Castellers (Knizia)
Castellers (Knizia) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Players: 2 to 4
- Duration: 30 to 45 minutes
- Components: 66 castellers (wooden pieces), 2 sheets of stickers for the castellers, 12 bases, 2 bonus tokens, a bag, a rulebook.
Setup
- Place the stickers on the castellers (wooden pieces).
- Separate the bases and leave them on the table, within reach of all players.
- Place all the tokens (castellers) inside the cloth bag.
- Each player, starting with the youngest, takes 2 tokens from the bag and places them on the table in front of him or her. These two tokens form that player's initial set (conjunto).
The Game
The player with the lowest total value of castellers starts the game. If there is a tie, the youngest player starts. Turns pass clockwise. On his or her turn, a player may perform two actions, which may be different or the same.
The available actions are:
- Recruit a casteller: Take (without looking) a casteller from the bag and add it to your set.
- Raise a Castell: Choose a casteller from your set and add it to one of your Castells. To start a Castell, place one of the bases directly in front of you and then place the casteller on the base. To add a casteller to an existing Castell, you must follow the construction rules below.
- Exchange a casteller and increase a Castell: Choose one or more castellers from your set and pass them to the set of any other player. In return, select a casteller from that player's set, provided its value is lower than the sum of the values of the castellers transferred. Use the new casteller to start or increase one of your Castells. You may not place the new casteller in your set; you must use it immediately.
Castell Construction Rules
- One colour only: All castellers standing on the same base must be of the same colour. White castellers are wild and may be used with any colour.
- One level after another: Each Castell consists of several levels. Build the lowest level first. This level may consist of one or more castellers, all placed next to each other on the base. As soon as you start the next level by placing a casteller on a casteller in the level below, you may no longer place castellers on the level below. Continue building the next level. Once it is complete, with a casteller on each of the castellers of the level below, you may start the following level.
- Ascending numbers: A casteller placed on top of another casteller must have a higher number than the casteller it is on.
Fall of a Castell
When you recruit a casteller and draw a white casteller from the bag, place it in your set as usual. However, if you have any started Castell, you must choose the casteller with the highest number from one of those Castells and return it to your set. This casteller has temporarily fallen from the Castell.
End of the Game
The game ends at the moment one of the players meets the following conditions:
- 2 players: 4 valid Castells, one of which must contain at least 8 castellers.
- 3 players: 3 valid Castells, one of which must contain at least 8 castellers.
- 4 players: 2 valid Castells, one of which must contain at least 8 castellers.
A Castell is valid when it contains two complete levels and at least four castellers.
(The rulebook illustrates an invalid Castell and a valid Castell next to these conditions.)
Scoring
At the end of the game, each player counts his or her points.
- Only valid Castells score points. In valid Castells, castellers with a blue background count 2 points and normal castellers count 1 point. You must subtract 1 point for each base used.
- Invalid Castells do not score, but you must still subtract 1 point for each base used.
- The bonus tokens are given to the player who has the tallest Castell and the player who has the widest Castell (the one with the most castellers in one level). Ties are won by the Castell that has more castellers. If the tie persists, nobody receives the bonus.
- The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the highest white casteller wins.
Brief Introduction to the Castellers Tradition
Printed on the second page of the rulebook.
A casteller is a person who is part of a castellers group, in which dozens or hundreds of people take part, with the aim of raising various human constructions of different complexity, which can reach nine or ten storeys in height without mechanical help.
The castellers tradition dates from the 18th century and developed initially in the Tarragona region and the Penedès, and it spread throughout the 20th century across all of Catalonia, especially from the 1980s onwards.
The castellers have a motto: "Strength, Balance, Courage and Sanity" ("Fuerza, Equilibrio, Valor y Cordura"). It sums up the characteristics of a casteller:
- Strength: They are people who tend to be sturdy. The origin of the castells lies with the peasantry, and in that era the castellers were people accustomed to bearing great weights and exerting effort.
- Balance: Having one person standing on another, and in most castells also with other people on the same level, implies a very strong sense of balance and trust in one another.
- Courage: A characteristic of the people who climb the castell, especially the children.
- Sanity: Both when planning a castell and when rehearsing it and attempting it in the square, everyone needs to keep a clear head, since the success of the castell depends on the effort of all.
A castell is made up of different parts, which have different functions and ways of being built:
- Piña (base): the base of the castell. This is where the bulk of the people are, who support the castell.
- Tronco (trunk): the visible part of the castell, formed by the levels from the bajos up to the level immediately below the dosos. It determines the degree of difficulty of the castell, by the number of people involved, according to the quantity and height of the ringleras (each of the columns of the castell) in the trunk. The trunk is made up of the bajos, the segons (the first visible level in castells without forras), the tercios, above the segons, and successive levels.
- Pomo de arriba (top knot): the last three levels of the castell, which always have the same composition regardless of the castell. From bottom to top: the dosos, formed by two people; the acotxador (usually the smallest person in the castell, who stands with one foot on each of the two dosos and holds the acotxat by the arms); and finally the enxaneta, who steps on the dosos and climbs past the acotxador, who serves as her support. When the acotxador does the aleta, the castell is loaded.
Once the piña is assembled, the segons climb on top of the piña, each one on his or her corresponding bajo, and hold each other by the arms, while the piña anchors them by fixing buttocks and thighs. Once it has been checked that the castell is still square and stable, the tercios climb up, grip, and make the final check for deformation. If the castell is sound, the order to climb to the cuarts is given and the grallas (translator's note: traditional Catalan wind instruments) sound.
Castellers are organised into castellers groups, which compete with one another to see who can raise the tallest or most difficult castell. Depending on the height of the castell achieved, a castellers group is said to be a group of six, seven, eight, nine or ten, and for these purposes the pilars are considered a construction of one level more.
Diagram labels: Enxaneta, Acotxador, Cuarts, Terços, Segons, Tronco, Piña, Pomo de arriba, Pilar, and Castillo completo (complete castell).