Country: Germany

In the tile-laying game Castles of Mad King Ludwig, players are tasked with building an amazing, extravagant castle for King Ludwig II of Bavaria...one room at a time. You see, the King loves castles, having built Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired the Disney theme park castles) and others, but now he's commissioned you to build the biggest, best castle ever — subject, of course, to his ever-changing whims. Each player acts as a building contractor who is adding rooms to the castle he's building while also selling his services to other players.

In the game, each player starts with a simple foyer. One player takes on the role of the Master Builder, and that player sets prices for a set of rooms that can be purchased by the other players, with him getting to pick from the leftovers after the other players have paid him for their rooms. When a room is added to a castle, the player who built it gains castle points based on the size and type of room constructed, as well as bonus points based on the location of the room. When a room is completed, with all entranceways leading to other rooms in the castle, the player receives one of seven special rewards.

After each purchasing round, a new player becomes the Master Builder who sets prices for a new set of rooms. After several rounds, the game ends, then additional points are awarded for achieving bonus goals, having the most popular rooms, and being the most responsive to the King's demands, which change each game. Whoever ends up with the most castle points wins.

The Speicherstadt is an auction card game. Players compete for victory points, which come mainly from contracts (sets of resources) and special cards (like a collected set of 1-4 identical "counting offices", the port rewarding collected ship cards etc.). The game is build on two core concepts:

1. Players bid for cards by building "towers" with their meeples over them. Each meeple in a tower increases the cost of a card - but only for players "below" it. This is the main mechanic of the game - players must consider WHEN to bid (place their meeple) over a certain card and when to use their meeples to make others pay more. This important, because a player can make only three bids during a round.

2. Players are punished by negative points for not collecting firemen cards. Thus, ignoring security may cost a player a victory. By many players, the "punishing" mechanic is considered a trademark of the author - Stefan Feld.

The deck is divided into four seasons - winter, spring, summer and autumn. In later seasons, more powerful cards appear, so players need to think ahead in managing their resources.

---- Promotional blurb from the publisher ----

Hamburg around 1900 - the gate to the world. Within the harbour there stretches a unique complex of storehouses: Speicherstadt. The network of canals and bridges houses a terminal for spices, coffee, tea and carpets from all over the world.

As one of Hamburg´s wholesaler at the heyday of the Speicherstadt you acquire shiploads for the storehouses, not too expensive, of course, as you like to make a profit selling them. Who makes the best deals within a year and supplies his clients with the right goods will be the winner of the game. But beware! Sudden fires cause heavy losses. You might be advised to invest in fire protection early.

Playing Speicherstadt you will be thrilled by the simple and original mechanism of acquiring desired action cards.