The White Castle

1.Setup

• 1 to 4 players, ages 12 and up.
• The main board goes in the middle. For a first game, the rulebook offers a ready-made layout of cards and tiles; otherwise, proceed as follows.
• With 2 players, the Steward and Diplomat cards marked with a symbol in their lower left corner stay in the box.
• Shuffle the Steward (ochre) and Diplomat (indigo) cards separately and place one face up on each room of the matching floor; the two remaining decks go on their spaces. If every card in the castle shows exactly the same action on a dark background, reshuffle them and start again.
• A random Daimyo card (grey) goes on the top floor; the others go back in the box.
• Die tiles: shuffle them, die side up, place one tile of each colour on the three marked spaces, then fill the rooms at random with the others, in numbered order. Each room must hold at least two colours: if a room on spaces 6 to 10 has only one, its last tile moves to the next free space. The two tiles of the Well are placed die side down.
• The round marker goes on the first space of its track. Coins, Daimyo seals and the +40/+80 tiles form the general supply.
• The three bridges go on the river. Keep 3 dice of each colour (black, white, coral) with 2 players, 4 with 3 players, 5 with 4 players. Roll the dice of each colour and line them up on their bridge in increasing order: the lowest on the left, by the lantern, the highest on the right.
• Under each bridge, a random Plant garden card and a random Stone garden card; the others go back in the box.
• Four random Yard tiles go on the training yards, on the right of the board.
• Each player takes a Personal Domain board and the 15 members of their clan: 5 courtiers, 5 gardeners and 5 warriors, each on their spaces. Their 3 resource cubes go on the 0 of the food, iron and mother-of-pearl tracks, and their fan token sits next to the clan points track.
• The Influence markers are stacked in random order on the heron at the start of the Passage of Time track; the Heron markers are lined up in the same order on the turn order track: the top of the stack plays first, the bottom last.
• Reveal one more Starting Resource card (orange) than there are players, and under each one a random Starting Action card (yellow): each column forms a pair.
• In reverse turn order, each player chooses a pair: the Action card goes to the right of their Domain; they gain the resource on the Resource card, which goes in their Lantern Area, at the bottom of the Domain. A Resource card that grants a Decree card (white) adds it to the Lantern Area as well.

2.How to play

• The game lasts 3 rounds; each round, every player takes 3 turns, in the order of the turn order track.
• On your turn, take a die from either end of a bridge; dice in the middle are not available. If some remain in the middle, the nearest one slides into the freed end without changing its value.
• Place that die on a die space on the main board or on your Domain. It always covers a value, printed or that of a die already there: higher, you gain the difference in coins; lower, you pay it; equal, nothing happens.
• At most two dice stack, and only on the main board; with 1 or 2 players, dice never stack.
• A die taken from the left end of a bridge, by the lantern, also gives your Lantern Reward. Then resolve the actions of the space, in any order.
• The castle: 5 rooms, 3 on the Stewards’ floor and 2 on the Diplomats’ floor. The colour of the die picks the action, the one on the card facing the die tiles of that colour. On the Stewards’ floor, if the die’s colour appears twice in the room, you may take both actions, in any order. A room with no action for a colour does not accept dice of that colour.
• Outside the Walls: two spaces open to every colour; take one of the two actions shown, which lead to the three main actions, Warrior, Gardener and Courtier.
• The Well: it is always worth 1, whatever dice are already there, and takes any number of dice without stacking. You gain 1 Daimyo seal and the benefits of its two tiles; the dice already there have no further effect.
• Your Domain: a coral die goes on the courtiers’ row, a black die on the gardeners’ row, a white die on the warriors’ row. First gain the visible rewards of the row, then you may take the action of your Action card facing it.
• Warrior: take the leftmost warrior from your Domain and place it on a training yard, paying the iron it requires, then take the actions of its Yard tiles. A yard takes any number of warriors.
• Gardener: take the leftmost gardener and place it on a garden card that has no gardener of your clan yet, paying the food required, then take the card’s action.
• Courtier: one or two different actions, once each. Audience: place your leftmost courtier at the Gates of the Castle for 2 coins. Ascent: move one of your courtiers already in the castle up one floor for 2 mother-of-pearl, or two floors for 5, in one go and with a single courtier.
• The gates lead to any Stewards’ room, a Stewards’ room to any Diplomats’ room, and a Diplomats’ room to the Daimyo’s quarters.
• A courtier that stops with the Stewards or the Diplomats: your current Action card goes face down in your Lantern Area, offset so its icons stay visible; the card of the room reached becomes your new Action card and you take one of its light-background actions; a card from the deck replaces it. If no card can replace it, take the action without taking the card.
• A courtier that reaches the Daimyo gives your Lantern Reward, then takes a free spot on the Daimyo card and its benefit; with no free spot, it stays there with nothing more.
• Lantern Reward: you receive everything shown by the visible icons of your Lantern Area, in any order; it grows with every Action card you replace.
• Daimyo seals: at most 5 on your Domain. At any time, 2 seals trade for 1 resource of your choice, or 1 seal for 1 coin. They also pay for some first-floor actions and for moving from one season to the next.
• Resources: each track runs from 0 to 7; anything over 7 is lost, and you never spend more than you have. A black number is gained, a red number is paid.
• Passage of Time: each gain of influence moves your marker forward; on an occupied space, it goes on top of the stack. Three milestones separate four seasons: crossing them costs 1, 2 then 3 Daimyo seals; without paying, you stay before the milestone.
• Clan points: red fans move your fan token forward at once; golden fans only count at the end of the game. Past 40 points, take a +40 tile, flipped to +80 on the next lap of the track.
• End of a round: when only 3 dice remain in total on the bridges. The new turn order follows the Passage of Time track, from most to least advanced; on a tie, the marker on top of the stack plays first.
• Gardens, after rounds 1 and 2: each bridge that still holds at least one die activates its two garden cards. In the new order, each player takes once the action of every activated card where they have a gardener.
• Preparation, after rounds 1 and 2: reroll all the dice and line them up again on the bridges in increasing order, then the round marker moves one space.

