Castles of Mad King Ludwig Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Player Setup
• Round Overview
• Round Details
  • Step 1: Draw New Rooms
  • Step 2: Price Rooms
  • Step 3: Buy Rooms
  • Step 4: Add Coins
  • Step 5: Pass Master Builder
• Building Your Castle
  • Placing Rooms
  • Scoring and Completing Rooms
  • Room Bonuses and Penalties
  • Room Adjacency
  • Completion Rewards
• Game End
  • Final Scoring
  • The Winner
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Final Scoring
• Room Types
  • Activity Rooms
  • Corridors
  • Downstairs Rooms
  • Food Rooms
  • Living Rooms
  • Outdoor Rooms
  • Sleeping Rooms
  • Utility Rooms
• List of King's Favors
• List of Bonus Cards
• The 8 Room Types

Components

• 1 double-sided Scoreboard (one side is for the base game, the other for expansions)
• 1 Master Builder Token
• 4 Foyer Tiles (double-sided; the back has a 4th entrance)
• 6 Stairs Tiles (75 sq ft)
• 9 Hallway Tiles (150 sq ft)
• Room Tiles, sorted by size: 9 each of 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300; 6 each of 350, 400, 450, 500, and 600
• 50 Room Cards
• 27 Bonus Cards
• 24 King's Favors
• 4 Player Swans
• 4 Player Aids
• Coins: 48 x 1000 and 30 x 5000

Small rooms are 100–300 sq ft; large rooms are 350–600 sq ft.

Setup

1. Place the double-sided scoreboard at one end of the table with the base-game side facing up.

2. Shuffle the Bonus card deck and place it face down on the board.

3. Place the coins in a supply pile within everyone's reach.

4. Shuffle the King's Favor tokens face down. Reveal 1 per player and place them face up on the board; return unused tokens to the box.

5. Shuffle the Room cards. Count out 11 cards per player to form the Room deck and place it face down on the board. Return unused cards to the box.

6. Count out the correct number of Room tiles of each size for your player count, plus the correct number of Hallway and Stairs tiles. Stack each set face down in its space on the board.

   Players	Large rooms (350–600) and Stairs	Small rooms (100–300) and Hallways
   2	4	5
   3	5	7
   4	6	9

7. Determine how many Room tiles are available each round for your player count (2 players: 5; 3 players: 6; 4 players: 7). Reveal that many Room cards from the top of the deck. For each card revealed, take the top Room tile of the indicated size and place it face up under the market on the scoreboard (the Master Builder arranges them later). Then place all revealed Room cards face up in the discard pile next to the Room deck.

Player Setup

8. Give each player a color-matched Foyer and Player Swan, a Player Aid, and 15000 in coins. (Choose which side of the Foyer to use before the game begins.)
9. Randomly choose a player to be the Master Builder and give them the Master Builder token.
10. The Master Builder places their swan on "0" on the score track. The player to their left places on "1," the next player to the left on "2," and so on until every player has placed their swan.
11. Deal each player 3 Bonus cards face down. Each player keeps 2 and puts the 3rd on the bottom of the Bonus card deck. Players keep their Bonus cards secret but may look at their own at any time.
12. The Master Builder starts the first round by arranging the Room tiles on the market.

Round Overview

The game is played over a series of rounds. Each round has these steps:

1. Draw New Rooms: The Master Builder fills each empty space under the market by revealing Room cards from the deck. (Skip this step in the first round.)
2. Price Rooms: The Master Builder sets the price of each Room tile by rearranging them under the market, including previously unpurchased Rooms with coins on them.
3. Buy Rooms: Starting to the left of the Master Builder and going clockwise, each player takes a turn to purchase a tile or take 5000 in coins.
4. Add Coins: Add a 1000 coin to each Room tile left on the market.
5. Pass Master Builder: The Master Builder token passes to the next player to the left and a new round begins.

Round Details

Step 1: Draw New Rooms

At the start of each round, the Master Builder refills the market with new Room tiles.

• For each empty space under the market, reveal a Room card from the deck, then take the top Room tile of the indicated size and place it face up in the empty space. When finished, discard all revealed Room cards.
• Do not discard or replace any Rooms left from the previous round. If the market is already full at the start of the round (including during the first round), do not reveal any new Rooms.
• Do not fill spaces that are not allowed for your player count (marked with a higher player number).
• If a Room card is revealed that matches an empty Room stack, immediately discard it and draw a new one to replace it.

After filling the market, the total number of revealed Room tiles should equal the number revealed at setup.

Step 2: Price Rooms

Once the market is filled, the Master Builder may set the price of each Room by rearranging them under the market.

