The White Castle
The heron flies over the Himeji sky while the Daimyo, from the top of the castle, watches his servants move. Gardeners tend the pond, where the koi carp live, warriors stand guard on the walls, and courtiers crowd the gates, pining for an audience that brings them closer to the innermost circles of the court. When night falls, the lanterns are lit and the workers return to their clan.
In The White Castle, players will control one of these clans in order to score more victory points than the rest. To do so, they must amass influence in the court, manage resources boldly, and place their workers in the right place at the right time. The authors are Sheila Santos and Israel Cendrero, the duo known as Llama Dice who also designed the successful The Red Cathedral with Devir. In this case, we leave the Moscow of Ivan the Terrible behind to explore the most imposing fortress in modern Japan, Himeji Castle, where the banner of the Sakai clan flies under the orders of Daimyo Sakai Tadakiyo.
Number of players: 1 - 4
Game duration: 33 mn
Complexity: 3 / 5
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Play The White Castle and 1092 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Rounds
Players take turns placing dice, the round ends when each player has placed 3 dice.
On Your Turn
Play is resolved in this order.
- Choose a dice from either end of any of the bridges and choose the location to activate with that die.
- If you used a die with a value lower than the space, you will need to pay the difference of pips as coins. If you used a die with value higher than the space, you will get the difference of pips as coins.
- If you took the die from the left (lower die) of a bridge you additionally get to do your lantern action, the cards tucked on your play board.
- Perform the main action of your die.
Placement Areas
Castle Dice can be placed in any of the 5 spaces on the first level and second level of the castle. Perform all actions that match the colour of your selected die.
Outside the Walls Place die of any colour and take the adjacent principal action (Gardner, Courtier, Warrior)
Personal Domain Gain the resources of all revealed spaces, then perform the action on the card that lines up with the row.
Principal Actions
Gardener Choose a garden card without one of your gardeners, pay the cost in food to place and activate the card. This card will activate again if there is a die left above it at the end of the round.
Courtier Either, Pay 2 coins to place a courtier in the courtyard, AND/OR Pay 2 or 5 mother of pearl resources to move a courtier up 1 or 2 levels. If your courtier ends on the top level of the castle gain a lantern award (your player boards tucked cards) and place your courtier on an empty bonus space. Otherwise on level 1 and 2 pick a card to take and do one of the light banner actions, then it will flip over and add to your future lantern actions.
Warrior Choose any yard (top right corner) and pay the iron resource costs to place a warrior and gain the rewards. These will also multiply your score for your courtiers in the castle at the end of the game.
Daimyo Actions
You can spend your Daimyo seals to exchange resources at 2-1, or coins at 1-1.
End of Round
Turn order will adjust based on who is furthest right and top down on the Passage of Time (Stork) track.
If dice are left on bridges gardeners will reactivate. The gardeners do not reactivate after the final round.
Round will advance, the game ends after round 3.
End of Game Scoring
Score Remaining Resources:
- For every 5 coins and/or Daimyo Seals you have, 1 Clan Point is granted (rounded down).
- For each Resource that you have between 3 and 6 units remaining, 1 Clan Point is granted. If you have 7 units of a Resource left, you get 2 Clan Points.
Score the Passage of Time:
If your Influence marker has reached the second season, you get 3 Clan Points. If it ends up in the third season, then you get 6 Clan Points. Once you reach the fourth season, you are granted the score indicated on the space that your token occupies (which is between 10 and 15 Clan Points).
Score Clan Members:
- In the Castle: Each Courtier that is in the Castle grants Clan Points depending on the location they are in:
- 1 Clan Point at the Gate.
- 3 Clan Points if they are on the first floor (Stewards).
- 6 Clan Points if they are on the second floor (Diplomats)
- 10 Clan Points if they are on the third floor (Daimyo).
- In the Training Yards: You gain Clan Points for the Yard by multiplying the total value of your Warriors in this location by the number of Courtiers that you have inside the Castle (not at the Gate): Each Warrior has the value indicated in the Yard they occupy based on these icons.
- In the Gardens: Each Gardener grants their Clan as many Clan Points as is shown on the card they are on.
Whoever obtains the most Clan Points wins the game! If there is a tie, whoever is higher in the order of turns wins.