3.Scoring

• Add to the clan points scored during the game:
• 1 point per full set of 5 coins and Daimyo seals together.
• For each resource: 1 point if you have 3 to 6 left, 2 points if you have 7.
• Passage of Time: 3 points in the second season, 6 in the third; in the fourth season, the value printed under your space, from 10 to 15.
• Courtiers: 1 point at the gates, 3 with the Stewards (first floor), 6 with the Diplomats (second floor), 10 with the Daimyo (third floor).
• Warriors: for each yard, the value of your warriors, printed on the yard, multiplied by the number of your courtiers inside the castle, those at the gates excluded. With no courtier inside, warriors score nothing.
• Gardeners: each one scores the points of its garden card.
• Rulebook example: 8 points during the game, 1 for coins, 3 for resources, 6 for the third season, 25 for courtiers (10 + 10 + 3 + 1 + 1), 18 for warriors worth 6 with 3 courtiers inside the castle, and 15 for gardeners: 76 points.
• In Marquoir, enter the points of your fan token, the number of coins and seals (the counter makes the sets of 5), the points for resources and for the Passage of Time, the number of courtiers on each floor, then the points for warriors and gardeners.

4.End of the game

• The game ends at the end of the third round, right after the new turn order: the gardens are not activated that time, and you go straight to scoring.
• The most clan points wins. On a tie, the tied player who is highest in turn order wins.

House rules and pitfalls

• Money that changes hands is counted in coins of 1; coins of 5 are for making change with the supply.
• A die placed on the Well earns coins if it is worth more than 1.
• Turn order is reset every round from the Passage of Time track: moving up that track also means choosing your dice earlier.
• Successive Action cards pile up in the Lantern Area: every ascent to the first or second floor makes the Lantern Reward richer.

Variants

chosen when starting, the scorer follows

Frequently asked questions

The box

Released

2023

Age

Ages 12+

Designers

Sheila Santos, Israel Cendrero

Artwork

Joan Guardiet

Publisher

IELLO

Mechanics

Worker PlacementDice RollingResource ManagementVariable Turn OrderSolo Play

Contents

• 1 main board, Himeji Castle, and 4 Personal Domain boards
• 77 cards: starting, castle, garden, solo and player aid cards
• 15 dice, 5 black, 5 white and 5 coral, and their 3 bridges
• 15 die tiles and 8 Yard tiles
• 60 clan members: 20 warriors, 20 courtiers and 20 gardeners
• 24 coins of 1, 8 coins of 5 and 20 Daimyo seals
• 12 resource cubes and the Heron, Influence and Fan markers of each colour
• 1 round marker and 4 +40/+80 Clan Points tiles

Expansions

• The White Castle: Matcha · 2024

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