First play of an old game - Citadels

Wow, we've finally got around to playing this game even though we've had it for years! For ages Anita was put off by the name for some reason but finally I convinced the Tribe to give it a go. And by games end they were glad they did because they all, including me, enjoyed it. The game rules described here are for 5 players, the rules differ for less or more players.

The basic premise of the game is to build a Citadel using cards in hand. The first to eight cards generates a Game End event - a term I coin to mean a certain criteria, score or event that concludes the game or means carry on for one more turn. In this case, the turn carries on until the end of the current turn and then the winner is calculated (see later).

The game from the outset seemed  fairly complex, but once the game was running even Maya knew what to do without any aid. The idea of the game is to gain Location cards, money and build places in the citadel. Also each turn every one gains a special character with an ability that might generate extra or cause another to miss a turn.

The turn is divided into several sections. Firstly the character cards are shuffled and the player with the Gold Crown icon (on the first turn the oldest player) takes the top card and places it face down on the table. Then the next card is placed face up. The Crown character then takes a character card they want and keeps it hidden. The cards are then passed and over and over until the last card is placed face down

The interesting aspect of play is that it is not circular, but decided by numbers on the character cards. The crown holder calls out numbers 1 to 8 and the player with that card gets a turn - their character card is displayed on the table to everyone else. Each player then gets a chance to get 2 gold coins or 2 location cards, then a chance to spend their gold on buying location cards and then utilise the special abilities of their character card - the Assassin for example chooses another character to "bump off" as we call it :) This person is not allowed to say anything but misses a go. This system of a non-circular game means the game is very strategic and no one knows who goes next, who is what character etc means game play is very fluid and no one knows what to expect next. There are 8 unique characters with different abilities.

Then at the end of the turn, the character cards are collected, shuffled and then the Turn starts again.

At first the game was a little slow as we discovered the rules, but it soon picked up and even Maya was happy playing. There was one caveat - one character is the King which when played, transfers the Crown to that player. Maya and at times Roshni would base their decision on what character to keep from the collection on  if it contained the King simply because they like Kings, Princess etc.

Apart from that, an excellent 60 mins game!

Game in progress - Anita on her way to win it looks!

Citadels gets a ringing endorsement from Kavita even though

she only has one card in play!

Roshni carefully considers her next move