Bruno Faidutti is the author of several well-known and well-liked titles, the common features of which are bluff and the possibility of playing in a larger group. Recently, two of his card games have been refreshed – Maskarada and Cytadela . Their previous versions were very popular, especially among fans of party games and negative interaction.
Little builder kit
We start the preparation by choosing the characters that will enter the game and unique districts that we will add to the base deck. You can use ready-made layouts presented in the manual. Place the auxiliary character cards in the middle of the table and create a bank next to it. Everyone receives four district cards and two coins in their hand, and the person who keeps order in the round gets the crown.
The crowned player takes the character cards and places the number of cards faceup according to the information on the table. Additionally, one more, but facedown, he sets aside. They will not take part in this round. The first player takes the remaining characters, looks at and chooses one of them, passes the rest to the person on the left, and the next player, etc.
The crowned player calls the characters from the lowest digit – the turns will be played in this order. When our turn comes, we have to take two coins to our supply or two district cards, one of which we keep. Then, you can build one of your regions by paying its cost and putting it in front of you, if such a card has not been previously added to your city.
You can use a character’s skill once per turn, so it is important to choose cards at the beginning. Although we can use someone else’s help in each round, we cannot be sure that it will not drop out of the game temporarily or be chosen by one of the players.
The condition for the end of the game is that at least one player has 7 or more districts. This is when points are added for the built city, but also for its diversity or unique cards. The winner becomes the Court Builder.
Few rules, big emotions
After describing the rules, the game may seem monotonous. Nothing could be more wrong! Which cards will help us in a given round is of great importance. The Assassin indicates which character must silently skip his turn, the Thief calls out whoever he wants to rob, the Bishop becomes rich in religious districts, and the Artist can beautify her city. We have 27 different personalities to choose from, so there are quite a lot of possible combinations and arrangements. There is always something going on both on and above the table, and you never know from which side the sneaky attack will come.
The districts to be taught in front of us should be chosen equally carefully. Of course, we are limited by money, because we cannot afford everything. Some of them, on the other hand, have additional actions, so you should consider them. The Map Room, Wishing Well, and Thieves’ Lair not only sound fun, but can also help us win.
The latest release uses the same illustrations that we could find in previous versions. The box, which in my opinion is nicer than the gloomy predecessors, has gained a new graphic design and size. The components are well-made and the crown looks really good.
The Citadel is a great proposition for a larger group of 4 to 8 players. Slightly changed rules apply to 2-3 players, but it is not a thrilling game. The card game has been designed for a larger number of builders and then it shows its best face, although you have to expect waiting for everyone to choose their characters and perform their actions, and the space that everyone will need to build neighborhoods.
The game is known to many board game fans, so it doesn’t need to be introduced to them again. On the other hand, new people who are constantly looking for interesting titles should be interested in the Citadel if they sit down at a table with a few friends. Picking up coins, pausing queues, taking districts and a dense atmosphere are the special features of this card game. Negative interaction is an integral part of the game, so leave any friendships or sympathies outside the door.