• The Master Builder may move all Rooms under the track to new prices (not just Rooms added this round). They may do this even if no new Rooms were revealed.
• Each price may only have 1 Room placed under it.
• Rooms may not be placed under prices not allowed for your player count (marked with a higher player number).
• When a Room is moved, all coins on it must be moved with it.
• The Master Builder may choose not to move any Rooms.

The market price spaces run: 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000, 15000. Fewer prices are available at lower player counts.

Step 3: Buy Rooms

Once the Rooms have been priced, each player takes a turn to purchase a tile or take 5000 in coins.

• The player to the left of the Master Builder takes the first turn, followed by each other player clockwise. The Master Builder takes the last turn of the round.
• On your turn, you may buy any revealed Room for the price set by the Master Builder, or you may buy a Hallway or Stairs for 3000 in coins (if any are left).
• To buy a Room, you must pay its price from your personal coins to the Master Builder (even for a Hallway or Stairs).
• If there are coins on a Room, you may pay them to the Master Builder as part (or all) of your payment. If the coins on a Room equal or exceed its price, keep any coins left over after paying the Master Builder.
• After you buy a Room, place it face up in your castle.
• Instead of buying a Room, you may pass your turn to immediately gain 5000 in coins from the supply. You get only one chance to buy a tile each round.

Master Builder's Turn: The Master Builder takes their turn by either purchasing a tile or taking 5000 in coins. If they buy a Room, they must pay its price to the supply (this can include any coins on the Room they buy). The Master Builder may spend coins that other players paid them earlier in the round.

Step 4: Add Coins

After the Master Builder takes the final turn, add a 1000 coin to each Room tile left under the market to make it more attractive next round. Rooms can hold any number of coins.

Step 5: Pass Master Builder

The Master Builder token passes to the next player on the left. The new Master Builder then begins the next round by drawing new Rooms.

Building Your Castle

Placing Rooms

When placing a Room in your castle, follow these rules:

1. You must connect at least 1 entrance on your new Room to an entrance on an already-placed Room.
2. You may block any number of entrances on your new or already-placed Rooms (as long as your new Room has at least 1 connected entrance).
3. You may rotate a Room by 90 degrees as many times as you like before placing it.
4. You may not place a new Room that overlaps any already-placed Rooms.
5. You must always ensure you have at least 1 external entrance to your castle. An external entrance is an open entrance on an outside edge of your castle (not inside an area fully enclosed by tiles).
6. You may not place a Room adjacent to the fenced edge of an Outdoor Room.
7. You may only connect Downstairs Rooms to the bottom (darker end) of Stairs tiles, to Downstairs Hallways, or to other Downstairs Rooms.
8. You may not buy a Room if you have nowhere you can legally place it.

Anatomy of a Room tile: VP value (top-left corner), size (top-right corner), room type (bottom-left corner), name (bottom center), and any bonus or penalty (center).

Scoring and Completing Rooms

Each time you place a new Room in your castle, follow these steps to immediately score VPs and gain completion rewards:

1. New Room VPs: Gain the VP value listed in the top-left corner of the placed room.
2. New Room Bonus/Penalties: If the Room you placed has a bonus or penalty in its center, gain or lose VPs as indicated.
3. Other Room Bonus/Penalties: If the new Room activates bonuses and/or penalties on other Rooms in your castle, gain or lose VPs as indicated.
4. Completion Rewards: If placing the new Room completes 1 or more Rooms (by connecting all of their entrances), gain an immediate reward for each completed Room based on its type, activating completion rewards in the player's choice of order.

Room Bonuses and Penalties

Some Rooms have bonuses or penalties triggered by other Rooms of specific types in your castle.

• Connection Bonus: Gain VPs for each connected Room of any of the indicated types. Rooms are connected if they share an entrance. (Example: the East Tapestry Chamber scores a bonus 2 VPs for each connected Activity Room or Outdoor Room.)
• Adjacency Penalty: Lose VPs for each adjacent Room of any of the indicated types. Rooms are adjacent if any part of one Room touches any part of the other. (Example: the Berchta Room loses 1 VP for each adjacent Living Room or Sleeping Room.)
• Downstairs Bonus: Gain VPs for each Room of the indicated type anywhere in your castle. (Example: the Bottomless Pit scores a bonus 1 VP for each Outdoor Room in your castle.)

When to score bonuses and penalties: Each time you place a Room, you score the bonus or penalty on the new Room AND on any relevant Rooms already placed in your castle.

Room Adjacency

Two rooms are considered adjacent (for the purposes of adjacency penalties) if any part of one Room touches any part of the other. A Room does not need to connect to or block another Room's entrance to be adjacent. Downstairs Rooms and Hallways can be adjacent to regular (upstairs) Rooms.

