The Castles of Mad King Ludwig

King Ludwig II became King of Bavaria in 1864. 2 years later Bavaria was taken over by Prussia. Ludwig was not a great king. Rather than worry about matter of state he spent his time studying medieval castles, eventually commissioning the building of three castles, one of which became the inspiration for the castles in the Disney theme parks.

He spent his entire fortune building these castles, and like the man himself they were amazing and quirky. They were full of strange and specialized rooms.

In 1886 Ludwig was removed from power by being declared insane. The next day he was found dead floating in a lake. His cause of death is still disputed to this day, but his legacy remains in his castles which are popular tourist attractions.

In The Castles of Mad King Ludwig the players take on the roles of architects designing crazy castles for the Mad King.  Each room scores points based on it's room type, what type of rooms surround it, and it's size.

Gameplay
Each player begins the game with 15000 marks (money) and three secret bonus cards. They will get points at the end of the game for completing their bonus cards.

There are also a number of King's Favor tokens in play equal to the number of players. These will provide bonus points at the end of the game based on who achieved them best.

Each turn one player will be the Master Builder. This player will draw cards that show what size rooms will be added to the available rooms for the turn. The number of rooms is determined by the number of players.  He will then take room tiles of the appropriate sized along with any unclaimed rooms from the previous turn and set them out for purchase. Each room will be priced differently.  It is up to the Master Builder to determine the value of each room. For example a 600 square foot room that was 8000 marks last turn may be repositioned to be worth more or less this turn at the current Master Builder's whim.

Each player, starting to the left of the Master Builder will then take their turn. On their turn a player has a few options. They can purchase a room. They can purchase a hallway or staircase (these are always available for 3000 marks as long as they have not all been purchased already), or they can collect money.  If the player purchases a room, hallway, or staircase they pay the money to the Master Builder. The Master Builder pays his purchases to the bank. If they chose to collect money the player gets 5000 marks from the bank.

Purchased rooms, hallways, and staircases must be placed in your castle immediately and can never be moved. At least one door of the room you bought must connect to an already existing door in your castle.  The room is then scored. Each room has a base score along with a bonus score.  The bonus is based on either what kind of rooms are adjacent to the new room or the total number of a type of room in the castle.  The types of rooms are Living Rooms, Activity Rooms, Sleeping Rooms, Outdoor Rooms, Utility Rooms, Food Rooms, Corridor Rooms, and Downstairs Rooms.  Living, Activity, Sleeping, Outdoor, Utility, Food, and Corridor rooms all derive their bonuses from that is adjacent to them.  Downstairs rooms get their bonuses from the total number of a specific type of room in your castle.  Activity Rooms have penalties rather than bonuses and you will lose points if certain rooms are adjacent to them.

Rooms also earn bonuses when you complete them. Completing a room is successfully using all of it's doorways. The bonus is different depending on the type of room it is.
Living Rooms get to collect their score a second time.
Activity Rooms get a bonus 5 points
Sleeping Rooms get to place up to two room tiles on top of the room card stack making them the next rooms to come up to play.
Outdoor Rooms get you 10,000 marks.
Utility Rooms get you bonus cards.
Food Rooms get you an extra turn.
Corridor Rooms get you a free hallway or staircase
Downstairs rooms let you pick any of the other bonuses.

When the last room cards are drawn a final round is played and then the final scoring happens.  In the final scoring, each King's Favor token is scored. These can be for things like Most Activity rooms, or Most small rooms. There are different King's Favor tokens and you will only use between 2 and 4 per game, creating a lot of variety. The player who did the best in each token gets 8 points, second gets 4 points, and third gets 2 points.

Next you check to see if any of the room tile stacks were completely depleted. If they were each player gets 2 points per room of that size.

Next each player reveals their secret bonus cards and collects how ever many points they say if successfully completed.

Finally everyone gets 1 point for each 10000 marks they have left at the end of the game.  Whoever has the highest score wins.  If there is a tie the player with the most square footage in their castle wins.

Components
The game consists of 75 room tiles, 6 staircase tiles, 9 hallway tiles, 24 King's Favor tiles, 50 room cards, 27 bonus cards, cardboard money tokens, 4 wooden score tokens, 1 wooden Master Builder token, A central scoreboard, and 4 player reference cards.

The tiles are all fairly sturdy punch board but they could be a little thicker.

The Details
Designed by Ted Alspach
Published by Bezier Games
2-4 players
Ages 13+
Playing time 90 minutes
MSRP $59.95

Conclusion
This is a very fun game. The secret bonuses and King's Favor tokens make the game different every time. The rules are easy to understand. The strategy of the Master Builder setting the prices and getting the money from the other plays is unique and fun.  I would highly recommend this game.