How to play Citadels

Learn the rules to the board game Citadels quickly and concisely - This visually rich video has no distractions, just the rules.

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RULES:

The object of the game is to get the most points when the game ends. The game ends at the end of the round when a player has built at least 8 districts, thus completing their City. District cards come in 5 colors: red, green, yellow, blue, and purple. The cost to build a district is from top to bottom on the left of the card. You must pay 1 gold for each cost to build a district.

You score 1 point for the combined value of all the district cards you have in play. Add up all the districts costs and receive one point for each. You also receive 3 bonus points if you built at least one of every color district. If you were the first person to build at least 8 districts, thus completing your city, you receive a bonus 4 points. If you completed your city but weren’t the first player, then you receive 2 bonus points. All this information can be referred to the reference card.

On your turn the first thing you do is choose an action. You may either take 2 gold from the bank, or draw 2 district cards and choose one of them to keep. Then you may build one district from your hand. You may not build more than 1 district with the same name. At any point during your turn you may activate your character’s ability. All this can be referenced throughout the game on the back of the reference card. In order, the characters are as follows:

Assassin. Choose 1 character, not player, to lose their turn. The player with the chosen character may not say anything or reveal anything until it is that player’s turn to reveal that they lost their turn.

Thief. Choose 1 character, not player, to steal all their gold. When that character is revealed, at the start of their turn you take all the gold they have. You cannot steal from the Assassin or the Assassin’s target.

Magician. You may either choose a player, not character, and exchange your hand with them. Or you may discard any number of district cards from your hand, placing them under the drawdeck and draw that many cards.

King. Immediately you receive the Crown (the yellow marker that determines who picks characters first). Receive 1 gold for every yellow district you have in play. You may choose to activate this part of the ability before or after you build something, thus capitalizing most effectively to have the best turn. If the king loses his turn, the crown still moves to t

Bishop. Receive 1 gold for every blue district you have in play. Also, your districts may not be destroyed by the Warlord.

Merchant: Receive 1 gold for every green district you have in play. After you take an action (that is, after you draw cards or take two gold) receive one extra gold from the bank.

Architect: After you take an action (that is, after you draw cards or take two gold), draw two extra cards and keep them. Additionally, you may build up to 3 districts this turn instead of the usual 1.

Warlord: Receive 1 gold for every red district you have in play. Also, you may pay one less than its cost to destroy one district in play. You may choose your own. Destroyed districts are placed under the draw deck. You may not destroy a district that is part of a complete city nor a district from the bishop character.

Setup: shuffle the district deck and deal 4 cards to each player. Give each player 2 gold. Give the oldest player the crown. Each round shuffle the character cards. Set one facedown on the table.

The player with the crown goes first and receives the character cards picks one of them, then passes the rest clockwise to the next player. The process continues until the last player picks one of the 2 remaining cards to keep and places the last one face down on the table.

Beginning in ascending value, turns are taken in character order, not player order. Beginning with the Assassin and ending with the Warlord, players take their turn, skipping any unplayed characters. At the end of the round, gather up all the character cards, shuffle them and repeat the process. The crown may not always change players from round to round. If no one picks the king in a round, then the crown stays where it is.

If you are playing with 5 players, during the character selection before giving the deck to the player with the crown, flip one cards face up on the table. If you are playing with 4 players flip 2 over. The face down cards and any face up ones won’t be used this round. If you flip over the king card faceup, immediately replace it with another character card, then shuffle the king back into the deck. If you are playing with 2, 3, 6 or 7 players, don’t flip any over.

When choosing characters with 7 players, the last player to get a character card picks up the first face down character card and chooses between it and the card handed them....