You may need to line rooms up precisely to determine adjacency. Round Rooms in particular may appear to touch other Rooms if they are not aligned correctly.

Completion Rewards

If you connect ALL of a Room's entrances to entrances on other Rooms, it is considered complete. Whenever you complete a Room, you immediately gain a completion reward. Each Room type (indicated in the bottom-left corner of the tile) gives a different completion reward. If you complete multiple Rooms in the same turn, gain completion rewards for each of them in the order of your choice. If any of a Room's entrances are blocked by a wall, it can't be completed.

Game End

When the last card in the Room deck is drawn, players finish the current round, then end the game and count up their final VPs.

If the last card is drawn and the market still has empty spaces, the Master Builder shuffles the discarded Room cards (including any drawn this turn) and continues drawing until there is a full set of Room tiles under the market.

Final Scoring

All players score the following end-game items:

1. Scoring Depleted Stacks: Each player scores 2 VPs per Room in their castle that matches the size of a depleted tile stack on the scoreboard. A stack is depleted if it has no face-down tiles left; ignore any face-up tiles on the market or placed on the draw stack in the last round (via a Sleeping Room reward). If the Hallways stack is empty, every Hallway tile (upstairs AND downstairs) scores 2 VPs. If the Stairs stack is empty, every Stairs tile scores 2 VPs.

2. Scoring King's Favors: Each King's Favor awards VPs based on rank in a certain category (1st: 8 VPs; 2nd: 4 VPs; 3rd: 2 VPs; 4th: 1 VP). To score any VPs for a King's Favor, you must have at least 1 qualifying item. If players tie for a rank, the tied players evenly split the VPs for that rank plus the next one(s), rounded down.

3. Scoring Bonus Cards: In turn order starting with the Master Builder, each player reveals their Bonus cards and scores VPs as indicated.

4. Scoring Leftover Money: Each player scores 1 VP per 10000 in coins remaining, rounded down (e.g. 29000 coins scores 2 VPs).

The Winner

After scoring end-game bonuses, the player with the most VPs wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with the largest castle (total square footage) wins. If still tied, the tied player with the most money wins. If still tied, the first tied player to grab the Master Builder token wins.

Solo Mode

Setup

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

Gameplay

1. Each round, flip over 3 Room cards and place the Rooms in order under the 2000, 4000, and 6000 spaces. These are your Room choices for this round; you may not rearrange them.
2. Take your turn as normal, either buying 1 Room or taking 5000 in coins. If you buy a Room, pay its price to the supply.
3. At the end of each round, discard all leftover Room tiles and return them to the game box. If you take 5000 instead of buying a Room, or if you build a Hallway or Stairs, you still remove the tiles from below the scoreboard.

Final Scoring

Count up your final score (skipping King's Favors) and determine your rank:

• Under 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
• Over 110 — Regal Supreme Chancellor of Grand Castle Construction

Room Types

Activity Rooms

• Special Rules: Each Activity Room has an adjacency penalty, which subtracts VPs for adjacent Rooms of certain types. (A Room is adjacent if it touches any part of the Activity Room, not just if it is connected at an entrance.) An Activity Room can be worth negative VPs if its adjacency penalty exceeds its VP value plus bonuses.
• Completion Reward: Gain 5 VPs.

Corridors

Your Foyer, Hallways (both regular and downstairs), Stairs, and larger halls are all Corridors that lead from room to room.

• Special Rules: Hallway tiles are double-sided, with a lighter side for upstairs Hallways and a darker side for Downstairs Hallways. When placed, a Hallway tile must be flipped to the appropriate side (upstairs if it connects to regular Rooms, downstairs if it connects to Downstairs Rooms). Downstairs Hallways do not count as Downstairs Rooms. Stairs connect Downstairs Rooms to the rest of your castle: the lighter end may only connect to regular (upstairs) Rooms, and the darker end may only connect to Downstairs Rooms or Downstairs Hallways. You may not place 2 Stairs so they connect to each other.
• Completion Reward: Take either a Hallway or Stairs tile at no cost, then place and score it immediately. This reward may only be earned once per turn. (Your Foyer counts as a Corridor, and you gain a reward if you complete it.)

Downstairs Rooms

These are Rooms the King never really invites guests to view.

• Special Rules: Downstairs Rooms can only be connected to the darker end of Stairs tiles, to other Downstairs Rooms, or to Downstairs Hallways. All Downstairs Rooms score VPs for the indicated type; if you already have a Downstairs Room, you gain the bonus each time you place a new Room of any of the indicated types. When you place a Downstairs Room that awards VPs for Downstairs Rooms, include the Room itself. (You can't buy a Downstairs Room until you have at least 1 Stairs tile.)
• Completion Reward: For every 2nd Downstairs Room you complete, gain your choice of the other 7 completion rewards. If you choose the Living Room reward, you must re-score the Downstairs Room you just completed.

