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The White Castle
#72BGG8.0RATINGHOT #37
Updated Sep 12
1–4
PLAYERS
80
MINUTES
3
BEST WITH
3.1
HEAVY
ERRATA2
Solo rival places only one Gardener, not twodesigner
- RULING
- "Sadly there is an errata in the English rulebook. It should say '...Plant Garden and a Stone Garden, choose the garden with the lowest value'. It should be in singular, not in plural." The rival places a single Gardener, in the lowest-value garden where it does not already have one. Re-confirmed by the designer in threads 3244404 and 3280025.
The same personal domain line cannot be triggered twice in one turndesigner
- RULING
- Official fix for the infinite Warrior loop, published by the designers with the publisher: "When applying this icon add this sentence to the rulebook: You cannot trigger the exact same line again in a single turn." The designer added that the restriction applies only to that icon — a line may still be resolved twice in a turn if once is by placing a die there and once by the icon. To be added to the rulebook in future printings.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(46 replies, 20 thumbs)DATE: 2023-11-03
DESIGNER CLARIFICATIONS18
Carrying out an action is never mandatorydesigner
- CONTEXT
- Players read "may perform" on multi-action spaces as an obligation whenever the cost could be paid.
- RULING
- "YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO PERFORM ANY GIVEN ACTION EVEN IF YOU CAN." You may decline an action even while holding the resources to pay for it, and if you cannot pay you simply forfeit it. When a die is placed in a location with two matching colours you may perform both actions — there is no choosing one over the other.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(14 replies, 5 thumbs)DATE: 2023-11-02Gardeners are not activated after the third rounddesigner
- RULING
- There is no Gardener activation at the end of round 3; only turn order is updated before final scoring. A third activation existed during development and was cut — it made the Gardener action too strong and took as long as a full round to resolve.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(7 replies, 4 thumbs)DATE: 2023-10-11The second action comes from the card you triggered, not its replacementdesigner
- CONTEXT
- On a first-floor space with two actions for the same die colour, the first action can be a Courtier Social Climbing that takes the very card being used.
- RULING
- "You trigger the action from the card you took even if it's not in the board anymore." Both actions of a castle space are fixed at the moment the die is placed; a card that arrives afterwards does not change them. In the Training Yards the two actions are separate, so there the action of the newly placed card is used. Re-confirmed in threads 3246412 and 3369231.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer), with ecoplayer (Shei Santos, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(7 replies, 4 thumbs)DATE: 2023-10-13Well and Personal Domain actions triggered from a card use fixed die valuesdesigner
- RULING
- "When you trigger the well action is like you triggered it with valued-1 die" — you gain the Daimyo Seal and the two goods but no coins. "Also, the action that allows you to trigger you Domain action is like you placed a valued-6 die." Clarified in the reprint. The no-coins half was already confirmed by the designers in thread 3152053 (2023-09-12).
A Personal Domain action gained from an icon ignores dice already placed theredesigner
- RULING
- "It doesn't matter if you placed a die there already or not." The phrase "as if you placed a die there" only signals that you gain both the resources and the action of that line; it does not require the space to be empty.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(5 replies, 2 thumbs)DATE: 2023-10-15A Gardener placed during end-of-round activation is not activated that rounddesigner
- RULING
- "You only activate it once, since you missed the timing." A Gardener placed by another Gardener's action during the Gardens step gets its normal placement activation only — you activate exactly the Gardeners that are in the gardens when the phase begins. Re-confirmed in thread 3514716.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(5 replies, 3 thumbs)DATE: 2023-10-23A Gardener may be placed without performing or paying for its actiondesigner
- RULING
- You pay the rice to place the Gardener and may skip the card's action entirely, whether you cannot pay its cost or simply choose not to. You forgo the benefit but still score the card's Clan Points at the end of the game, and the Gardener may still be activated at the end of rounds 1 and 2. The same applies to cards whose action would grant resources but demands a cost you cannot meet. First stated by ecoplayer (Shei Santos, designer) in thread 3180717 (2023-10-29).
