Castles of Mad King Ludwig

This is not a cheap game, but the new edition is well-made and has very good artwork. It’s funny – it’s fun to just play the game, but there is quite a bit of strategy to it, and you aren’t going to win by just having fun. It’s not too hard to pick up, though, and not too long of a game to play. Also, you feel like you are getting a lot for what you buy, because the box is so big!

Very challenging game. Only played once so far but looking forward to playing again.

I bought this game despite having promised myself that I wouldn't buy any new games for a while - but my wife had seen it online and expressed an interest in it. We love playing Carcassonne, and the idea of playing a tile-based building game which also involved building a castle was too much for her to resist! So I bought it. As with most games, it took a little time to understand the rules, but once we got the hang of it, which was really pretty quick, we found this to be very enjoyable. Others have described the gameplay so I won't go into that here. I'll just add a few thoughts of my own. 1. Whoever said they think it'll be a Spiel des Jahres contender is spot on. This fulfills a criterion I have for a great game, which is that it is elegant, by which I mean that the gameplay is self-evident and makes sense within itself. There are no rules which seem out of place, it all fits together logically and simply. 2. It has high replay value; we've already played it multiple times and I think it will easily become as popular with us as Carcassonne. 3. It works well with kids: our 13 year old daughter and 12 year old son enjoy it, and when my wife and I played by ourselves, the kids wanted to see the pictures of the castles we made so they could enjoy the layout and talk about it. 4. It works well for 2, 3 or 4 players. Some games are much better with certain numbers of players, but so far we have found no difference in enjoyability. There are differences in dynamics, but not in the fun. My wife also played by herself, by the way (and my son used all the pieces to make one mega-castle, just for the fun of it!), and had fun with it that way too. 5. So far, one change we make to the rules: add in more room cards. For example, with 2 players you're supposed to use 22 cards - we used 34 cards last time and it worked excellently. The game didn't seem overlong at all (I didn't time it, but it seemed to fly by!) and the castles were much more impressive! With 4 players, use all the cards. 6. Make up a story about your castles! Last time, mine was the 'party castle' (lots of entertaining rooms, gardens, and a nice pumpkin patch off the royal bedroom!), my wife's was the introvert's castle (all private rooms and dungeons, and oddly enough, a vestibule at the far end of the underground rooms, a sort of doctor's waiting room for the torture chamber perhaps?). 7. I can see a lot of potential for expansions for this game. I'll be keeping an eye out...

I love this game! It’s got enough complexities to make every game different and interesting, yet easy enough to teach someone during the course of a single game. My friend has an older version, and I decided to add it to my own game library. This version has an upgraded organization system, and there’s plenty of room for adding on with the expansion. Though the box is bulky, I was able to travel with the game by taking just the game board and pieces in lidded trays. I’m impressed with the quality, and I definitely got my money’s worth (especially since I bought it on sale)! I highly recommend trying it out!

This is the best boardgame I bought this year. And I've gotten quite a few. Let me go on... Castles is a semi-competitive building and management game for up to 4 people. The goal of the game is to build the best castle using card-pieces of various shapes, sizes, and categories. At the start of the game, cards are drawn to determine what the Mad King desires in his castle. It could be lots of bedrooms, large rooms, outdoor spaces, etc. As gameplay progresses, you want to work on fulfilling these desires so that you get more points at the end. At the start of each round, one player is the "Master Builder" and she sets the prices for all the rooms available for purchase that round. Then each player can choose to either buy a room to place in their castle or skip a turn to collect money. If they buy a room, they place it in their castle layout however they choose. But there's a strategy to it...certain rooms get penalties if placed next to certain rooms. Or they get a bonus. Completing a room also gives you a bonus. At the end of the game, all players add up points, which can come from placing rooms, fulfilling the King's desires, or drawing goal cards. It really is a fun game. Now not all games are for all people, so I usually like to go by my wife's feelings about the game. She really really likes this one. It's definitely a challenge, but not so much that it's off-putting. There's enough thinking and strategy without being over-burdened by complicated rooms. Other games we enjoy playing together include: Blokus, Forbidden Dessert, Pandemic, and Star Fluxx.

Una excelentísima reedición de este juego, materiales de alta calidad, un juego bastante bello desplegado en mesa! La inclusión de cajitas de plástico para almacenar todas las locetas es clave en ver que vale la pena el precio de este juego. Eso si, partidas de más de 1 hora, pero que incorporando la mecánica de ser el "arquitecto" y que los demás jugadores te paguen en tu turno le agrega un sabor que en los demás juegos que tengo no encuentro. Bastante recomendado, lo hemos disfrutado cada vez que sale a mesa!

Este es un juego realmente excelente. Aparenta ser complicado y difícil, pero no lo es. Al jugarlo uno se familiariza mas fácil con los componentes. El diseño es extraordinario y muy bonito, una vez que terminas tu castillo, quedas realmente satisfecho con lo que se construyó, a pesar de no haber ganado. Hay varias formas de obtener puntos e ir a la victoria, por lo que se mantiene entretenido, divertido y se puede jugar nuevamente sin problemas. Personalmente esta entre nuestros favoritos. (Hay gente que se queja por los componentes, al ser "solo cartón", pero hay que recordar que uno paga también por la ingenieria, el mecanismo del juego y el empeño de los creadores; que esta más que merecido) P.D. No es dependiente del idioma, con que una persona lea y explique no hay problema. Aún así se explican solas las tarjetas con las imágenes.

Este es de esos juegos que disfrutan muchísimo sin importar si ganaste o no. Honestamente es súper divertido ir creando tu castillo y está padre que en cada ronda sea alguien diferente quien pone los precios de cada habitación jejeje

Llegó en perfectas condiciones y muy rápido. Fue un regalo y cumplió todas las expectativas, además de que el juego de es muy divertido y estratégico.

En relación al envío y empacado no tengo ningún problema, en ese aspecto, 5 estrellas. En relación al juego, no le pongo 5 estrellas porque hay unos detalles que puede mejorar en mi opinión. En particular de Bezier Games me han gustado los juegos de la serie One Night, y al igual que en ellos el cartón usado para los cuartos del castillo no se dobla fácilmente y los diseños de los cuartos me parecen buenos. Aunque por el precio hubiera querido que hubieran incluido algún contenedor de plástico o algo similar para guardar mejor las piezas y no bolsas ziploc. Al abrir la caja simplemente se ve sobrada, la caja pudo haber sido más chica o más delgada para evitar todo el espacio excedente. La dificultad del juego no es alta; sin embargo es preferible que se juegue con alguien que ya conoce el juego. Ésto es para que ese jugador pueda ayudar a los demás a sumar los puntos que se van haciendo con cada cuarto. Adicionalmente, el juego incluye 4 cartas de ayuda (1 para cada jugador) para saber las bonificaciones de cada cuarto y por el reverso indica los elementos a sumar o restar al terminar el turno de cada quien. En general, puedo decir que es un buen juego puede ser un poco confuso en un principio pero es bueno. En relación a los aspectos a mejorar, éstos son más que nada para el material y el acomodo dentro de la caja.