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!

 

The Game of Life: When Art Truly Does Imitate Life

Life is one of those classic board games that you played with your siblings growing up—it’s packed to the brim with nostalgia and fun memories. But this old board game more than stands the test of time, as recent versions of it have gotten rid of some of the outdated mechanics of the game and added fun new elements. Life allows you to build a life of your own in a matter of minutes, weaving around the board in an effort to make the most of the short time you have before you reach retirement.

Spinning Through Life

The game of Life is meant to mirror one’s actual life, allowing you to do things like choose a career, marry, have children, and buy a home. Unlike real life, where these decisions are made freely, Life forces you to make your choices based on a spinner. Players will advance through the spaces on the game board by spinning a spinner located in the center of the board. 

Some choices give you several options. For example, when you get to the career space, you get to pick several cards to choose from in order to decide which career best fits you. The marriage space, however, is not optional. Players are given a little miniature car to move around the board, adding small pegs to represent a spouse and kids that get added along the way.

Life Tiles

Like real life, one of the biggest goals of the game of Life is to earn as much money as possible by the time you reach retirement. Money is doled out in the form of little pieces of colored paper, which you spend and earn at various points throughout the game. There’s also an option to earn money by buying stocks, which are represented by a number 1-9. Whenever a player spins and lands on that number, you earn money.

Players will collect what are called Life Tiles whenever they land on a space or hit a certain milestone. These tiles can give you money through sudden windfalls such as winning the lottery; or, they can hit you with unforeseen expenses like a midlife crisis or damage to your home. These are some of the most fun and silly elements of the game, as things may be going great for you until botched plastic surgery saddles you with debt!

One of the most interesting things about this board game is that the choices you make may not always be what you would do in real life. Sure, who doesn’t want to own a mansion?  But in Life, drawing the mansion card saddles you with a hefty bill and no discernable benefit, whereas the cheap trailer will do just fine. You’ll also be given the opportunity to purchase insurance, which can save you in the event that you land on a space that burns your house down.

Life Sequels

Life has been out for over 60 years, cementing its place in history as a classic family board game. Since its first release, there have been countless sequel board games with new and interesting variations. The Electronic Banking version of Life makes things slightly easier (and more up to date) by tracking everyone’s funds with a card system instead of using cash.

Life: Twists and Turns has several updates, giving you new choices and possibilities as well as a “LIFEpod” that helps you track time and manage your careers and families. There’s also a Star Wars version of the board game called Life: A Jedi’s Path that forces you to do battle, go on missions, and build your lightsaber as you enhance your connection to the Force. Will you choose the righteous Jedi Path or the tempting Dark Path?

Breeze Your Way Through Life

Life is playable by 2-6 players, which makes it the perfect board game for families of all sizes. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up, so it’s a great way to introduce younger players to things like money management. Life has a playing time of around an hour, giving you plenty of time to explore the board and see what fate has in store for your life.

Buy Life today and enjoy the wacky fun of this nostalgic classic!

 

Kill Doctor Lucky: Where Clue Gets Turned Upside Down

The classic board game Clue throws you smack dab in the middle of your classic murder mystery: aloof guests, a glamorous mansion, and a dead man for whom everyone is a suspect in the killing. Kill Doctor Lucky takes the mysterious fun of Clue and turns it on its head.

Instead of scouring the mansion for clues to find out who the killer is, Kill Doctor Lucky has you planning the murder ahead of time! With a thrilling story, dynamic gameplay, and a wickedly tongue-in-cheek premise, Kill Doctor Lucky is a board game that will have you channeling your inner assassin.

What’s Your Motive?

In Kill Doctor Lucky, players compete to be the one to off the eponymous Doctor Lucky. Did Doctor Lucky cut you out of his will, betray you, or leave you for another? In this game, everyone has a motive, whether it’s money, hatred, or love. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you be the one to strike the blow to end the good Doctor’s life. The game begins with the power to the mansion being cut, and each player fighting to get a weapon, corner Doctor Lucky, and commit the deadly deed.

Strike To Kill

Kill Doctor Lucky comes with a playing board that shows all of the rooms of Doctor Lucky’s mansion. It also comes with standees for each of the seven characters as well as Doctor Lucky and his pet dog Shamrock. Players will play move around the mansion, collecting murder weapons and failure cards in an attempt to off Doctor Lucky and prevent others from beating them to the punch.

Each turn gives you several options. You can either take a free step or to play a move card, which will allow you to move either yourself or Doctor Lucky to another room. You can also draw a card, which can help you stack up on weapons and move cards. When you’re alone with Doctor Lucky and ready to make your move, you can announce a murder attempt.

Weapon cards will make your murder attempt more powerful, but your opponents can play failure cards to try to overpower your murder attempt with a higher value. If you fail at your murder attempt, however, you earn a spite token that can increase your murder value by one point for all your future attempts.

Getting Doctor Lucky alone is a difficult proposition, as you can only make your attempt when you’re out of the line of sight of the other players. Even Doctor Lucky’s dog can prevent you from making your kill, so you’ll have to make sure to separate the Doctor from his beloved pooch if you want to succeed.

Kill Doctor Lucky Spinoffs

Kill Doctor Lucky comes with several expansions and spinoffs that can make the game even more wacky and fun. Save Doctor Lucky is a spinoff prequel that flips the script once again, casting you as a passenger on a sinking ocean liner attempting to save Doctor Lucky instead of killing him.

Kill Doctor Lucky: The Director’s Cut adds a second playing board to the game as well as new rules that allow players to kill each other or Doctor Lucky’s dog. Kill Doctor Lucky Online can be played on the internet against either live players or computer opponents, whereas Get Lucky turns the board game into a murderous card game.

Take Your Shot With Kill Doctor Lucky

Kill Doctor Lucky is playable by 3-8 players, which makes it well-suited to parties or large family gatherings. It’s also suitable for ages 12 and up, mostly due to the murderous nature of the game more than the difficulty of the game. Playing time lasts around 45 minutes, which is a decent chunk of time for getting a round or two in at a party before the main event.

Kill Doctor Lucky definitely stands out for its dark humor and its unique combination of luck and strategy. If you’re a fan of the board game Clue but you’re looking for something a little more humorous, Kill Doctor Lucky is an excellent addition to the murder mystery genre. Tap into your inner assassin and buy Kill Doctor Lucky today!

 

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop