Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
  • Royal Decree expansion
  • Moats expansion
  • Swans expansion
  • Secret Passages expansion
  • Towers expansion
• Setup
• Player Setup
• Each Round
• Rules for Placing Rooms
• Round Rooms Touching or Not?
• Icons
• Room Placement Scoring
• Game End
• Game End Scoring
• Changes from Previous Editions
• Room Types & Completing a Room
  • Food Rooms
  • Downstairs Rooms
  • Utility Rooms
  • Corridor Rooms
  • Living Rooms
  • Activity Rooms
  • Outdoor Rooms
  • Sleeping Rooms
• The King's Favors
• Bonus Cards
• Expansions
  • Moats
  • Secret Passages
  • Swans
  • Towers
  • Royal Decrees
• Additional Rooms
• Solo Game
• Playtesters
• About "Mad" King Ludwig
• List of King's Favors
• List of Bonus Cards
• List of Royal Decrees

Contents

This Collector's Edition contains components for the base game as well as several expansions. Components and rules that are not part of the base game are indicated by a shaded background.

A complete list of expansions and overview for each of them can be found beginning on page 14.

• 1 Master Builder token
• 5 Player Swans
• 5 Player Foyers
• 30 x 5000 coins
• 50 x 1000 coins
• Summer Lake Scoreboard (Winter Lake on other side)
• Bonus Card/Favor Island Tray
• Small Room Island Tray
• 300 Room Island Tray
• Large Room Island Tray
• Room Card Island Tray
• 11 Hallways
• 7 Stairs
• 18 x 100 Rooms
• 18 x 150 Rooms
• 18 x 200 Rooms
• 18 x 250 Rooms
• 18 x 300 Rooms
• 12 x 350 Rooms
• 12 x 400 Rooms
• 12 x 450 Rooms
• 12 x 500 Rooms
• 12 x 600 Rooms
• 5 Player Aids
• 31 King's Favors
• 34 Bonus Cards
• 55 Room Cards

Royal Decree expansion

• 36 Royal Decree Cards

Moats expansion

• 5 Barbicans
• 10 Moats

Swans expansion

• 5 Sets of 8 Swan Tokens

Secret Passages expansion

• 5 Sets of 3 Secret Passages

Towers expansion

• 8 x 325 Rooms
• Linderhof Tower
• Herrenchiemsee Tower
• Bayreuth Tower
• Hohenschwangau Tower
• Neuschwanstein Tower
• Nymphenburg Tower
• Winter Garden Tower
• Falkenstein Tower

Setup

(Illustration shows 4 player setup)

1. Place the Summer Lake scoreboard on one end of the table. Depending on your table configuration, it might be easier to use the Winter Lake side (not shown).

2. Place the 5 island trays in their designated insets.

3. Shuffle the Room cards, count out 11 per player, and place them in the Room card island tray. Put unused cards back in the box.

4. Count out room tiles of each size, and place them face down in their respective spots on Large, 325, and Small room island trays, as shown in the chart below.

   Players	2	3	4	5
   Large rooms & stairs (350 & larger)	4	5	6	7
   325 rooms	5	6	7	8
   Small rooms & hallways (300 & smaller)	5	7	9	11
   Moats	5	7	9	10

5. If playing with the Towers expansion (required for 5 players, optional for all other player counts), place 1 plastic tower in each of the tower display insets.

6. Shuffle the Favors face down, then place them face up on their insets (1 per player). If playing with Towers, place Favors face down in the taller Favor tower on the Bonus/Favor Island tray.

   Players	2	3	4	5
   Insets (face up)	2	3	4	5
   Tower (face down)	15	18	21	24

   Place the rest of the Favors back into the box.

7. Shuffle the Bonus cards and place them in the Bonus/Favor Island tray.

8. Take a number of Room cards from the top of the Room card deck:

   Players	2	3	4	5
   Room cards	5	6	7	8

9. For each Room card, take the top room tile from the matching stack and place it face up below the scoreboard. The room tiles don't have to be placed directly under the monetary values at this time, as the first Master Builder will be pricing them at the beginning of the first turn.

10. Place the turned-over cards face up in the Room card island tray discard pile.

11. Place the coins near the scoreboard in a money supply where everyone can reach them.

12. If playing with the Swans expansion, place the swan tokens face down near the scoreboard.

13. If playing with the Moats expansion, place the stack of moats face down near the scoreboard.

If this is your first game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig, do not play with 5 players. 5 player games should only be played with experienced players.

Player Setup

(Illustrations show 4 player setup)

1. Give each player a foyer, a matching swan player token, 3 Bonus cards, and 15000.
   • If playing with Moats, give each player a Barbican, which is placed so it fits over the player's Foyer in any 90° orientation.
2. If playing with the Secret Passages expansion, give each player 3 secret passages (1 small, 1 long, and 1 corner).
3. Choose 1 player to be the Master Builder and give them the Master Builder token.
4. Starting with the Master Builder, each player places their Player Swan on the scoretrack. The Master Builder places theirs on the 0, the player to their left places theirs on the 1, and so on.
5. If playing with Royal Decrees, give the player to the right of the Master Builder 2 more Royal Decree cards than the number of players.
6. The player with the Royal Decree cards secretly chooses 1 and passes the rest to their right. Once the Master Builder receives them, they choose 1 and discard the other 2 back into the box. Players then reveal their Royal Decree cards simultaneously.
7. In player order starting with the Master Builder, each player chooses 2 of their Bonus cards to keep and puts the other 1 on the bottom of the Bonus card deck.
8. The Master Builder then arranges the rooms below the prices at the bottom of the scoreboard based on the number of players as shown below. No additional room cards are drawn on the first turn.
   • In a 2 player game, the 1000 and 2000 price spaces are not used.
   • In a 3 player game, the 1000 space is not used.
   • In a 4 player game, all spaces are used.
   • In a 5 player game, 2 rooms are placed on the 15000 space.

