A good game is a game that you can can play and have a good time with friends and family, be it at home or at a coffee shop. One such game is Citadels, a simple draft and city building game that can be played anywhere. The game consists of a District deck, Character Cards, a Crown token and a bunch of Gold tokens. The cards and tokens are easy to be carried around in a small box and easy to set up on a table and played among friends or family.
The goal of the game is to build districts, and once a player has reached 8 districts at the end of the round, the game ends. The player with the most points added up from their districts wins the game.
The game is fairly simple with the rules written on reference cards that are made available to all the players. The players will start the game with four District cards given randomly from the District deck and also two gold tokens taken from the token pool. The District deck is then put in the middle of the gameplay area and the oldest player is given the Crown token to signify him being the first player.
Then, the eight (or nine) Character Cards are shuffled and one of the card is then discarded face down. The first player will then take the remaining cards, choose one Character to keep, and pass the rest to the person on their left. This drafting of Characters will continue until the last player, and the rest of the Characters will then be discarded face down.
The turn order will always be according to the Number designated on each Characters. Thus, the round will always starts with the Assassin and ends with the Warlord unless otherwise discarded. Therefore, the player with the Crown token shall call out each number beginning with number 1 and ends with number 8. The player with the corresponding number will then reveal their Character and take their turn. Each Character has their own abilities such as the King which takes the Crown token for the next round or the Magician which can swap the cards in their hand for the cards in another players hand.
A player starts their turn by taking two actions, which is either taking 2 Golds from the gold pool or drawing two District cards and keeping one. The player may take the same action twice or take different actions on their turn. After the player has taken their two actions, the player may then build one District from their hand, paying all costs. Districts, have their costs written on the cards which also amounts to the number of points counted at the end of the game. So, a player may build many low-cost Districts and yet lose to another player who has built a few high-cost Districts. Another rule to also consider is that a Player cannot build a District with the same name as a District already built in his/her city.
While this game may seem easy to learn and play, it might be deceiving as the game has a lot of depth and requires strategy. There are times where you have to choose a Character just to deny another player from taking it, or even to be the King just to take the Crown token and plan for a better round ahead. Each game will be different and each person will have their own strategy and play style in trying to building their own city to win the game.
The art of Citadels is also beautiful with each Character card having their own distinct art and style, while the District cards are drawn like old paintings of a French city with cathedrals, markets, rivers and stone roads. The gold tokens are also well-made to represent currency while the Crown token is wooden and is able stand on the table.
All in all, Citadels is a great game to pick up and play anytime and anywhere. For an easy game to mingle and play with friends or family at a gathering, get Citadels and build some Districts.
Until next time, keep on playing!
