The Palace of Mad King Ludwig Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Object of the Game
• Gameplay
  • Place a Room Tile in the Palace
  • Matching Swans
  • Place a Hallway or Stair Tile in the Palace
  • No Legal Placement
  • Place a Room Tile on Your Blueprints Board
  • Place a Favor Tile on Your Blueprints Board
  • End of Turn
• Completing Tiles
  • Room Types
• Moats
• Blueprints Board
  • Anatomy of the Blueprints Board
  • Ongoing Abilities
  • End Game Abilities
• Game End
• Scoring
• Tile Rewards
  • Immediate Rewards
  • End of Game Rewards
• Favor Tiles
• Credits

Contents

• 15 Activity Room tiles
• 14 Downstairs Room tiles
• 12 Food Room tiles
• 16 Living Room tiles
• 12 Sleeping Room tiles
• 12 Utility Room tiles
• 10 Stair tiles
• 15 Hallway tiles
• 32 Favor tiles
• 94 Moat tiles
• 4 Blueprints boards
• 160 Player markers (4 colors, 40 of each)
• 300 Swan tokens (5 colors, 60 of each)
• 15 Secret Swan tokens (5 colors, 3 of each)
• 1 Scorepad
• 1 three-piece Garden board

Setup

1. Each player takes a Blueprints board and places it in front of him.
2. Place the Garden board near the center of the table, with the lake toward the outside of the table.
3. Place all of the Moat tiles in small stacks along the edges of the lake on the Garden board.
4. Put the Swan tokens in the lake.
5. Place all the Secret Swan tokens facedown on the bridge.
6. Place the Stair tiles faceup on this square.
7. Shuffle the Favor tiles facedown. Place them on the Favor Stack square on the right side of the board.
8. Take the top four Favor tiles and place them faceup on the four Public Favor spots. If two favors directly oppose each other (for instance, "Most Red Swans" and "Fewest Red Swans"), place the "Fewest" version of the tile on the bottom of the stack and draw a replacement.
9. Shuffle the Hallway tiles and place three random Hallway tiles in a line that begins next to the bridge and extends perpendicular from the Garden board. Place the rest of the Hallway tiles faceup on the Hallway spot on the Garden board.
10. Shuffle the Room tiles facedown and divide them into five roughly even stacks. Place each stack on one of the empty room spaces along the left side of the Garden board.
11. Place the top six tiles of the leftmost Room stack, one each, faceup, on the six spots of the Room Row at the bottom left of the Garden board.

Each player takes a Blueprints board and the corresponding Player markers, placing them white side up, and draws three facedown Favor tiles. You may place one of these Favor tiles in a Blueprints board slot of your choice (horizontal, not diagonal), and return the other two facedown to the bottom of the Favor tile stack, or you may return all three facedown to the bottom of the Favor tile stack.

Choose a start player at random.

Object of the Game

Players work together build a giant, epic Palace for the Mad King. The Palace will slowly be surrounded by a moat as it is built. Earn rewards for completing each of the different room types. In addition, collect swans to turn in sets at the end of the game for additional points. All scoring is done at the end of the game, when the Palace is complete, so you can focus on building.

The player who contributed the most to the Palace at the end of the game wins!

Gameplay

Beginning with the start player, take turns in clockwise order.

On your turn, choose one of the actions along the bottom of the garden board:

• Place a Room tile in the Palace
• Place a Hallway or Stair tile in the Palace
• Place a Room tile on your Blueprints board
• Place a Favor tile on your Blueprints board

Place a Room Tile in the Palace

Choose a Room tile from the Room Row on the Garden board. Add it to the Palace, place one of your Player markers (white side up) on it, and place another Player marker on your Blueprints board in the row that matches the type of room you placed (if you already have a Player marker in that row, slide the Player marker one space to the right instead).

Anatomy of a Room: Each room tile shows a Room name, a Room type icon, a Reward for completing this room, up to four Entrances (which may show a Swan color), and a Player marker spot (shown white side up for rooms that are not complete; flip to the colored side for rooms that are complete).

The cost to place a Room tile is equal to the number of swans below its space on the Room Row. If a space has no swans below it, the tile is free to place. You may pay with swans of any color. Place swans back in the supply (in the lake).

