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Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a competitive tile-drafting game in which each tile is a room in a castle. You work together with the player on your left to design one castle, and with the player on your right on another castle. To win, you have to share your attention and your devotion between two castles.
45m - 60m
2 - 5+ Players
Ages 10+
astroglide
When I played this I found it fairly wonky, tiny-texted, and very annoying to score. I've kept thinking about it afterward, though, and I really love the halfway-between-your-neighbors bit with a game and even some theme on top of it. If this had a phone app which would auto-score it for you, that would be pretty amazing. As-is, I think it's still looking really promising, esp. on the social side due to neighbors. UPDATE: IT HAS A PHONE APP WHICH AUTO-SCORES IT FOR YOU!!
Biff_the_Toady
The variability in this game with all the different rooms is very engrossing. Even though you are trying to maximize the scores for the two castles you (and your partners) are building, it is always fun to see what combinations of rooms are possible.
ajewo
Tile drafting and tile laying game where each two adjacent players try to semi-cooperatively build a castle together. Each player builds two castles, but the player only scores the castle with the least points at the end of the game. + Artwork + Components and insert + Theme: players create (fun) mad castles + Outdoor tiles have to be on the top of the grid, basement tiles have to be on the bottom of the grid + Semi-cooperative castle building and scoring between each adjacent player (players can discuss and consult each other) + Puzzly tile laying (lot of different spatial scoring conditions) + Replayability: a lot of different tiles and scoring goals + Dynamic scoring which evolves during the game depending on the placed tiles + Personal scoring goal cards add another scoring layer + Special tile bonus for 3 or 5 tiles of the same type + Set-collection for symbols on tiles + Supports high player counts and scales well + Player aid # Tray insert (requires to be sorted when tearing the game down) # Castle grid can be in any shape, no restricions # No score board - Tiny symboles (small tiles) - Scoring takes a while because each tile has to be evaluated - Analysis paralysis may be a problem when a player compares all tiles in hand and on both sides Similar games: * Between Two Cities (quicker playing time, simpler tile laying conditions, less puzzly) * Among the Stars (tile drafting, tile laying, no semi-cooperative, a lot of expansions)