Each Round

The Master Builder draws Room cards equal to the number of empty spaces (if any) below the scoreboard and places a room tile of the sizes drawn below the scoreboard at whatever prices they choose. They may move all rooms (not just the new ones) to any price, but there may only be 1 room per price*. Even if no new rooms were added, the Master Builder may move the rooms to any prices (again 1 room per price*) they choose. If no rooms are available of the size indicated on the Room card, the Master Builder draws another Room card to replace it.

If playing with the Swan expansion, place a face up (swan side) Swan token on each room that has a swan icon in the lower right that doesn't already have a Swan token on it.

Each player, starting from the player to the left of the Master Builder, chooses 1 of the priced rooms or a hallway or stairs and pays the Master Builder (not the money supply) the value on the scoreboard directly above that room (or 3000 for a hallway or stairs) to buy the room. Purchased rooms are placed in the buyer's castle and scored immediately. If a player passes, they receive 5000 and the Master Builder receives nothing. When it comes to the Master Builder's turn, they pay the money supply for the room tile they choose or pass and receive 5000 from the money supply. Rooms that were not bought from the scoreboard get a 1000 coin from the money supply placed on them (in addition to any money that might already be on them). The total amount of coins on a selected tile is kept by the player selecting the tile and may be used to purchase that tile.

With the Moats expansion, the active player may purchase a moat instead of a room, paying 5000 and placing the moat so it connects to the player's Barbican or another moat. At this time, the player also takes 1 Room card from the top of the deck and places it on the discard pile, but does not add that room below the scoreboard.

Then the Master Builder token moves 1 player to the left.

Players' money is always public.

*In a 5 player game, 15000 will always have 2 rooms. In a 3 player game, 1000 will always be empty. In a 2 player game, 1000 & 2000 will always be empty.

Rules for Placing Rooms

Room tiles must:

• Connect at least 1 entrance from the new room to an entrance of a room already in your castle. You may align entrances to walls, as long as at least 1 entrance is connected to an entrance in the castle.
• Be placed in any 90° orientation (round rooms have entrances along 90° edges).
• Be set up so that your castle has at least 1 external entrance (not just an entrance that leads to an enclosed area, known as a courtyard).

Room tiles must not:

• Overlap.
• Be adjacent to the top (fenced) edge of an Outdoor room. See the Outdoor Rooms section on page 13 for more details.
• Connect directly between regular rooms and downstairs rooms or downstairs hallway entrances. Stairs must be placed between them in order for them to connect to each other.
• Be purchased if they cannot be legally placed.

Round Rooms Touching or Not?

Round rooms have a short section that is flat along the top, bottom, left, and right edges of these tiles. If your rooms aren't precisely lined up, it can appear that some of these rooms are in contact with the edges of other rooms. There is a small gap between the flat edge and where the circles start curving. Because of this gap, those empty areas also do not qualify as courtyards for the courtyards Favor, Bonus card, and Royal Decree. In addition, there is no penalty for Living rooms that are very close to the Flute room but not actually touching.

Icons

The square-feet icon in the upper right of each room indicates the square footage of that room. In the center of most rooms is a number in a castle shape next to 1 or more icons representing different room types. There also may be a wall between the number and the icon:

• Most room types provide VPs if entrances from the newly-added room are connected to entrances of rooms of specific types.
• Activity rooms have an adjacency VP penalty if the walls or entrances of rooms of certain types are adjacent to the walls or entrances of Activity rooms. The red brick wall between the number and icons indicates there is a penalty for adjacency. See the Activity Rooms section on page 12 for more details.
• Downstairs rooms provide VPs based on how many rooms of a specific type you have in your castle. See the Downstairs Rooms section on page 11 for more details.

Room Placement Scoring

1. Score the number of VPs in the castle shape in the upper left of the room.
2. Add (or subtract) any VPs based on the icons in the center of the room.
3. Check the rooms that are connected to the room you just placed and add any VPs based on the icons for those rooms, if the new room you placed qualifies.
4. Check for any adjacent Activity rooms to the room you just placed and subtract any VPs based on the icons for those Activity rooms, if the new room you placed qualifies.
5. Check for any Downstairs rooms (and moats) and add VPs for their "each of your" icon conditions if it matches the type of room you just placed.
6. If you completed 1 or more rooms, apply the completion reward for those rooms. See the Room Types & Completing a Room section beginning on page 11 for more details.

Game End

The game is over immediately after the round in which the deck of Room cards has been depleted. If there are more empty spaces than Room cards on the last turn, the Master Builder draws the remaining cards, gets the rooms for those cards, then shuffles all the Room cards in that game's deck (including the ones they just drew) and draws as many as needed for any remaining empty spaces, ensuring that the last round will have a full set of rooms.