The tile must align with the tile grid, and at least one entrance on the tile must connect to an existing entrance in the Palace.

You may block entrances on adjacent tiles as long as at least one other entrance on the adjacent tile still connects to the Palace (You must be able to get to any room in the Palace from the bridge on the Garden board).

Downstairs rooms may only be placed next to the downstairs side of a Stair tile or connecting to another Downstairs room.

The table edge defines the boundary of where tiles can be placed. All players must place Room tiles so that there is still enough space on the table to surround them with Moat tiles. No one may shift the Palace during the game to create more space on either side.

At least one upstairs room entrance must be available for placing rooms that extend into the open (unfinished) area of the Palace. The only exception to this is if Moat tiles will connect to end the game, blocking off that entrance.

Matching Swans

If a tile is placed so that a swan color in an entrance matches the swan color in an adjoining entrance, the players who own the two adjacent tiles each receive a swan of that color.

Gray swans are wild, and always match their adjacent color. If two gray swans are adjacent, each player may select a swan color of his choice.

No player may receive more than one swan for a single match; if you match a swan to one on a tile you already own, you get only one swan of that color.

Swans are unlimited; if you ever run out of a color of swans, use something else to mark any additional swans that are needed.

Place a Hallway or Stair Tile in the Palace

Hallway and Stair tiles may be placed in the Palace at no cost.

Each Hallway tile has a different set/layout of swans on it. When you place a Hallway tile, you must use the top tile on the stack. Just like other rooms, you must connect an entrance of the Hallway to the rest of the Palace.

Place Stair tiles so that the light end is against an upstairs tile or the dark end is against a downstairs tile. (All tiles except Downstairs room tiles and the dark end of Stair tiles are "upstairs" tiles.) You may not place the dark end of two Stair tiles against each other, but you may place the light end of two Stair tiles against each other.

After a Hallway or Stair tile is placed, you may choose a faceup Room tile from the board to discard (if you do, pay any swan cost to the supply).

No Legal Placement

If all of the available tiles may not be legally placed (including Hallway and Stair tiles), discard all six faceup tiles from the Room Row. Then refill the entire Room Row from the leftmost Room stack.

Place a Room Tile on Your Blueprints Board

Pay any 3 swans of your choice to the supply. Then choose a Room tile from the Room Row, paying additional swans as necessary based on the cost of the Room tile. (You may not choose a Hallway or Stair tile.)

Place the chosen Room tile facedown diagonally on an empty slot on your Blueprints board. This activates the ability for that slot (see "Blueprints board" below for a description of each slot). If all six slots on your Blueprints board are full, you may not take this action.

Place a Favor Tile on Your Blueprints Board

Pay any 3 swans of your choice to the supply. Then pick up three Favor tiles from the top of the Favor stack. Place one of them in a flat orientation on an empty spot on your Blueprints board, and return the other two facedown to the bottom of the Favor deck. You do not have to keep any Favor tiles, but this still consumes your single action for the turn and you do not get your swans back. If all six slots on your Blueprints board are full, you may not take this action.

End of Turn

If you placed a Room tile (in the Palace or on your Blueprints board), slide room tiles to the right to fill in the gap, then fill any empty spaces on the left side of the Room Row with tiles from the leftmost room stack.

Completing Tiles

Tiles are completed when all their entrances are connected to other entrances (not blocked off by the walls of tiles or any part of the moat). Swans do not have to match for a room to be completed.

When a tile is completed, three things happen:

1. The player who owns the completed tile flips his Player marker over to the colored side (white side down).
2. The owner of the completed tile receives the completion reward indicated on the tile immediately if it is a Living, Sleeping, Food, or Hallway tile.
3. The player who just placed a tile to complete the room places Moat tile(s) as indicated on the Garden board. See the section Moats below for more details.

If more than one tile is completed at one time, resolve rewards in turn order starting with the player who is currently taking a turn. If a single player has more than one completed tile, he may choose the order in which they are activated.

Room Types

• Living
• Food
• Sleeping
• Hallway
• Downstairs
• Stairs
• Utility
• Activity

Moats

When you complete a tile, you also often add Moat tiles to the table to close in the Palace.

