Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig

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

Setup Sit around a table with equal space between players, as castles will be built between you and your partners (p. 2). Shuffle the 7 throne room tiles and place 1 between each pair of players, placing a wooden castle token on the table below each throne room (p. 2). Give 1 player aid to each player, and place the small tray of specialty rooms and royal attendants in the middle of the table (p. 2). Place the large tray of regular room tiles (face down) and the bonus card stack in the middle of the table as well (p. 2, 9).

How a Turn Works The game is played in 2 rounds (p. 5). At the start of each round, draw 9 regular room tiles to hold secretly in your hand (p. 10). On each turn, players conduct the following steps simultaneously (p. 4, 10):

1. Choose: Secretly choose 2 tiles from your hand to play, and place the remaining tiles face-down underneath the castle token to your left (p. 10).
2. Reveal: Once everyone has chosen, all players simultaneously reveal their chosen tiles (p. 10).
3. Place: Openly discuss strategy with your partners to place one of your chosen tiles into the castle on your left and the other into the castle on your right (p. 10).

New tiles must share an edge with at least one existing tile, and tiles placed above ground level must be supported by a tile below (p. 3). After placing tiles, repeat the turn steps by taking the remaining tiles from under the castle token to your right until only 1 tile remains under the castle, which is then discarded out of the game before beginning round two (p. 13).

How the Game Ends After round two is over, each castle is scored using a score sheet (p. 13). Your personal final score is the lower of the scores of your two castles, and the player with the highest final score wins (p. 13).

(Note: The provided evidence does not detail the exact step-by-step scoring breakdown for every single room category on the score sheet, though it mentions individual room scoring, bonuses, and tie-breakers like comparing higher-scoring castles or specialty rooms).