Game End Scoring

After the last round, players score the following (see the back of your player aid for this list after each game):

• Depleted stacks: Each player receives 2 VPs for each room they have from each depleted stack of rooms, including stairs and hallways (hallways/downstairs hallways are considered a single stack), even if a room from that stack remains below the scoreboard or placed on top of the Room card deck.
• Swan tokens: Each set of unique Swan tokens (different colors) at the end of the game is scored by the player who has them: 1 for 1pt, 2 for 3pts, 3 for 6pts, 4 for 10pts, 5 for 15pts.
• Royal Decrees: Each player with a game end scoring decree takes any VPs earned from that Decree.
• King's Favors: VPs for each of the Favor tiles are allocated to the players who qualify (page 13).
• Bonus cards: Each player, in turn order (from the current Master Builder clockwise), shows their Bonus cards and receives VPs per each Bonus card criteria.
• Tower Favors: Each player with a completed tower room and Favor scores the Favor based on their position compared to other players. Only the owner of a Tower Favor receives VPs from that Favor.
• Money: Each player receives 1 VP for every 10000 they have, rounded down. For example, if a player has 29000, they receive 2 VPs.

The player with the most VPs wins!

In case of a tie (uncommon, but it can happen), the tied player with the largest castle (total square feet, shown in the upper right of each room tile) wins.

If there is still a tie (which is incredibly unlikely at this point) the tied player with the largest castle who has the most money wins.

At this point, if there is still a tie (which, you'd probably agree, would be downright preposterous), the first of the tied players with the largest castle and the most money to grab the Master Builder token wins. Try not to get hurt in the process.

Changes from Previous Editions

If you've played Castles of Mad King Ludwig before, there are a few changes to gameplay. Refer to the Castles of Mad King Ludwig Collector's Edition FAQ at beziergames.com for more details than what is provided below:

1. Towers & Royal Decree expansions. See page 17 for details on those expansions.
2. Changes from the Secrets expansion. The Secrets expansion now consists of 3 different expansions: Moats (pages 14–15), Secret Passages (page 16), and Swans (page 17). Additional changes are as follows.
   • Swans: Instead of having a few rooms of each size set to have swans in them, all rooms in the 250, 300, 350, and 400 stacks have swans in them. If you don't want to play with swans, simply ignore the swan icons on those tiles.
   • Secrets Rooms: All room tiles included with Secrets are also included here, but they are not distinct from the base game room tiles. There is no need to sort room tiles during setup; just shuffle all rooms of a size and count out the ones you need for your player count. This allows each game to have a wider variety of room types in each stack. Some of the rooms in Secrets have been modified.
   • Barbicans: These are separate pieces, all identical to each other, which partially overlap your foyer. Your foyer may be turned to any 90° orientation, which may change the number of entrances.
3. Rules clarifications. Rules that were open to interpretation have been clarified.
4. Favors & Bonus cards. These include certain items for expansions, such as swans, moats, and 325 (tower) rooms. If you aren't playing with some of those, either remove them during setup or replace any drawn Favor or Bonus card from an expansion you aren't using with another 1 from the supply.
5. 5th Player. In order to play with 5 players, you must use the Towers expansion. Each turn 2 rooms will be placed on the 15000 space under the scoreboard, for a total of 8 rooms available. See Setup on pages 4–5 for setup changes for 5 players.
6. Room cards. The Room card deck includes 5 "325" Room cards. If you aren't playing with the Towers expansion, be sure to remove those cards before creating your starting Room card deck of 22, 33, or 44 cards.

Room Types & Completing a Room

Each room type gives a different reward when it is completed. To complete a room, all of the entrances of that room must connect to entrances in other rooms. If you complete 2 or more rooms in a single turn, you may decide the order in which to take completion rewards. If a room entrance butts up against a wall, that room cannot be completed.

Food Rooms

The King must eat. And eat in luxury, if at all possible.

Completion Reward: Take another turn immediately (either buy and place another room, hallway, stairs, moat, or take 5000). This extra turn happens before the next player in turn order takes their turn.

Downstairs Rooms

These are rooms which the King never really "invites" guests to view, but sometimes he might take them there anyway. In order to build a Downstairs room, you must first build stairs from any existing entrance that go "down" (indicated by the "darker" steps on one end of the stairs). You may connect a Downstairs room or a downstairs hallway directly to the "dark" end of the stairs. All rooms placed next to a Downstairs room or downstairs hallway must also be a Downstairs room or downstairs hallway (or stairs going back up). You may place Downstairs rooms (including downstairs hallways) adjacent to main floor rooms/hallways, but you may not connect any entrances between them.

All Downstairs rooms have an "Each of your" icon in the center of them. When you place that Downstairs room, take the VPs for each of the rooms that are of the type indicated on the tile. For Downstairs room type bonuses, include the Downstairs room you just placed. This icon is active when future rooms of that type are placed as well, and the VPs for new rooms of that type should be scored at that time.

Completion Reward: For every 2 completed Downstairs rooms, the player gets their choice of any of the other 7 rewards. For the Living room reward (re-score the completed room), the player re-scores the Downstairs room that was completed (if 2 or more Downstairs rooms were completed at once, they choose which of those to take the reward on).

Utility Rooms

His Majesty needs places to tinker, places to clean up, and places to take care of things we'd rather not mention here.

Completion Reward: Take 2 Bonus cards off the top of the deck, keep 1 and place the other face down on the bottom of the deck.

Corridor Rooms

Hallways (both regular and downstairs), stairs, your Foyer (and Barbican), and larger halls connect the King's castle. Halls and hallways have multiple entrances to allow a great deal of flexibility. Stairs provide a way down to the downstairs rooms. When placing stairs, place the lighter end against the entrance of the main floor room. Connect any downstairs room (or a downstairs hallway) to the darker end of the stairs. You may not place 2 stairs so that they connect to each other.