At the beginning of the game, no Moat symbols have been revealed yet, and you do not place any Moat tiles.

Once the leftmost Room stack has been depleted one Moat symbol will appear. From that point forward, you must place one Moat tile for each visible Moat symbol every time a room is completed. When the second Room stack is depleted, another Moat symbol will be visible, so two Moat tiles are placed when a room is completed. When the third stack is depleted, you'll place four Moat tiles, and when the fourth stack is gone you'll be placing six Moat tiles.

If you complete more than one room with a single tile placement, place Moats tiles equal to the number of Moat symbols shown in the top row of the Garden board for each completed room.

Place new Moat tiles on the table orthogonally adjacent to the existing Moat along the edge of the Palace. You may choose either or both sides of the Palace to add Moat tiles.

If there are any "inlets" of just a few spaces around the edge of the Palace, Moat tiles must fill in those inlets before continuing around the rest of the Palace.

Moat tiles may not close off the last playable entrance on the last remaining upstairs room, unless the two ends of the moat will join each other with that placement, ending the game (see Game End below). Likewise, there must always be an open upstairs path "out" from at least one upstairs entrance to the opening between the moat ends.

If an area within the Palace is completely enclosed with walls and has no entrance into it, you may choose to place Moat tiles there instead of along the outside edge of the Palace. Those empty areas do not have to be filled, and the game end condition still occurs if enclosed areas are not filled with Moat tiles.

If the Palace extends to the edge of the Garden board before any Moat tiles are placed on that side of the Palace, place a Moat tile at the edge of the board and extend the moat from there.

Blueprints Board

Your Blueprints board provides you with information about the rooms you've placed and has slots for up to six facedown Room tiles (diagonally) or Favor tiles (horizontally).

The center section lets you track which rooms you have placed in the Palace. As you place a room on your turn, place a Player marker on the leftmost spot of the corresponding row to that room type. If a Player marker is already in that row, slide that Player marker one space to the right. If you place more than five of a room type, place a second Player marker in the leftmost spot (leaving the first Player marker on the fifth spot), and then slide the new Player marker to the right for subsequent room placements.

The items on the left, lighter side of the Blueprints board are Abilities you receive immediately, while the items on the right, darker side are Abilities you receive at the end of the game.

When you reach the third column of each room type (meaning you personally have placed 3 rooms of that type), you instantly receive a swan of the color indicated from the lake. A gray swan means you may choose which swan you receive. When you reach the fifth column of each room type, you will receive 10 points at the end of the game.

If you have built at least one room of each type, you will receive 10 points at the end of the game, as indicated by the "10" at the bottom of the first column. If you build at least 2 of each type, you'll receive an additional 20 points (for a total of 30 for the first two columns). If you build at least 3 of each type, you'll receive an additional 30 points (for a total of 60 points for the first three columns).

Placing a facedown Favor tile in a slot (always horizontally) allows you to score that Favor tile at the end of the game, if that tile's condition is met. Placing a facedown Room tile in a slot (always placed diagonally) activates that slot's Ability. Once you place a tile on your Blueprints board, you may not move it to a different slot. Once you fill all six slots, you may no longer place Room or Favor tiles on your Blueprints board for any reason. If full, this means you do not collect the reward for completing Food or Sleeping rooms.

Anatomy of the Blueprints Board

Ongoing Ability slots are unlocked by placing diagonal Room tiles or blocked by placing horizontal Favor tiles. End of Game Ability slots that are unlocked by placing diagonal Room tiles or blocked by placing horizontal Favor tiles.

Room counter: place a marker on the appropriate row when you place your first room of that type. Slide an existing player marker to the right when you place subsequent rooms of any type. If you place more than five rooms of a type, place an additional marker on that row, keeping the original one on the "5" spot.

Immediate rewards: immediately take the swan shown when you place your third room of each type.

End of game rewards: score 10 points for placing five or more rooms of a type. Score 10 points for placing one of each room type, 20 additional points for placing two of each, and 30 additional points for placing three of each.

Ongoing Abilities

These three slots along the left of your Blueprints board provide abilities that remain active for the rest of the game. Activate them by placing a Room tile diagonally in the appropriate slot.

