The White Castle

The White Castle looks like – and is – a pretty bog standard medium weight euro game. In fact it’s a bit of a throw back to the old ‘German’ style game (before they used to be known as euros) with a shallow theme and very stream-lined mechanics that plays relatively quickly (around 20 mins per player). The only nod given to a more modern game is the (unnecessary but sort of nice) inclusion of 3D bridges but even these are cardboard and self-assembled rather than the plastic minis you would get if the game was kickstarted today.

If all the above sounds a bit disparaging, it’s not meant to be because The White Castle does what it does very well. You only get 9 actions in the game but there are tough and meaningful decisions baked into each one of these and you leave the game thinking you’ve been fully immersed in a tight and challenging game Those older games often got labelled elegant and that term fits well here

Initial rating. May be a 9. Very tight. It is a bit stressful as every turn matters immensely. I'm not sure it is perfectly balanced between the servants. Farmers may be more powerful but they may not be. I'll need more plays to decide.

Awesome game though. It plays way bigger than the box, and way more intense than the time to play.

Incl. Promo 2

This is better than Red Cathedral, but still doesn't quite reach the heights of other well known dicey Euros. It's part of the challenge, but the unpredictability of actions and resources makes this hard to parse and adds to the potential for AP.

Still, with the relatively short play time, (for two players), and easy setup, It is a fun challenge and worth the effort. I'm one of those that doesn't love the small box design.

Matcha rating update, (taking this from an 8 to a 9). The expansions fixes the issue I had with the game, and I now see this as a top tier dicey Euro, that I expect we will be playing for years to come!

Fantastic production, but it doesn't really introduce anything a seasoned gamer wouldn't have encountered in dozens of other games. The core mechanic of this game is a fairly run-of-the-mill dice-placement resource-converter, with some interesting action-combos you can pull off.

What helps, however, is that games are quick with fast turns (AP notwithstanding) and actions are very straightforward with little ambiguity, making this perhaps an ideal Euro to introduce to someone new to these mechanisms, or if you just want to break out a Euro without having to launch into a long-winded explanation.

Nov. 2024: First impressions: Delightful game. Crunchy game in a compact box. Interesting decisions. Lots of ways to score points. I love the constantly changing action spaces; they make the game much more interesting. As does the availability of particular dice.

Excellent compromise in size of the game, price and duration of set-up and game. It is a game full of combos.

Have played this twice. Was let down by the shoddy paper bridges the game comes with, as they tore apart as I even tried to set them up. Fortunately, entirely optional. Game plays very well, I feel like there is a definite right or wrong way to play this game as I've came last both times I've played it. Need to get some more games of this on the go.