Hallways are double-sided: one side is a regular hallway (for upstairs) and the other is for downstairs hallways. Use the appropriate hallway in all cases. Downstairs and regular hallways may never have their entrances adjacent to each other, and both are Corridors (downstairs hallways are not Downstairs rooms).

Completion Reward: You may take either a hallway (regular or downstairs) or stairs and place it immediately, for no cost. This reward may only be taken once per turn. During an extra turn as result of a Food room reward, an additional Corridor completion reward may be taken if another Corridor is completed, even if 1 was taken during the player's original turn.

Living Rooms

Living rooms are where the King can relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of royalty, like opulent wall hangings and gold leaf-embossed furniture.

Completion Reward: Re-score VPs for the room (both the upper left VPs and VPs based on the center icons).

Activity Rooms

The King needs things to do, but the King also loves quiet when he's not in these rooms, so there are always "Adjacency penalties" for placing an Activity room next to certain room types. Adjacency means that a wall/entrance of another room (even Downstairs rooms) is touching any part of a wall of an Activity room, not just an entrance. If rooms are touching only at their corners, they are not considered Adjacent.

Completion Reward: Receive 5 VPs instantly.

Outdoor Rooms

The King's castle isn't just defined by the rooms in it, but also the grounds surrounding it. The King loves his views, and so Outdoor rooms may not have any rooms adjacent to the edge which has a wrought iron fence along it. No rooms may ever be placed so they are adjacent to this edge, and these rooms may not be placed if this edge is adjacent to any part of another room. Touching the top corners of the Outdoor room is allowed.

Completion Reward: Take 10000 from the supply.

Sleeping Rooms

Sleeping rooms are perfect for His Majesty to sleep, nap, relax, and dream what he will build next.

Completion Reward: Look through any stack of room tiles of one size (except stairs or hallways) and place 0, 1, or 2 of those room tiles face-down on the Room card deck. Shuffle the remaining room tiles in that stack before returning it face-down to the table. Those selected room tiles are drawn before Room cards at the beginning of the next round to fill in empty spaces below the scoreboard, in order, with the last placed room tile drawn first.

If a Sleeping room reward is claimed on the last round of a game, when there are no more Room cards in the deck, the player claiming the reward places the rooms they choose on top of the Room card discards; those rooms do not extend the game and will not be put into play, however, they may result in depleting a stack of rooms.

The King's Favors

The King's Favors are scored at the end of the game as follows:

1st Place: 8 VPs. 2nd Place: 4 VPs. 3rd Place: 2 VPs. 4th Place: 1 VP.

In order to score any VPs for a Favor, you must have at least 1 of the items on the Favor (for square feet and room Favors, you must have at least 1 room of that type). If 1 or more players tie for a place, the tied players get the VPs for that place plus the next one(s) divided by the number of tied players (rounded down).

For example, if both the Yellow and Red players tie for the most of a Favor, they each get 6 VPs (1st place is 8 VPs, 2nd place is 4 VPs, and those added together and divided by 2 equals 6), the Green player has the next highest and receives 2 VPs for 3rd place, and the Blue player doesn't have any of that Favor and receives 0 VPs.

During setup, it isn't necessary to remove Favors that are specific to an expansion if you aren't playing with that expansion. If 1 of those Favors appears on the main board or if a player gets 1 of those Favors, place it face down on the Favor discard stack and take a new Favor to replace it.

After you've played a few games with the King's Favors, you may determine prior to the game to exclude any that you don't wish to play with by removing them prior to the start of the game.

Refer to page 20 for a complete list of all of the King's Favors.

Bonus Cards

Each player begins the game with 3 Bonus cards and must choose 2 to keep and 1 to return to the bottom of the stack (in player order, starting with the Master Builder).

Whenever a Utility room is completed, the player who completes it takes 2 Bonus cards, keeps 1 of them and returns the other face down to the bottom of the deck. Each player's Bonus cards are scored at the end of the game based on the criteria for the card.

It isn't necessary to remove Bonus cards that are specific to an expansion if you aren't playing with that expansion. If a player gets 1 of those cards, they simply place it on the bottom of the deck and draw a new Bonus card.

After you've played a few games with Bonus cards, you may determine prior to the game to exclude any that you don't wish to play with by removing them prior to the start of the game.

Refer to page 22 for a complete list of all Bonus cards.

Expansions

You may play with any combination of expansion parts along with the base game. See Setup on pages 4–5 and Player Setup on pages 6–7 to make sure the game is setup properly for each of the expansions you wish to include.

Moats

When playing with moats, each player starts with a Barbican, which is placed below any side of their foyer. All players start with a Barbican when moats are in play, even if some players state they will not purchase any moats during the game.

Instead of purchasing a room (or taking 5000), players may build a new moat section adjacent to 1 or 2 of their existing moat sections or Barbican, for 5000. When a moat is purchased, discard the top Room card (or remove the topmost room tile if 1 or more is on top of the Room card deck and place it in the game box). Each moat scores 3 VPs for the moat itself and 1 VP for every room in your castle, except Corridor and Outdoor rooms.

When this Moat is placed, score 3 VPs and then 3 additional VPs for the 3 rooms in the castle. From this point on, rooms (except Corridor and Outdoor rooms) score an additional 1 VP when placed.

Only Outdoor rooms may be built outside of the moat (Outdoor rooms may also be built inside the moat if you'd like). Outdoor rooms are not allowed to have their fence edges touch the stone edge of the moat. No rooms may ever overlap any portion of a moat or Barbican.

