I love the subtle, sly strategies Castles of Mad King Ludwig offers in its bidding mechanics. It’s one of the things that distinguishes the game and brings vibrancy to every play. Many of those strategies present themselves through the publicly known information – namely in how much money each player has.
But because this info is so exact, as Master Builder I can bully people out of buying certain things (or buying anything at all, in some cases) if I set the price just so.
On one hand, I like this level of precision and control. It allows for clever gameplay, and it emphasizes the elements of the game that remain secret. On the other hand, it can be a little much.
Jamie and I have been playing this game a lot with just the two of us lately. Castles plays surprisingly well with two. And it means that we have even more power to directly orchestrate how certain situations play out. This got me thinking about what Castles might become if players’ money was hidden.
At first it may seem like you could play with monies hidden using nothing more than an upfront agreement and screens to help keep your bits concealed. Yes, you could. But if the aim is to prevent over-controlled play, what’s to stop human calculators from keeping precise track of each player’s cash on hand? It seems like this would only present a new complication: the swing of power to players with Abacus as their middle name.
Easy solution: randomize the amount of money with which each player starts the game! Immediate problem: a new swing of power. I started with 2,000 fewer marks than normal, and you started with 2,000 more than normal. That’s a difference of 4,000 – 27% of the total baseline starting amount. It’s a decently big swing, especially considering how in a four-player game it could equate to a difference of four purchased rooms.
So what’s the solution to that? Compensation for the difference.
And that could use the same method the Bonus cards already use: extra VP revealed at the end of the game. These rewards (or penalties) could be included on the randomizing cards which designate how much money players take at the start.
So I made a quick, dirty prototype and tried it out. It played nicely! It did what I wanted, removing the specific-pricing element from the equation.
I made a decently presentable version, and here you have it: a way to play with money hidden throughout the game. Now players can have a guess of how much others have, but they never know exactly.* New, interesting situations can arise:
Do I risk putting that room up for so little when I want it so badly? I don’t know if she’ll jump on that or pass!
Did Jamie pass because she really didn’t have enough to buy anything, or was she simply avoiding paying me?
Mostly, this variant eliminates the pressure and proclivity to overanalyze and succumb to AP.
And maybe it can bring new life to, or a new angle on, an old favorite.
You can download and print the
which has 1 set of cards, ready for any player count. Or, you can print the
which has 3 sets of cards, each tailored to games of different player counts.
Now, some notes about how to use this variant.
Each player takes a card which determines their starting amount of money and a bonus (or penalty) of end-game victory points. These cards remain secret, like the Bonus Cards, until game end.
When you draw starting money cards, I recommend drawing two and picking one. This can provide all players more of a feeling of control over their destiny. If they drew the lowest value card and they’re stuck with it, they might sulk.
Whenever you take money from the bank (including at the start) consider taking more 1,000-mark coins than you normally would. For example, if you start with 15,000 marks, take only one 5,000-mark coin and the rest in 1,000s. This can help prevent others from noticing how often you’re making change (or not making change).
So far I haven’t developed screens to include with this, so you’ll have to hold coins in your hand or use tiny boxes or screens from another game, etc. We’ve used old smartphone boxes, and that worked pretty well.
I’m not sure how the amounts of +/- VP will play out over time. I’ve only playtested a few times as yet, and I’d love to get this into the sweet spot of proper compensation/penalty for each starting amount. If you play, I would love to hear from you. Please send me the results of your game. You’ll be contributing to the perfection of this variant for posterity. Make King Ludwig proud!
* Okay, I can think of one situation where other players could figure out how much someone has. But it would be a rare side effect of taking the 17,000-mark starting money card, and people would have to do careful counting over several turns (possibly many turns) to catch it. If you’re Johnny Mnemonic, Data, or Vision, I guess you might use that to some advantage. But for most of us organics, it would just be too much trouble.