
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| * The Master Builder token passes to the next player in clockwise order.
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| * Any remaining room tiles from the market are discarded, and new ones are drawn for the next round.
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| Game End:
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| The game ends immediately after the round in which a specific number of room tile stacks (depending on player count) have been completely depleted.
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| Final Scoring:
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| At the end of the game, players score additional points for:
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| * Favor Tiles (King's Favors): Players check how well they met the criteria of the public Favor Tiles and score points based on their ranking for each.
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| * Bonus Cards: Players reveal their secret bonus cards and score points for any objectives met.
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| * Money: Players typically score 1 point for every 10000 coins they have left.
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| * Depleted Room Stacks: Some versions give points for each room you have from a stack that was completely depleted during the game.
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