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Castle Combo

2-5 players 10-25 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players draft characters using coins from two markets to build a 3x3 tableau. Each turn, add one character while managing Keys to control the Messenger pawn that determines available recruits. Strategic placement triggers immediate effects and end-game bonuses. After nine rounds, the player with the highest-scoring character arrangement wins.

Published 2024

Castle Combo

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Prepare the Castle deck
Shuffle the 39 Castle cards (gray back) and place the deck in the center of the table
2
Reveal Castle cards
Draw and display the top 3 cards in a row beside the Castle deck
3
Prepare the Village deck
Shuffle the 39 Village cards (brown back) and place the deck below the Castle cards
4
Reveal Village cards
Draw and display 3 Village cards beside the Village deck
5
Place the Messenger pawn
Position the Messenger pawn beside the revealed Village cards
6
Distribute starting resources
Each player takes 2 Keys and 15 Gold
7
Create the supply
Place all remaining Keys and Gold tokens within reach of all players
8
Determine first player
Randomly select a starting player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Step 1 - Spend a Key (optional)
You may spend exactly 1 Key to perform one of two special actions
2
Step 2 - Buy a card (mandatory)
Take one of the 3 face-up cards from the location where the Messenger currently stands
3
Placement rules
Cards must follow specific positioning requirements
4
Step 3 - Apply the card's ability (mandatory)
Resolve the ability shown on the card immediately after placement
5
Step 4 - Move Messenger and refill displays (mandatory)
Complete your turn by updating the central area

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end
The game concludes when all players have placed exactly 9 cards in their tableaus
2
Store Gold on purses
Place leftover Gold on cards with purse scoring, up to each purse's printed maximum capacity
3
Calculate card scores
Total the points from each scoring scroll on your face-up cards based on their specific conditions
4
Score Keys
Each Key you possess is worth 1 point
5
Face-down cards
Cards placed face down contribute 0 points
6
Unstored Gold
Gold not placed on purse cards is worth 0 points but kept for tiebreaker
7
Determine winner
The player with the highest total score wins
8
Break ties
If scores are tied, the player with the most leftover Gold wins
9
Shared victory
If still tied after the Gold tiebreaker, tied players share the victory

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Castle Combo - A Dicey Walkthrough!

Castle Combo - A Dicey Walkthrough!

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Castle Combo Regeln in 4 Minuten erklärt

Castle Combo Regeln in 4 Minuten erklärt

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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