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(7 replies, 2 thumbs)DATE: 2024-06-27You choose the order of a space's benefits, except on the castle's third floordesigner
- CONTEXT
- A card showing a Heron plus a Lantern action, where the Lantern would supply the Daimyo Seal needed to pass a Passage of Time checkpoint.
- RULING
- "If you want 'official' confirmation, yes, you can carry first the lantern and then the heron in that card. In the 3rd level of the castle you have to do it in order." Confirmed again for white action spaces in thread 3529411 (2025-06-19): the Daimyo Seal from a Decree card in the Lantern Area may be taken before advancing on the Heron track.
Exact sequence when taking the left-hand diedesigner
- RULING
- "The order is: 1. Draw a low die. 2. Place it and get or pay coins. 3. Trigger the lantern bonus. 4. Perform action(s)." The Lantern Reward is resolved after the die is placed and the coin difference settled, not before placement, and the sequence cannot be split or reordered.
Turn order is rearranged only in the first step of the end of rounddesigner
- RULING
- "You rearrange the turn order, AND THEN execute garden actions. The rulebook does not say anything about changing the turn order again." Influence gained during the Gardens step moves your Influence marker but does not touch the Heron tokens, which are only rearranged in step 1 of the end of round.
Several Courtiers may occupy the same castle roomdesigner
- RULING
- Rooms have no occupancy limit. "The infinity icon on the top is to note that even the 3 bonus spaces are occupied, you can still place meeples there."
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(8 replies, 7 thumbs)DATE: 2023-10-09The icon showing all three basic resources means one of your choicedesigner
- RULING
- "It means a resource of your choice, not all three resources", as the Appendix explains — both during setup and in play. Several playthrough videos show players taking one of each, which is wrong: "always stick to the rulebook instead of videos."
Castle setup is redone only if every dark action is identicaldesigner
- CONTEXT
- A widely watched how-to-play video says to reshuffle unless all three principal actions (Gardener, Courtier, Warrior) appear on the dark backgrounds.
- RULING
- The rulebook is correct: the cards are returned, shuffled and re-dealt only when all the dark-background actions are the same. A setup showing only two of the three principal actions is legal.
AUTHOR: israperrillo (Isra C., designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(4 replies, 2 thumbs)DATE: 2023-11-16The Courtier action can be taken purely to promote a Courtierdesigner
- RULING
- "Yes, just ignore the action 'pay 2 coins to add a courtier' and pay 2 or 5 mother of pearl to raise a courtier previously placed on the board one or two spaces up." Having no Courtiers left in supply does not block the action.
Lantern Rewards on castle cards are fixed valuesdesigner
- RULING
- "The lantern bonus is always the same one: 1PV for level 2 and 1 coin for Level 1." Nothing is hidden when taking a level 1 or 2 card with a Courtier, so there is no information to peek at.
An action is resolved in full, in the order you choosedesigner
- RULING
- "You do the actions in full, but in the order you want." Resources gained earlier in an action may be spent later within that same action — for example, taking two Daimyo Seals and then spending them to advance on the Passage of Time track.
Social Climbing takes the card from the room where the Courtier stopsdesigner
- RULING
- "You only take the card from the room where your meeple ended the movement." A Courtier moving two levels does not collect a card from the room it passes through.
Solo: an impossible two-level Courtier move is made as far as possibledesigner
- RULING
- "Move it as much as you can." When the rival's instruction is to move a Courtier two levels but only one level is available, the Courtier moves that one level; the action is not treated as impossible and does not convert into Clan Points.
Last researched: 2026-09-08
CATEGORIES
Dice·Economic·Medieval
MECHANICS
Action DraftingArea MovementDice RollingEnd Game BonusesIncomeMelding and SplayingMulti-Use CardsOpen DraftingRace
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