Citadels is an enchanting game of bluffing, deduction, and city-building. Wrapped in a medieval theme and gorgeously illustrated, players seek to be the first to complete a grand city of their own. Each game round players secretly take the roles of either the King, Magician, Architect, Assassin, Thief, Bishop, General, or Merchant and seek to use the powers of such offices in their efforts to win the game. As an additional bonus, the English version will ship with 10 new cards designed by Bruno Faidutti. These cards feature new locations and new characters to make your game of Citadels even more diverse than the original German version.
Below are some rules for kids, could also be used for non gamers to allow them to be introduced to this fascinating game, the rules come courtesy of Joe Czapski.
Kids' Citadels variant, for ages 5+, for 3 to 5 players
Remove from the game: the Assassin and Architect characters and all the purple (special) districts.
Additional equipment needed: one 4-sided and one 6-sided die.
Character powers and sequence:
1. Thief -- roll the 4-sided die and steal up to that total number of gold from the other players, in any distribution.
2. Magician -- draw 4 extra cards, add them to your hand, then discard any 2 cards.
3. King -- build 1 extra district at a cost of 1 less than its value. Earn 1 gold for each nobility district (gold) you've built.
4. Bishop -- increase any built district's value by 1, marked on the card with a gold piece from the bank. Earn 1 gold for each religious district (blue) you've built.
5. Merchant -- Take 1 extra gold. Earn 1 gold for each commerce district (green) you've built.
6. Warlord -- Name an opponent's district you wish to destroy and roll the 6-sided die. If the number is more than the district's value, it is destroyed. Earn 1 gold for each military district (red) you've built.
Turn sequence:
1. Either draw a card (just 1) or take 2 gold.
2. Take any gold earned from having districts of the same color as your character.
3. Perform character's special action (optional).
4. Build 1 district if you have enough gold.
Game start:
Each player starts with a hand of 4 district cards and with 2 gold. The youngest player gets the Crown card to start. At the end of each round, the Crown card rotates to the player to the left.
Character choosing:
Player with the Crown card shuffles the 6 character cards, discards 1 face down, chooses a character from the 5 cards, then passes the remaining 4 cards to the player on the left. That player then chooses a character, then passes the remaining cards to the left, and so on. The final choosing player picks up the initially discarded character and includes it in the cards to choose from. Note: in the 3 player game, there is additionally an initial face-up discard, and that character is out of play for the round.
End of the game:
At the end of a round, after every player has taken a turn, if there are any cities with 6 or more districts built, the game is ended. Each player counts up the value of his or her built districts, and adds a +3 bonus if 6 or more built districts.
Rules notes: (Several rules details are discarded in this light version)
Any card can be the initial face-up discard.
If you choose to draw a card at the beginning of your turn, you do not draw 2 and choose 1. You just draw 1 and keep it.
The Warlord can attempt to destroy any building, including those of the Bishop or those of a completed city.
The crown card simply rotates to the left at the start of each round.
There is only one kind of end-of-game score bonus, not 3 kinds.
You can build more than 1 district of a kind.