1 Swan Discount: There are two of these slots. Each slot reduces the cost of Garden board purchases by one swan. With one of these slots active, items that normally cost 1 swan are free, items that cost 2 swans cost only 1 swan, and items that cost 3 swans cost only 2 swans. Items that were already free remain free.

If both slots are activated, items that cost 0, 1, or 2 swans are now free. Items that cost 3 swans now cost only 1 swan.

You may not pay more swans than you owe at any time. Having both of these abilities active makes it difficult to get rid of swans if there are any Fewest Swan Favors active.

Move up to 2 Moat Tiles: You may move up to 2 Moat tiles from one end of the moat to the other at any time during your turn. In addition, if any Moat tiles are in a walled-off area, they may be moved to or from those areas (instead of just the two ends).

End Game Abilities

These three slots along the right of your Blueprints board provide endgame abilities. Activate them by placing a Room tile diagonally in the appropriate slot.

+10 points: Score 10 extra points at the end of the game.

Score Tied Favors: Score points for any favors you are tied on.

+3 Swans: Gain three swans of your choice as soon as the game ends.

Game End

The game is over at the end of any turn when one of the following happens:

1. The two ends of the moat connect orthogonally or diagonally.
2. The Moat tile stacks are all depleted.
3. The facedown Room tile stacks on the Garden board are all depleted.

Any Room, Hallway, or Stairs tile may be placed to end the game if placing that tile results in the two ends of the moat connecting to each other, even if it blocks off the last upstairs room entrance.

After the moat is connected and the last player's turn is over, the game ends.

All players who activated the +3 Swans end game ability on their Blueprints board immediately take all of their additional game-end swans in clockwise order, starting with the player to the left of the player who had the last turn, and ending with the player who had the last turn.

Scoring

Choose someone relatively good at addition to be the scorekeeper. Use the enclosed scorepad and score each line item in order for each player.

Blueprints Board. Score:

• 10 points if you placed a room tile in the +10 slot on your Blueprints board
• 10 points for each row of rooms you completed on your Blueprints board
• The sum of points for any columns of rooms you completed on your Blueprints board.

Stairs. Score 3 points for each downstairs room any of your completed Stairs are connected to.

Utility Rooms. Based on the black bubbles on Utility Room tiles you own, score 3 points for:

• each swan you have
• each room you own
• each favor on your Blueprints board

Activity Rooms. Score 7 points for each of your completed Activity Rooms.

Swan Sets. Score points for sets of different-colored swans (including Secret Swans which are turned so their colored side is face up). Swans may only be allocated to one set when scoring.

• 10 points for each set of 5 different-colored swans
• 7 points for each set of 4 different-colored swans
• 4 points for each set of 3 different-colored swans
• 2 points for each set of 2 different-colored swans
• 1 point for each single-colored swan

Favors. Determine who won each of the public favors. For ties, give the full amount of points on the favor to each of the tied players who have the Score Tied Favors ability activated.

Then determine which personal favors each player won (horizontal, next to that player's Blueprints board), and add those points to the points they received for any public favors.

The scorekeeper totals up the score for each player. The player with the most points wins.

Breaking Ties: If two or more players are tied for the most points, the tied player with the most total swans (both regular and secret) wins. If there is still a tie, King Ludwig loses his patience after all that counting and the inability of the tied players to be noticeably superior, so all the tied players lose, and the player with the next highest score wins.

Tile Rewards

Room tile owners receive rewards for each completed Room tile, indicated by the icon in the upper left of the tile. Some of these rewards happen Immediately during the game (white border) while others happen at the end of the game during scoring (black border).

Immediate Rewards

Living: You receive an additional set of all swans in the Living Room that match connected rooms.

Food: Take three Favor tiles from the stack and place one of them in an open slot on your Blueprints board. Then place the other two on the bottom of the Favor stack. If no slots are available on your Blueprints board, you do not get this reward. If you do not want to keep any of the Favor tiles, you may place all of them back on the bottom of the stack.

Sleeping: You may take a room tile from the Room Row, paying additional swans as necessary based on the cost of the Room tile. Then add it to your Blueprints board face down diagonally to activate one of the available abilities. If no slots are available on your Blueprints board, you do not get this reward.

