Royale (2020)
Royale (2020) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 Resource Cards (2 Grain, 2 Wood, 2 Iron, 2 Stone)
- 7 Gold Cards
- 3 Glory Cards
Setup for 5 Players
Select one player to be the Queen and give them 2 Gold Cards. The remaining four players are Citizens.
Shuffle together 3 Glory Cards and 1 Gold Card, and deal one face down to each Citizen.
Shuffle the remaining cards and deal them face down to the Citizens so each has four total cards.
The Citizens publicly select different roles so there is one player in each role, then pick up their cards.
Citizens will always rotate their cards so that their chosen role is on top facing the other players.
The Citizen to the left of the Queen plays first.
Gameplay
Starting with the Citizen to the left of the Queen, players take turns in clockwise order around the table, collecting and using their cards as follows:
A Citizen will optionally Work, but must Ship, on their turn.
The Queen will Tax one Citizen on their turn.
Citizen's Turn - Work
A Citizen with both of their role's Resource Cards can Exchange them for gold.
Exchange: The Citizen Exchanges their Resource Cards for 1 Gold from the Queen. If the Queen doesn't have gold, the Citizen receives nothing. The Queen chooses 2 different Citizens and gives one of the Resource Cards to each.
Citizen's Turn - Ship
The Citizen must then select one or two cards and Ship them face down to the next Citizen on their right (skipping over the Queen as needed).
Search: Before the recipient sees the cards being shipped, the Queen will choose either to allow the shipment through, or to attempt to search it for contraband by paying 1 Gold to the recipient.
Bribe: After receiving their gold, the recipient may choose to pay 3 Gold to the Queen to avoid the search. The Queen must accept the bribe and allow the shipment through without seeing the cards. The sender cannot signal in any way whether the recipient should bribe the Queen.
If the shipment is searched, the Queen looks at the cards. The Queen can reveal a Glory Card to win the game. They can reveal any number of Gold Cards and take them from the recipient. Remaining cards go to the recipient.
If the shipment is not searched, the recipient receives the cards.
After the shipment has been resolved, the turn ends and the next player begins their turn.
Queen's Turn - Tax
The Queen may choose one Citizen to tax. The chosen Citizen must give all of their Gold Cards to the Queen. The turn then ends and the next player begins their turn.
Notes
Players may not look at the shipment before the Queen decides whether or not to search.
The recipient may not look at the shipment before they decide whether or not to bribe.
Only the recipient may bribe the Queen.
The Queen may only search if they have at least 1 Gold, and the recipient may only bribe if they have at least 3 Gold.
If a Citizen has no cards in hand, they will not Ship.
Winning the Game
The Queen wins the game if they collect all 7 Gold Cards or if they reveal a Glory Card during a search.
The Citizens win the game if any Citizen collects and reveals all 3 Glory Cards. They can do this at any time.
Variant for 3-4 Players
Simulated players called Serfs will fill the roles of missing Citizens, so a 4-player game will have one Serf and a 3-player game will have two.
Setup
Begin as normal by selecting the Queen, dealing hands, and rotating Citizens' cards to indicate roles. The Queen chooses the table positions of Serfs in relation to human Citizens. Serfs' hands are kept face down on the table with their role rotated to face the center of the table.
Serf's Turn
Serfs do not Work or Ship as Citizens do during their turn. Instead, the Queen shuffles the Serf's face-down cards and reveals two of those cards, one at a time, resolving each as follows:
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If one of the Serf's Resource Cards or a Gold Card is revealed, leave it face up, and the Queen must pass one of the Serf's face-down cards to the next Citizen on the Serf's right (skipping over the Queen and other Serfs as needed). If at this time both of the Serf's Resource Cards are face up in their hand, they must be Exchanged with the Queen for gold. The gold is kept face-up in the Serf's hand.
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If another role's Resource Card is revealed, the Queen will pass it to the next Citizen on the Serf's right.
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If a Glory Card is revealed, the Queen must pass it to the human Citizen of their choice. The Queen does not win the game by revealing a Glory Card from a Serf.
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If the Serf has no face-down cards to reveal, or if the Serf has no face-down cards to pass, the Queen chooses one of the Serf's face-up cards to pass instead. If the Serf has no cards, nothing happens.
When a Serf passes a card to a Citizen, it is placed face down in the Citizen's hand.
Citizen's Turn (with Serfs)
Human Citizens play as normal, with the following two exceptions.
If the Queen attempts to search a shipment going to a Serf, any player may opt to bribe the Queen.
Players may use 3 face-up Gold cards from a single Serf's hand instead of their own gold to bribe.
At any time, if a Citizen believes that a Serf has 3 Glory Cards, they can reveal the Serf's hand. If 3 Glory Cards are revealed, the Citizens win. Otherwise, give all gold in the Serf's hand to the Queen, shuffle the remaining cards, and return them face down to the Serf's hand.
Queen's Turn (with Serfs)
The Queen may choose to collect up to 3 face-up gold from Serfs' hands instead of taxing a Citizen on their turn.
Winning the Game (with Serfs)
Players win in the same ways as in the base game, except human Citizens can also win by revealing 3 Glory Cards in a Serf's hand as described above.