Castles of Mad King Ludwig FAQ
91 questions players ask · Updated Nov 9, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup
- How many room cards, market spaces and tiles per stack do I use for 2, 3 or 4 players?
- What are the Room cards flipped at setup for, and are they kept?
- How many King's Favors are used, and what happens to the rest?
- Which side of the Foyer should I use, and can players use different sides?
- Are the regular Hallway and Downstairs Hallway spaces on the board separate piles?
- How do you play Castles of Mad King Ludwig with 5 players?
- Is the coin supply limited?
- Is money hidden or open information, and are Bonus cards secret?
- Do the Bonus cards players discard at setup have to go back in a particular order?
- Why do players start on different score-track spaces?
Round Details
- What does the Master Builder do each round, and when do they buy?
- Can the Master Builder rearrange all rooms in the market, including leftovers?
- Are coins added to rooms after the first turn?
- Are bought rooms replaced right away or at the start of the next round?
- Do the coins sitting on a room help pay for it, and who gets what?
- What happens to the money the Master Builder receives, and what does the Master Builder pay?
- Can I buy Hallways or Stairs, and what do they cost?
- What happens when I pass instead of buying?
- Can I buy more than one room a turn, and do I place and score right away?
- What if a drawn Room card matches a size whose tile stack is empty?
- Are room stacks face up, and can I buy straight from a stack?
- Which price spaces are used in a 2-player game?
Building Your Castle
- What must be true when I place a new room?
- Do doorways have to line up exactly to be connected?
- What counts as an external entrance?
- How can Downstairs rooms connect to the rest of the castle?
- Which way do Stairs go, and can the light end face an empty space or wall?
- Can I go down Stairs, through a Downstairs Hallway, and back up another Stairs?
- Which Hallway, Downstairs Hallway and Stairs combinations are allowed?
- What are the rules for an Outdoor room's fenced edge?
- Does a wall or a missing connection stop a room from being complete?
Scoring and Adjacency
- When does a room score its bonuses, and are older rooms re-scored?
- Does a connection bonus pay for each qualifying connected room, and does it count rooms or doorways?
- How do Activity room adjacency penalties work?
- Do rooms touching only at a corner count as adjacent?
- Are two rooms adjacent if there is a gap or a Corridor between them?
- How does a Downstairs room's bonus score?
- What exactly does the Living Room reward re-score?
Room Types and Completion Rewards
- Can I take the Hallway or Stairs completion reward more than once per turn?
- Can a Hallway, Stairs or the Foyer be completed for a reward?
- Do Hallways, Stairs and the Foyer count as rooms for Favors and Bonus cards?
- Is the Foyer a Hallway?
- How does the Downstairs room completion reward work?
- How does the Food Room extra turn work?
- How does the Sleeping Room reward work?
- How many Bonus cards does the Utility room give?
- When do I get the completion reward for a room?
- What does completing an Activity room give?
- What does an Outdoor room give for completion?
King's Favors and Bonus Cards
Game End
Solo Mode
Castles of Mad King Ludwig: SecretsExpansion
- Can I place a Secret Passage on a turn when I take 5000 instead of buying a room?
- Can a Secret Passage be added between rooms that are already connected, or on a later turn?
- What does a Secret Passage double?
- Does a Secret Passage remove an Activity room's adjacency penalty?
- Can a Secret Passage link a basement room to an upstairs room?
- Where does the smallest Secret Passage go, and can it bridge a gap?
- Can I exchange swans from a room in the contract area to pay for that room?
- How do unique swan sets score?
- What happens when I buy a Moat?
- What are the placement rules once a Moat is complete?
- How do Moat points score?
- How does the Moat completion reward work?
- Can an Outdoor room be inside the Moat, and can courtyards use moat walls?
- Can I build a basement room after the Moat without Stairs?
- How do I set up the room stacks when using Secrets with the base game?
Castles of Mad King Ludwig: RenovationsExpansion
- How many Room cards and tiles do I use for Renovations?
- Does the game end at the end of the turn or the round after two stacks are depleted?
- How do renovations interact with the Downstairs completion rewards?
- Does a renovated room count for depleted-stack scoring, and what about the renovation stacks?
- If an Outdoor room is renovated, does its fence still block?
- Can old Decrees be used with Renovations, and do swan Decrees change swan exchange?
- Can Secret Passages and Renovations be combined?
Castles of Mad King Ludwig: ExpansionsExpansion
- How do Moats and Royal Decrees score with the Expansions box?
- Can Outdoor rooms be built inside the walls once the moat walls are done?
- Is the Expansions box compatible with the first edition?
- Do I need Towers to play with five players, and do Tower rooms count for Favors?
- Do rooms joined by a Secret Passage count as connected for Favors like Longest Path of Rooms?