Hallway: You receive the two swans shown in the white reward bubble in the upper left corner of the tile.

Downstairs: Take one Secret Swan from the bridge, secretly view it, and place it facedown with your other swans. You may look at your Secret Swans at any time during the game.

Secret Swans count toward Favors, Utility Rooms, and for swan points at the end of the game. You may use any of your Secret Swans (in combination with regular swans or by themselves) to pay for actions that cost swans; when you do, place the Secret Swan face down on the bridge with the other Secret Swans, and shuffle them up by moving them around a bit.

End of Game Rewards

Stairs: Score 3 points for each downstairs room in the downstairs section connected to your completed Stair tiles. Those downstairs rooms do not need to be completed and they may be owned by any player.

Utility: Score 3 points for each item shown in the black reward bubble in the upper left corner of the tile which you have (i.e., swans, favors, or rooms you own, regardless of completion) as indicated on each of your Utility Room tiles.

Activity: Score 7 points for each of your completed Activity rooms.

Favor Tiles

Favor tiles provide points to the player who has the most (large arrow pointing up and to the right) or fewest (small arrow pointing down and to the right) of a specific item: room tiles, swans, or room tiles/favor tiles on his Blueprints board. The symbols on the favor tiles correspond to the item with the same symbol. This is a quick reference to the symbols you'll find on the Favor tiles.

Most: You must have more of this item than any of your opponents.

Fewest: You must have fewer of this item than any of your opponents. Having zero of an item is an eligible number for winning these favors.

Room Types: The number of rooms of a specific type that you own, whether completed or not.

Swan Colors: The number of swans that you have at the end of the game of a particular color (including Secret Swans of that color).

Secret Swans/Total Number of All Swans: The number of secret swans (of any color) / The total number of all swans that you have at the end of the game of all colors (including Secret Swans).

Blueprints Board Room Tiles: The number of Room tiles that have been placed facedown diagonally along the edge of your Blueprints board.

Blueprints Board Favor Tiles: The number of Favor tiles that have been placed facedown horizontally along the edge of your Blueprints board.

Credits

Playtesters: Carol Alspach, Toni Alspach, Jason Boles, Bay Chang, Ted Cheatam, Ting Chow, Angela Chung, Nat Cruca, Audrey Cueto, Jim Ferguson, Bill Gallagher, Shelley Ganschow, Doug Garrett, Alex Holmes, Sean Holmes, Joe Huber, Markus Iturriaga, Eli Lester, Dean Lizardo, Chandra Martin, Ryan Moore, Sheila Morton, Bryon Quick, Whitney Ryan, Vincent Salzillo, Steve Samson, Phoebe Wild, Scotti Whitmore, Avonelle Wing, Karen Woodmansee, and many more.

Designer: Ted Alspach has designed a bunch of games, including One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Suburbia, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Werewords.

Developer: Dale Yu has done development for some really awesome games, like Suburbia and Castles of Mad King Ludwig, as well as less awesome ones, like the relatively obscure Dominion. Dale is also the designer of a KDJ-nominated game.

Cover Artwork: Ollin Timm is an architect who has painted covers for several awesome boardgames, including Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Favor of the Pharaoh, and Colony.

Graphic Design/Artwork: Stephanie Gustaffson has provided graphic design for great games such as Werewords, Colony, America, and New York Slice.

Graphic Design/Production: Jason Boles has provided production graphic design for wonderful games such as Whistle Stop, Werewords, and New York Slice.

For Bezier Games:

• CEO: Ted Alspach
• COO: Toni Alspach
• App Developer: Jeremiah Maher
• Q/A Manager & Event Manager: Bryon Quick
• Retail Show Manager: Steve Samson
• Site Manager: Carol Alspach
• Social Media Manager: Phoebe Wild
• Editorial Manager & Licensing Manager: Jeff Quick
• Customer Support Manager: Ryan Moore

The Palace of Mad King Ludwig is copyright ©2017 by Bezier Games, Inc. The Palace of Mad King Ludwig is a trademark of Bezier Games, Inc. The contents of these rules may not be copied, posted online, or distributed in any way without express written permission by Bezier Games, Inc.