An Outdoor room that is connected to the Barbican drawbridge is considered connected to a Corridor room. The Barbican is not complete until an Outdoor room is connected to the drawbridge and the other entrances of the Barbican also have rooms connected to them. Rooms outside the moat can only be connected to rooms within the moat via the Barbican's drawbridge.

If you complete a moat by placing 3 moat sections (creating a completely enclosed area in conjunction with your Barbican), you receive the moat completion reward: you may pick up any stack of rooms (except stairs or hallways) and look through it, choosing 0 or 1 room to place immediately at no cost to you. That room is scored as if you had purchased it in the normal fashion. Then shuffle the unselected rooms and place them face down where you picked them up.

(Example: the Green House, an Outdoor room, overlaps the water, so it cannot be placed there.)

The number of moats is limited, and if the stack of moat sections is depleted, it counts for a depleted stack scoring at the end of the game. No player may purchase more than 3 moat sections in a single game. There are not enough moat sections for all players to complete their moats. A moat section may not be placed if it will overlap a previously placed room.

Moats are never counted as rooms for Favors, Bonus cards, or Royal Decrees. The 1000 square ft size of each moat, however, does count towards the total square footage of your castle.

If the removal of a card from the Room card deck when building a moat results in depleting the Room deck, the game will end at the end of the current turn.

If an Activity room that has a penalty for corridors is against the edge of a Barbican wall, that penalty is incurred. However, if the same Activity room has an edge against a moat wall, there is no penalty (moats are not corridors). Placing an entrance along a moat or barbican wall does not complete that room. In the example on the previous page, the Ballroom is not completed, and while there is a 2VP penalty for being adjacent to the Trophy Hall, there is no penalty for being adjacent to the Moat.

Secret Passages

Each player starts with 1 small Secret Passage, 1 straight Secret Passage, and 1 corner Secret Passage.

Secret Passages can be used to connect any 2 rooms. This allows for all sorts of placements that otherwise could not be done and provides opportunities for additional scoring. Secret Passages have 2 entrances on them, 1 on either end. Secret Passages cannot connect to other Secret Passages, and Secret Passages cannot be built unless both ends are connected to entrances.

Secret Passages can be played at any time on a player's turn, whenever they place a room, to connect that new room to an existing room. They directly connect 2 rooms that are not directly connected otherwise and provide double conditional connection VPs for those rooms. Any number of Secret Passages may be placed during a player's turn, as long as they connect directly to the room being placed. If additional rooms are being placed on a turn, Secret Passages may be placed along with those additional rooms.

A Secret Passage cannot be used to connect 2 rooms which are connected through a different set of entrances.

A Secret Passage cannot be placed between 2 rooms that are already connected. If a Secret Passage is placed between an Activity room that is adjacent to another room where a penalty is incurred, that penalty is still in effect. However, if a Secret Passage is placed between an Activity room and a room which is not adjacent but would normally result in a penalty, you do not incur Activity room conditional penalties (the Secret Passages mute the sound).

When a Living room reward is scored (because all doors connect to other rooms), any rooms connected to the Living room via Secret Passage are included in the re-scoring.

(Example: when the Library is completed, the Room Completion Reward for the Living room results in 23 VPs: 2 for the Library, 6 for connecting to the Sanctum, 6 for connecting to the Waiting Room, 6 for connecting to the Fountains, and 3 for connecting to the Small Yard.)

Secret Passage entrances are placed on top of existing entrances, but cannot be placed so that the Secret Passage itself is overlapping any other portion of a room or moat, or is up against the top edge of an Outdoor room.

Secret Passages are not counted as rooms for Favors, Bonus cards, or Royal Decrees. Secret Passages do not count towards the square footage of your castle. Secret Passages do act as edges for courtyards. Secret Passages may not be placed outside your Barbican if playing with Moats, and may not connect upstairs rooms to downstairs rooms.

Swans

When a room with a swan icon on it is placed below the scoreboard, take a face down Swan token from the supply and place it face up (displaying the color of that particular Swan token) on that room tile. When a player buys a room with a Swan token on it, they take that Swan token and place it face up next to their castle, so that all players may see their Swan tokens.

Swan tokens may be used in the following 2 ways:

1. On your turn, exchange any 1 Swan token for 1000, any 2 for 3000, any 3 for 6000, any 4 for 10000, or any 5 for 15000. You may not exchange more than 5 Swan tokens on any turn. Used Swan tokens go back in the box and are not counted towards the Swan token Favor, if it is in play.

2. Each set of unique Swan tokens at the end of the game is scored by the player who has them: 1 for 1 VP, 2 unique for 3 VPs, 3 unique for 6 VPs, 4 unique for 10 VPs, 5 unique for 15 VPs. Swan tokens counted for VPs at the end of the game are also counted towards the Swan Tokens Favor if it is in play.

Towers

Ludwig's castles are known for their towers that shoot up into the sky, so this expansion contains 8 tower rooms, 1 each of the 8 different room types in Castles. During setup, shuffle the tower rooms face down and create a stack of 5 for 2 players, 6 for 3 players, 7 for 4 players, and 8 for 5 players.

Include the 5 325 Room cards during setup. When a 325 Room card appears, place the top tower room from the stack face up below the scoreboard as you would with any other room size.