Food Rooms

• Completion Reward: Take another turn immediately. Your extra turn happens before the next player in turn order takes their turn. You may use this extra turn to buy a Room (including Hallways or Stairs) or to pass and gain 5000. Any payment goes to the Master Builder (or the supply if you are the Master Builder). If you complete multiple Food Rooms during your turn, you may take 1 extra turn for each of them; each extra turn counts as a new turn for "once per turn" effects, including the Corridor completion reward.

Living Rooms

• Completion Reward: Re-score VPs for this Room as if you had just placed it. This includes the Room's VP value and connection bonus.

Outdoor Rooms

• Special Rules: Outdoor Rooms may not have any Rooms adjacent to the fenced edge. No Rooms may ever legally be placed adjacent to this edge, and Outdoor Rooms may not be placed if this edge would be adjacent to any part of another Room. (Touching the stone wall at either corner of the fenced edge does not count as touching the fence itself, so it is legal.)
• Completion Reward: Take 10000 in coins from the supply.

Sleeping Rooms

• Completion Reward: Secretly look through any 1 stack of Room tiles (except Stairs or Hallways) and choose 0, 1, or 2 Rooms from that stack. Place them face down in any order on top of the Room deck. Shuffle the remaining tiles in the stack and return it to its space on the scoreboard. At the start of the next round, if there are empty market spaces for your player count, the Master Builder must first refill the market with tiles placed on top of the Room card deck. If a Sleeping Room reward is claimed in the last round of the game, instead place the chosen Rooms face up on top of the discard pile; these Rooms will not be drawn, but can empty a stack so Rooms of that size score 2 VPs each at game end.

Utility Rooms

• Completion Reward: Draw 2 Bonus Cards from the Bonus Card deck. Keep 1 and place the other on the bottom of the Bonus Card deck. (There is no limit to the number of Bonus cards you can have.)

List of King's Favors

Each King's Favor scores VPs by rank (1st: 8, 2nd: 4, 3rd: 2, 4th: 1).

• Room Type by Number: Each player counts the number of Rooms of the indicated type in their castle.
• Room Type by Size: Each player adds up the total square footage of all Rooms of the indicated type in their castle.
• Small Rooms: Count 100–300 sq ft Rooms (not including Foyers or Hallways).
• Large Rooms: Count 350–600 sq ft Rooms.
• Square Rooms: Count square Rooms (100 and 400 sq ft).
• Round Rooms: Count round Rooms (150 and 500 sq ft).
• Completed Rooms: Count Rooms with all entrances connected to other Rooms. If this Favor appears to the right of the Incomplete Rooms Favor, discard it and draw a new one.
• Incomplete Rooms: Count Rooms with at least 1 entrance not connected to another Room (an unconnected entrance or one blocked by a wall). If this Favor appears to the right of the Completed Rooms Favor, discard it and draw a new one.
• External Entrances: Count external entrances in your castle (not including entrances on Corridors). An external entrance is an open entrance on an outside edge (not an enclosed area).
• Leftover Money: Count the total value of the coins you have left at the end of the game.

List of Bonus Cards

• Rooms of Different Size Bonus: Score 8 VPs if you have all 10 different Room sizes in your castle. Having more than 1 of each size does not score extra.
• Rooms of Different Type Bonus: Score 7 VPs if you have all 8 different Room types in your castle.
• Hallway Bonus: Score 1 VP for each Hallway and Downstairs Hallway in your castle.
• Stairs Bonus: Score 2 VPs for each Stairs in your castle.
• Completed Rooms Bonus: Score 1 VP for every 2 completed Rooms in your castle.
• Square Rooms Bonus: Score 1 VP for each square Room (100 and 400 sq ft) in your castle.
• Round Rooms Bonus: Score 1 VP for each round Room (150 and 500 sq ft) in your castle.
• Leftover Money Bonus: Score 1 VP for every 5000 in coins you have at game end (in addition to the normal 1 VP per 10000 you have at game end).
• External Entrances Bonus: Score 1 VP for every 2 external entrances in your castle (not including entrances on Corridors).
• Room Type Bonus: Score VPs based on the number of Rooms of the indicated type in your castle. (8 different Room Type Bonus cards.)
• Room Size Bonus: Score VPs based on the number of Rooms of the indicated size in your castle. (10 different Room Size Bonus cards.)

The 8 Room Types

• Activity Rooms
• Corridors (Foyer, Hallways, Stairs, larger halls)
• Downstairs Rooms
• Food Rooms
• Living Rooms
• Outdoor Rooms
• Sleeping Rooms
• Utility Rooms