Citadels Card Game

Customer Reviews

Well balanced game; great to have on your shelf Review by Cindy

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Even though I've had this game for over a year now, we've never pulled out the characters from the expansion pack mostly because the game play is so balanced.

Another reason to have this game on your shelf is its ability to scale to the number of people you have with you. It is much more strategic game at 2-4, and more about reading your friend's personality in larger groups.

A great game, especially for the price. You'll likely want to get a set of sleeves, at least for the (20ish) character cards, and gameplay cards b/c they get handled quite a bit.

(Posted on 12/26/11)

One of my favorites Review by KR

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Citadels is one of my favorite games. I've played two player games and I've played 7 player games and every time has been tons of fun. I find that playing a 2 player game has a completely different feel than when playing with more people. The one issue with the game is that with more people the games can tend to drag on and not much changes in gameplay throughout the game so players with shorter attention spans can begin to get bored. (Posted on 12/15/11)

Lots of fun with friends! Review by Samantha

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Played this game with friends in San Fran while I was visiting. It was great fun and very different from games I've played before. Highly recommend it! (Posted on 9/8/11)

Build your city, foil your buddies Review by Clarence

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A great game that is easy to teach, has great replayability, and lots of player interaction. Be warned, this is not a multiplayer solitaire - you can lose a turn if another player is especially intuitive, but often the winner is not apparent until the last round. Lots of strategy and tactics for a simple, fun game. (Posted on 12/17/10)

Two Players Makes My Day Review by Wasgo

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I love Citadels. It became one of my staple games when I managed to game once a week. It plays like a highly psychological version of rock, paper, scissors. While there are an incredible number of variations and strategies that are possible, at the end of the day, each turn comes down to what you expect your opponent to do.

The game plays well with an number of players, but personally I favour just playing with two. It becomes incredibly tense as you try to outmanoeuvre each other, move by move. Makes a great addition in any board game collection. (Posted on 12/21/09)

An excellent card game for small or large groups with good replay value. Review by DV

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Citadels is a great card game that revolves around choosing character cards and building up your kingdom with districts. The game plays with 2-7 players (8 with the expansion) and works very well with any number, which can’t always be said of every card game. I really like the artwork, especially of the characters, and the cards feel durable enough to last for a long time. The small size of the game box makes it easy to take anywhere.

The rules are easy to learn and the strategy is easy to grasp. Players must compete in order to first build 8 districts. Districts come in 5 colours and they each have a different price and value. There are 9 character cards which players must then choose from in secret. Depending on the amount of players, some cards might be burned first (flipped up on the table) in order to accommodate smaller groups. Otherwise the choosing starts with the king followed by the other players in clockwise order. The characters range from the King (you become the starting player), the Thief (steal someone’s gold), the Assassin (kill someone so they lose their turn) or the Architect (lets you pick up extra district cards). Other characters give you bonus gold for each district of a certain colour that you have already built. Each character card has a number and they are always played in order (so the Assassin as #1 will always go first if a player chooses that role). Every turn players may use their character’s special ability and also choose between taking two gold and picking up two district cards. Once the round is over the character selection begins again and you continue playing till someone has built 8 districts, at which point all players count up the total value of all their districts and the highest wins the game. The great part of the game is that your strategy will change with each round and will depend on the selection of characters that are available. The challenge and fun comes from choosing your card: do you take the obvious character that’s most beneficial to you and risk being a target or do you try and guess what other players have chosen in order to hinder them (steal a card or make them lose a turn)?

The game also comes with the expansion that adds 9 new character cards that can be interchanged with the originals as well as some cool new districts with special abilities. This makes for great variety and you are able to play with the character cards you like best or simply add a few at random. I highly recommend Citadels to anyone looking for an entertaining card game that has good replay value.
(Posted on 9/25/09)

Great addition to any collection, perfect for all types of gamers Review by Murray

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Citadels was one of the first games I purchased when I got into board games and I still love playing it. The objective of the game is to build 8 districts in your city. Once a player has built 8 district, play continues until the end of that round and then ends. Each district card is worth a different amount, which is how much a player must pay to build it and also how much it is worth at the end of the game. The player with the highest score at the end of the game is the winner, with their score being the total worth of their buildings plus any bonuses, such as being the first to build 8 districts, just having 8 district, and having a district of each colour.

There are role cards that spice things up significantly. Aside from granting players special abilities for that round, the role cards also determine the turn order of that round. At the start of each round a certain number of cards are "burned." That is, they are randomly discarded from the role deck. The number of cards discarded face up and face down are determined by the number of players in the game. The player with the crown token, acquired by obtaining the King card in a previous round or by being the oldest player at the start of the game, gets to select his/her role card first before passing the remaining cards to the next player.

Also included with Citadels is the Dark City expansion, which includes 9 new role cards that can be combined in various ways with the existing role cards, and many new district cards with special abilities. The expansion is only meant to be partially used with the base game. That is, up to 2 new role cards and 4 new district cards are recommended to be added to the base game. This allows for a lot of interesting combinations and variability.

The cards for Citadel are of extremely high quality and can withstand wear and tear over many replays, which the game will surely get. The coin tokens included with the game are small plastic pieces, but are easily replaced with anything, such as dice or poker chips. There is also a wooden crown token that is often cut poorly, but usually it is not difficult to keep track of who is the king.

Overall, the game is amazing. The best part is that it can accommodate up to 8 players with the expansion. The game is fairly easy to learn, though it may take a few games for people to fully understand it. There is plenty of strategy and bluffing involved, keeping the game interesting, especially with new people. I highly recommend this game. (Posted on 12/9/08)

Citadels is a fun little game that is easily transportable wherever you go. With very few pieces, the game is extremely light and packaging is small and simple. In fact, the entire game can easily be fit into a sandwich bag and taken on a hiking trip. Cit Review by TR

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Citadels is a fun little game that is easily transportable wherever you go. With very few pieces, the game is extremely light and packaging is small and simple. In fact, the entire game can easily be fit into a sandwich bag and taken on a hiking trip. Citadels is a game that takes between 5-10 minutes to learn and accommodates up to 7 players in its expanded version.

The objective of Citadels is to build the largest and most impressive city by the end of the game. Victory points are scored from the various buildings built and by being the first to build a total of 8 buildings. Each turn players take on different roles, ranging from the Assassin to King to Warlord, each with their own special abilities that make the games interesting to play. From directly affecting other players to more defensive abilities to abilities that focus on developing the players chance at winning, each role is important and can be extremely useful.

As three of the roles available directly affect other players – providing the ability to kill, steal or destroy a building of an opponents, Citadels is a game of high interaction. It is also requires some consideration, most importantly when choosing roles.

Overall, Citadels is a fun game that alters with the number of players involved – from fast and fun with a few players to longer, more involved games when more players are added. It is just about complex enough to be interesting, but simple enough to involve the whole family. (Posted on 12/5/08)