The White Castle

Here is a general overview of how to play the game based on the rules provided.

Setup

• Place the main board within reach of all players, put the Round marker on the first space of its track, and set up a common reserve with coins, Daimyo Seals, and Clan Point tiles (p. 14).
• Place the Bridges in their river spaces, roll all the dice of each color, and place them on their respective Bridges in ascending order from left to right (lowest values near the lantern) (p. 14).
• Shuffle the Garden decks, and randomly place one Plant Garden card and one Stone Garden card below each Bridge (p. 18). Set up the Castle cards and Die tiles on the main board according to the player count (p. 2, 4).
• Each player takes a personal Domain board, 15 Clan members (5 Courtiers, 5 Gardeners, and 5 Warriors), 3 Resource cubes placed at 0, a Fan token next to the Clan Points track, and stacks their Influence marker on top of their Heron token on the Passage of Time track (p. 12).
• Players then choose starting pairs of Action and Resource cards in reverse turn order (p. 3).

How a Turn Works

A game of The White Castle is divided into 3 rounds, during which each player takes 3 turns per round (p. 4). The player at the top of the Turn Order track goes first (p. 4). During your turn, you must follow these steps:

1. Choose a die: Pick a die from either of the two ends of any Bridge (p. 13). If you choose the die on the left side near the lantern, you gain your personal domain's Lantern Reward (p. 19).
2. Place the die: Place the chosen die in any valid space on the main board or your Domain board that shows a die icon, covering a printed value or another die (p. 19).
3. Adjust coins based on values: If your new die has a higher value than what it covers, take the difference in coins from the common reserve (p. 19). If it has a lower value, pay the difference in coins to the reserve; if it is the same value, nothing changes (p. 19).
4. Apply actions and rewards: Carry out the actions and collect the rewards associated with the space where you placed the die (p. 5, 19). Depending on where you place it, you may send Clan members—such as Warriors, Gardeners, or Courtiers—to train in the castle, work in the gardens, or climb the social ladder of the nobility (p. 9, 27).

A round comes to a close once all players have taken 3 turns and there are a total of 3 dice left on the Bridges (p. 4). At the end of rounds 1 and 2, Gardeners are activated, new turn order is determined by the Passage of Time track, and the dice are re-rolled and placed back on the Bridges (p. 13).

How the Game Ends

• After the third round is completed and the new turn order is established, the game proceeds directly to final scoring (p. 4, 9).
• Players score remaining resources and coins, their position on the Passage of Time track, and points from their Clan members in the Castle, Training Yards, and Gardens (p. 9, 14).
• The winner is the player who has advanced their Fan token farthest on the Clan Points track (p. 4).