When a tower room is completed, you get the regular room type completion reward associated with that room type, and you also get the tower room completion reward: take the top 3 Favors from the unused Favor stack, look through them, and place 1 face down on your tower room, returning the others face down to the discard pile (the unchosen Favors will not be used in the game).

After the Favor is on the tower room, place its corresponding plastic tower on top of it to protect it from your opponents and to show that you've completed a tower room. Each of the plastic towers are modeled after different castles that Ludwig either built or lived in.

Tower Favors are scored at the end of the game; you score the Favor as it compares to all other players, just like you would the regular King's Favors, except that you are the only player to receive VPs.

Royal Decrees

The King has decreed that each of the builders shall receive a special advantage to assist them in building their castle. At the start of the game, shuffle the Royal Decrees and deal out 2 more than the number of players. The player to the right of the Master Builder views all of them, keeps 1, and then passes the rest to the player on their right. This continues until the Master Builder chooses a Royal Decree from the last 3 remaining Royal Decrees. Once all players have chosen a Royal Decree, the players reveal what Royal Decrees they have simultaneously.

After you've played a few games with Royal Decrees, you may determine prior to the game to exclude any that you don't wish to play with, or even choose a set of Royal Decrees you specifically want to use (as long as there are 2 more Royal Decree than the number of players).

Refer to page 25 for a complete list of all Royal Decrees.

Additional Rooms

There are 83 additional rooms besides the 75 that originally appeared in the base game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig. 30 of those rooms are from the original Secrets expansion, 10 of them are from the Polish expansion that had a limited, Polish-language-only release, and 43 of them were newly created for the Castles of Mad King Ludwig Collector's Edition. No rooms are marked as being part of the base game or a particular expansion, as it doesn't matter which rooms you use when you play. All the rooms of each size should be shuffled together before putting out the stacks for each room size based on the number of players in each game.

Solo Game

Set up the game as for 3 players, but do not turn over any Room cards and don't place any Favors. Take 2 Bonus cards, 15000, and a foyer in the color of your choice. Place your player swan on the "0" space.

Each turn, flip over 3 Room cards and place the rooms in order (the cards choose the position, not you) on the 2000, 4000, and 6000 spots. These are your room choices for this turn. At the end of the turn, remove any unpurchased room tiles and place them in the box. If you take 5000 on a turn instead of placing a room, or if you build a hallway or stairs on a turn, you still remove the tiles from below the scoreboard.

Play the game as normal, with all money that you pay going to the money supply.

Scores: <60: Court Jester. 60-80: Humble Servant to the Royal Crown. 81-95: Most High Highness of Castle Building. 96-110: Imperial Regent of Palaces. >110: Regal Supreme Chancellor of Grand Castle Construction.

Playtesters

Lots of people built the castles of their dreams in order to make Castles of Mad King Ludwig a reality, and the designer is grateful to all of them.

About "Mad" King Ludwig

King Ludwig II assumed the throne of Bavaria in 1864, which was subjugated by Prussia just 2 years later. Instead of focusing on matters of state, Ludwig was fascinated with medieval castles. He commissioned the building of 3 castles, the most famous being Neuschwanstein, a towering, fancy "fairy tale" castle which was the inspiration for the castles at Disney theme parks, and which also graces the cover of this game.

He spent his entire fortune (more than 30 million marks) on the construction of these castles, and like Ludwig himself, they were both quirky and magnificent. Many of the special rooms that were constructed for his castles are available for building in this game, including the amazing Venus Grotto, an underground cavern filled with water where Ludwig would be able to watch Wagner's operas unfold in an amazing environment. The Tower expansion rooms are all named after castles that Ludwig either built or lived in, and resemble those castles.

Eventually the Bavarian ministers removed Ludwig from power by having him declared insane, and in 1886, just one day after being deposed of the throne, Ludwig's body was found floating in a lake. The cause of his death is still disputed to this day, but the castles he built have been the great legacy of his, with tourists flocking to them each year. If you happen to be in the southern part of Germany, it's well worth your time to visit them.

List of King's Favors

• Room Favors are based on the number of rooms of a specific type you have in your castle. (Food, Downstairs, Utility, Corridor, Living, Activity, Outdoor, and Sleeping Room Favors.)
• Size Favors are based on the total square feet of all the rooms of a specific type that you have in your castle. Add up the square feet (in the upper right corner) of each room of that room type. (Food, Downstairs, Utility, Corridor, Living, Activity, Outdoor, and Sleeping Size Favors.)
• Small Rooms: Based on how many Small Rooms you have in your castle. Small Rooms range from 100 up to 300, not including foyers, stairs, or hallways.
• Large Rooms: Based on how many Large Rooms you have in your castle. Large Rooms range from 350 up to 600 size rooms.
• Rooms with no Swans: Based on how many rooms you have in your castle that do not have Swan icons, including Corridors, but not including Secret Passages or Moats. This Favor may be used even if you aren't playing with the Swan expansion.
• External Entrances: Based on how many external entrances you have in your castle (not including Corridor rooms). An External Entrance is an entrance that leads to the outside edge of your Castle (and not an entrance that leads to enclosed areas).
• Completed Rooms: Based on how many Completed Rooms you have in your castle. A Completed Room is any room where all the entrances are connected to another room. If this Favor appears on any Favor space to the right of the Incomplete Rooms Favor, remove this Favor and draw another one in its place.
• Incomplete Rooms: Based on how many Incomplete Rooms you have in your castle. An Incomplete Room is any room where at least 1 of the entrances is not connected to another room. If this Favor appears on any Favor space to the right of the Completed Rooms Favor, remove this Favor and draw another one in its place.
• Square Rooms: Based on how many Square Rooms you have in your castle. Square Rooms are the 100 and 400 size rooms.
• Round Rooms: Based on how many Circular Rooms you have in your castle. Circular Rooms are the 150 and 500 size rooms.
• Courtyards: Based on how many Courtyards you have in your castle. A Courtyard is a completely enclosed area with at least 1 entrance. A completed moat creates at least 1 Courtyard if there is at least 1 entrance going into it.
• Money: Based on how much cash you have at the end of the game (including money that you use for getting 1 VP for every 10000).
• Total Rooms: Based on the total number of all rooms in your castle, not including Secret Passages or Moats.
• Longest Path of Rooms: Based on how many rooms you can walk through (starting in any room) without ever stepping into the same room twice.
• Swan Tokens: Based on how many Swan tokens you have at the end of the game (of any type).
• Tower Rooms: Based on the number of Tower Rooms (complete or incomplete) in your castle.
• Moats: Based on the number of moat sections you have in your castle (Barbicans are not considered Moats for this favor).

