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This article is about the card game. For more uses of the word citadel, see Citadel (disambiguation)

Citadels
Players	2-8 (in later editions)
Age range	10 +
Setup time	10 minutes
Playing time	45–60 minutes
Rules complexity	Medium
Strategy depth	Medium
Random chance	Medium
Skills required	Strategic thought, Bluffing, Diplomacy, Roleplaying

Citadels is a German-style Card game, designed by Bruno Faidutti and originally published as "Ohne Furcht und Adel", which (loosely) means "Fearless and Aristocratic". Citadels was a finalist for the 2000 Spiel des Jahres award.

Contents 1 Game Play 1.1 Characters 1.2 Two- or Three-player games and Seven- or Eight-player games 2 Game Interest 3 External links

Game Play

Each player receives two "gold counters" and four "district cards". The eldest player receives the "king marker". Play now proceeds as follows:

The "character cards" are shuffled, and some are set aside (the number of cards, and whether they are face up or face down, depends on how many people are playing). The king chooses a character card, then passes the remaining cards to the next player, and so on until all players have chosen a character card (see below).

The player with the king marker now calls out the characters in turn. When a character is called, the player who chose that character reveals their choice and takes their actions (in any order)

• Either draw two gold counters from the supply, or draw two district cards, add one to their hand, and place one on the bottom of the deck.
• Build a district by placing one district card in front of them, paying its cost in gold counters, and add it to their city. Players cannot build two copies of the same district, unless they are the Wizard (see below)
• Perform any character-specific actions. Note that if the character called is the King or the Emperor, a different player may receive the king marker.

If no player has chosen the called character, the next character is called.

If a player adds an eighth district card to their city, the game ends at the end of the turn. The values of each player's districts is totalled, and they receive bonuses for having eight districts or having districts of each of the five colours. Otherwise, the characters are returned to the player with the king marker and a new turn begins.

Characters

The original set contained eight character cards:

1. Assassin

Names a character to "assassinate". That character is then skipped during when the King is calling out characters.

2. Thief

Names a character (but not the Assassin or the Witch, below) to "steal" from. When that character is called out, they give all their money to the thief.

3. Magician

May swap his entire hand of district cards with any player, or place some or all of his cards on the bottom of the deck and draw the same number of cards from the top of the deck.

4. King

When the King is called out, the player receives the king marker and will call out the remaining characters. The King may also "tax" noble districts; that is, receive one gold for each district card in his city with a yellow blob in the bottom-left corner.

5. Bishop

May "tax" religious districts; that is, receive one gold for each district card in his city with a blue blob in the bottom-left corner. As noted below, also is protected from the Warlord's destruction ability.

6. Merchant

Receives one gold from the supply. The Merchant may also "tax" trade districts; that is, receive one gold for each district card in his city with a green blob in the bottom-left corner.

7. Architect

Draws two district cards from the supply. The Architect may also build an additional two districts during his turn.

The Architect's picture is in fact a Druid - in the original German, this was a pun on Baumeister (Architect) and Baum-meister (Druid).

8. Warlord

May destroy one district card in any player's city (except the Bishop's) by paying one gold less than its original cost; the card is put on the bottom of the deck. The Warlord may also "tax" military districts; that is, receive one gold for each district card in his city with a red blob in the bottom-left corner.

The expanded set added a ninth character to be used in games of five or more players:

9. Queen

Receives three gold if she is sat next to the King (or Emperor, see below)

and an entire set of new characters, any of which can be swapped for their numerical counterpart:

1. Witch

Names a character to bewitch at the beginning of their turn; their turn ends immediately. When that character is called out, the player with that card skips their turn, and the witch takes her turn as if she were the bewitched character. If the character is not called, the witch does not get a turn.

2. Tax Collector

Any player who builds one or more districts during their turn (even the Assassin or Witch) must give the Tax Collector one gold at the end of their turn, if they can.

3. Wizard

May look at another player's hand and choose one district card. They can either put that card into their hand or build it immediately; this does not count as their one building action for the turn. The Wizard may build two copies of the same district.

4. Emperor

When the Emperor is called out, he may name any other player to receive the king marker. That player must give the emperor one district card or one gold counter, if they can. The Emperor may "tax" noble districts.

5. Abbot

Receives one gold from the single player with the most gold. May "tax" religious districts.

6. Alchemist

Gets back all the gold spent on districts during his turn, but cannot spend more gold than he possesses.

7. Navigator

May take four gold or draw four district cards. The Navigator May not build any districts.

8. Diplomat

May swap one district card in their city with one in any opponent's city (except the Bishop's). If the new city is more expensive, they must pay the difference to the opponent. May "tax" military districts.

9. Artist

May "beautify" one district card in their city by placing one gold counter on it. It then costs one more gold to destroy, and adds one more point at the end of the game.

Two- or Three-player games and Seven- or Eight-player games

With two or three players, each player takes two character cards, and receives two turns for each cycle through the game.

With seven players (in the basic set) or eight (in the expanded set), one character card is initially set face-down so as to be unable to all but the last player (the one to the king's right). When the last player is given the one remaining character card, they pick up the face-down card and choose either it or the card they were just given.

Game Interest

While the Medieval roles and city-building add to the game's appeal, its main strength is as a game of complex bluffs and double-bluffs. Players who choose early often take the Assassin and the Thief, and must then guess which of the remaining characters will be chosen by the players. Those players in turn must try to second-guess their decisions. All the while, they must build up enough gold to pay for their district cards in hand, and strike many balances; between taking gold and new district cards, between building many small districts or few large ones, and between building many districts of the same type (which makes taxing efficient but choice of character obvious) or of many different types (which adds a bonus at game end and makes character guessing harder, but which makes taxing inefficient).

The game also owes some popularity to the fact that so few games support so many players.

External links

• Board Game Geek reviews and images of the game.
• Author's Citadels website
• mCiudadelas is a win32 free program to play the game online.

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