Citadels: Building A City Has Never Been So Ruthless

Citadels takes the concept of city-building and turns it into a race full of back-stabbing, theft, and deception. In this fantasy board game, you’ll take on different roles as you attempt to be the first to construct eight buildings and win the game. You’ll love the opportunities for throwing a wrench into your opponent’s plans as you take on the role of the deadly Assassin or malicious Warlord. With Citadels, you’ll find there’s nothing that you won’t do for your city.

Choose Your Character

Citadels is played in rounds in which each player takes on a new role. These roles represent the newest character you’ve hired to help you acquire gold and construct your buildings. At the beginning of each round, the player that was King on the previous round will randomly discard one of the eight character cards and choose one from the rest. Then, they’ll pass the cards to the next player, with everyone taking a card until each player has their own secret character.

These characters all have different unique abilities that can help you either get more gold, construct buildings, or hinder your opponents. Depending on what your strategy is and what your current needs are at the beginning of the round, certain characters can help or hinder your mission. 

The characters will perform their actions in numerical order, beginning with the Assassin. The Assassin will eliminate one of the other characters from the round, while the Thief will steal gold from whichever character you choose. The Wizard can swap building cards with another player, while the Warlord can destroy a building.

Choosing your character is a decision not to be made lightly, so be sure to plan ahead if you want to make the most of each round. However, you’ll also have to anticipate the moves of the other players if you don’t want to be caught off guard.

Constructing Buildings

The goal of the game is to earn the most points, which you earn by constructing buildings. The game begins with each player being given a certain number of building cards. These come in five different colors, each of which can provide you with a different ability provided you have a specific character that round.

Each turn, a player is given the choice between earning two or more gold or drawing two building cards and discarding one. Then, each player is allowed to construct one building if they choose (or as many as three when playing the role of the architect). In order to construct your building, however, you must have the amount of gold indicated by the symbols on the card.

Buildings are worth a certain number of points when you build them. You can also earn bonus points by constructing buildings of each color or by being the first player to build eight buildings. Once all eight buildings have been built by one player, then the game ends and everyone tallies up their points.

Citadels Expansion

Citadels comes with an expansion called Citadels: The Dark City that allows you to play the board game with up to eight players. It also includes additional elements such as the Quarry, which allows you to build identical districts to the ones you already have. If you order the 3rd Edition of Citadels, then you automatically get the expansion.

You can also earn bonus points with the Imperial Treasury, giving you a boost at the end of the game equal to the amount of gold you have. You can also earn bonus points with the Fountain of Youth or the Wish Fountain, which earns you points equal to the number of purple buildings you construct. 

Be the First to Build Your City with Citadels

Citadels is playable by 2-8 players, which makes it just as good for one-on-one games as it is for a family game night or a group of friends. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, which makes it a good game to play with both adults and children together. Playing time lasts around 20-60 minutes depending on how many players you play with.

Buy Citadels today and enjoy the ruthlessness of city politics!

 

Codenames: A New Take On Spy Vs. Spy

Did you grow up watching Mission Impossible and wishing you could experience the thrill of being a spy?  If so, Codenames will give you the chance to put on your spy cap and take on the role of secret agent.  Sifting through the clues and choosing wisely is your imperative if you wish to identify all of your agents and avoid the deadly assassin.  This 2015 board game is fun for all players, because whether you win or you lose, everyone can enjoy deciphering the clues.

Spymaster

The goal of Codenames is to figure out which codenames in a certain set correspond with the hint you’re given.  Players will split into two teams of red vs. blue, and each team will select one member to be its spymaster.  The spymaster is an incredibly fun role, as you get to dole out hints to the members of your team in order to help them figure out the clues.

The hints that you give as spymaster consist of one word and one number.  These hints will be related to the cards belonging to your agents, but be careful—if your team selects the wrong card, you may end up helping the other team.  The fun part of the game is that you are allowed to choose whatever you want the hint word to be, which allows a skilled spymaster to come up with creative and guessable hints.

Field Operatives

The other roles can be just as fun, however, as anyone not designated the spymaster is automatically a field operative.  Field operatives get the fun task of having to guess which card belongs to their agent based on their spymaster’s hint.  Alongside your teams’ agent cards are agent cards for the opposing team, as well as innocent bystander cards.  If you slip up and end up selecting an innocent bystander, your turn is up!

The Assassin

While guessing the wrong card may end up helping the other team or involving innocent bystanders, there’s one card that means lights out.  The assassin hides among the crowd, looking to everyone like just your average guy.  But if you make a mistake and end up selecting the assassin card, it’s game over for your team!  The stakes are always high while the assassin is afoot.

Winning The Game

The winner of the game is whichever team is the first to correctly select all of the agent cards belonging to their team.  With 25 agent cards and two teams, gameplay is relatively fast at around 15 minutes.  Codenames is a simple enough party game that can easily fit in between rounds of conversation.  It also fits 2-8 players, so it’s something that a big group can play with no problem.

Codenames is suitable for ages 14 and up, so it’s probably a better fit for parties than it is for families with young children.  However, even bystanders can enjoy the fun of watching the adults and teenagers deciphering clues.

Codenames Spinoffs

Codenames has released several later editions that you can either play by themselves or integrate with the original game.  With Codenames: Disney Family Edition, you’ll guess Disney characters instead of secret agents.  This version is suitable for ages 8 and up, so it is perfect if you want to play Codenames with younger kids.  If you’re looking for something more adult, however, Codenames: Deep Undercover includes loads of adult references and double entendres not suitable for the kids.

They’ve also released Codenames: Marvel for anyone who loves the fantastical characters of the extended Marvel universe.  And if you’re a fan of the long-lasting cartoon The Simpsons, there’s even a version of Codenames that features characters and references from your favorite series.

Choose Wisely With Codenames

Codenames depends heavily on the skill of the players, but it is definitely an enjoyable card game that you can play from time to time without losing its luster.  If charades is growing stale and you’re looking for something with a little more structure, Codenames will give you the same level of puzzle solving with an added layer of excitement.  Bust out your gadgets and tap into your inner James Bond with Codenames!

 

How to Play Codenames

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