List of Bonus Cards

• Room Sizes Bonus: Receive 8 VPs if you have at least 10 of the 11 different sized rooms in your castle. Having more than 1 of each size does not result in additional VPs. When playing without towers, you'll need all 10 room sizes.
• Room Types Bonus: Receive 7 VPs if you have all 8 different room types in your castle.
• Hallways Bonus: Receive 1 VP for each hallway or downstairs hallway you have in your castle.
• Stairs Bonus: Receive 2 VPs for each stairs you have in your castle.
• External Entrances Bonus: Receive 1 VP for every 2 External Entrances you have in your castle (not including entrances of Corridor rooms). An External Entrance is an entrance that leads to the outside edge of your castle (and not an entrance that leads to enclosed areas).
• Completed Rooms Bonus: Receive 1 VP for every 2 Completed Rooms you have in your castle. A Completed Room is any room where all the entrances are connected to another room.
• Square Rooms Bonus: Receive 1 VP for each of your 100/400 (Square) rooms.
• Round Rooms Bonus: Receive 1 VP for each of your 150/500 (Round) rooms.
• Money Bonus: Receive 1 VP for every 5000 you have at the end of the game (this is in addition to the regular 1 VP for each 10000 you have at the end of the game).
• Courtyards Bonus: Receive 1 VP for every courtyard in your castle. A courtyard is a completely enclosed area with at least 1 entrance. A completed moat creates at least 1 courtyard if at least 1 entrance goes into it.
• 1st Place Public Favors Bonus: Receive 4 VPs for each of your 1st place public favors that you get true (not tied with anyone else) 1st place in, but does not include any Tower Favors.
• Depleted Stack Rooms Bonus: Receive 1 VP for each room you have from a depleted stack, in addition to the 2 VPs you receive from the Depleted Stack Room scoring.
• Master Builder on Last Round Bonus: Receive 7 VPs if you were the Master Builder on the last round. This can be achieved by speeding up or slowing down the game through clever use of Food rooms, Sleeping rooms, and holding off on room purchases.
• Swan Rooms Bonus: Receive 1 VP for each of your rooms with a swan icon (all 250, 300, 350, and 400 size rooms have a swan on them). This Bonus card is in effect whether or not you choose to play with the Swan tokens.
• Moats Bonus: Receive 3 VPs for each of your moats (up to 3) in your castle. If you receive this card when you aren't playing with moats, discard it and immediately take another Bonus card off the top of the deck. Barbicans are not considered Moats for this Bonus card.
• Tower Rooms Bonus: Receive VPs based on the number of tower rooms you have in your castle at the end of the game.
• Room Type Bonus: Receive VPs based on the number of rooms you have in your castle of the type indicated at the end of the game. There are 8 different Room Type Bonus cards, one for each room type: Food Rooms (3 VPs each), Downstairs Rooms (2 VPs each), Utility Rooms (2 VPs each), Corridor Rooms (1 VP each), Living Rooms (2 VPs each), Activity Rooms (2 VPs each), Outdoor Rooms (2 VPs each), and Sleeping Rooms (3 VPs each).
• Room Size Bonus: Receive VPs based on the number of rooms you have in your castle that are the size indicated at the end of the game. There are 10 different Room Size Bonus cards, one for each room size: 100 (2 VPs each), 150 (2 VPs each), 200 (2 VPs each), 250 (2 VPs each), 300 (2 VPs each), 350 (3 VPs each), 400 (3 VPs each), 450 (3 VPs each), 500 (3 VPs each), and 600 (3 VPs each).

List of Royal Decrees

• 1000 Per Room Completed: Each time you complete a room, take 1000 from the supply.
• Hidden Money: You may hide your money under this card. You may also hide the money in your hand, or in any manner necessary to prevent other players from knowing how much you have.
• 2 Downstairs Completion Rewards: Instead of the standard Downstairs Room Completion Reward, take 2 different Completion Rewards from the other 7 available.
• 3 Bonus Cards for Utility: Instead of the standard Utility Room Completion Reward, take 3 Bonus cards and keep 1 of them.
• Stairs and Hallway for Corridor: Instead of the standard Corridor Room Completion Reward, you may take 1 stairs and 1 hallway. You may not take 2 of a kind, even if 1 of them has been depleted.
• 8 VPs for Activity: Instead of the standard Activity Room Completion Reward, take 8 VPs.
• 15000 for Outdoor: Instead of the standard Outdoor Room Completion Reward, take 15000.
• 3 Rooms for Sleeping: Instead of the standard Sleeping Room Completion Reward, take up to 3 rooms from any stack and place them on top of the Room card deck.
• VPs Per Room Size: At the end of the game, score 1 VP for each different size room in your castle, including hallways, stairs, and foyers. Do not include moats or Barbicans.
• VPs Per Room Type: At the end of the game, score 2 VPs for each different type of room (up to 8) in your castle. Do not count moats.
• Extra Money VPs: At the end of the game, score an additional 2 VPs for every 5000. Also score 1 VP for every 10000 at the end of scoring as normal.
• Trade for Discarded Bonus Cards: Any time any player (including yourself) discards one or more Bonus cards, including at the very beginning of the game, view the discarded Bonus cards. You may exchange 1 discarded Bonus card for 1 of your Bonus cards. Other players do not know which card(s) you are keeping.
• Cheap Corridors: Purchase hallways and stairs for 1000 each (instead of the standard 3000).
• Ignore Activity Penalties: Ignore Activity room penalties for adjacent rooms.
• Remove Rooms Before Scoring: At the end of the game, right before scoring, remove 0–4 rooms from the room stacks (any number of stacks, up to 4 rooms total).
• Win Ties: If you tie on any Favor (including Tower Favors), you win the tie. Anyone tied with you receives the next lowest place.
• 12 VPs for Solo 1st Place: When scoring Favors (including Tower Favors), being in 1st place (by yourself) earns you 12 VPs instead of 8 VPs.
• Rooms Completed Even If Blocked: Any entrances in a room are considered connected if they are up against a wall (including moat walls) instead of an entrance. Rooms completed using this decree qualify for completed rooms and do not qualify for incomplete rooms for Favors and Bonus cards.
• Private Favors: Just before the first turn, take 2 Favors off of the Favor stack, secretly view them, and place them face down on this card. At the end of the game, when Favors are scored, score these Favors just for yourself.
• Extra Starting Money: When this card is revealed, take an additional 10000, so that you begin the game with 25000 instead of just 15000.
• Take Room Money Instead of Buying: When it is your turn to purchase a room, take money off of any 1 room in the market plus 5000. You do not get to purchase a room when you do this.
• 12 VPs for No Stairs/Hallways: At end game scoring, if you do not have any stairs or hallways in your castle, gain 12 VPs.
• Leave a Market Space Empty: When you are the Master Builder, you may leave 1 space in the market empty, moving that room to another space, when setting prices. In a 5 player game, you may place a 3rd room in the 15000 space, or leave only 1 room in that space.
• Discount on Purchases: When you purchase rooms, pay 1000 less than the price of the room.
• Move Money Among Rooms: When you are the Master Builder, you may move money from rooms to other rooms when setting prices (max 5000 per room). None of the rooms you adjust may have more than 5000 on them after you are done adjusting (you may adjust rooms that start with more than 5000, however).
• Round Score Up to Even: At the end of every turn, if your score is an odd number, increase it to the next even number. If you take more than 1 turn by using a Food Room Completion Reward, increase your score as needed at the end of each of those turns.
• Re-pick a Royal Decree: After all players have chosen a Royal Decree and displayed their choices, take the top 3 Decrees from the deck and keep 1, returning this card and the other 2 to the bottom of the Royal Decree deck.
• 8 VPs or 8000 Instead of Building: On your turn, you may take 8 VPs or 8000 instead of building a room in your castle.
• Take Money Instead of VPs: When placing a room, you may take money instead of VPs. The money you take is equal to the VPs x 1000. For example, if you place a room with 3VP in the upper left corner, you could choose to take 3000 instead of the 3VPs. You may not take a combination of money and VPs for any 1 room.
• Bank a Coin Each Turn: At the end of your turn, you may place 1000 on this card, where it stays until the end of the game. At scoring, receive 1 VP for every 1000 on this card. You must place the 1000 on your card during your turn; if you forget, you may not place the 1000 on your card later for a previous turn. Money on this card counts for Favors, Bonus cards, Royal Decrees, and end game conversion to VPs.
• Start with Stairs and Hallway: When this card is revealed at the start of the game, take 1 stairs and 1 hallway and add them to your castle. If you complete a corridor during this initial placement, you may take the Corridor completion reward (once only at this time).
• Score a Bonus Card Twice: During end game scoring, score 1 of your Bonus cards again.
• Store a Room: You may store 1 room here when you purchase it instead of adding it to your castle. On a future turn, you may add this room to your castle in addition to your normal turn. Only 1 room may be stored here at a time. You may place a room from this card in your castle and purchase another room to place on the card in a single turn. If a room remains on this card at the end of the game, it is placed back in the box before scoring.
• Secret Room for Matching VPs: When this card is revealed, take the topmost face down room from any room stack, secretly view it, and place it face down on this card. At scoring, turn this room face up and receive 2 VPs for each room in your castle of the same size and 2 VPs for each room of the same type (rooms with both are worth 4 VPs). This room is not counted for this Decree, your Bonus cards, Favors, or depleted stacks at the end of the game.
• VPs Per Courtyard: Receive 2 VPs for every courtyard in your castle. A courtyard is a completely enclosed area with at least 1 entrance. A completed moat creates at least 1 courtyard if at least 1 entrance goes into it.
• VPs Per Longest Path Room: Receive 1VP per room, based on how many rooms you can walk through (starting in any room) without ever stepping into the same room twice.