Citadels - Recommended By Buck

A few years ago, I walked into my favourite board game store, and asked the owner, Buck, for some advice. I was hosting a game party, and I wanted a game that was easy to learn and fun for a large group of people. Buck recommended Citadels as a quick to learn, quick to set up, and fun for everyone game. As usual, he was right.

Citadels by Fantasy Flight Games


Ease Of Learning: 4/5 - Easy
Player Interaction: 3/5 - Interactive
Replay Value: 4/5 - Great
Play Duration: 20-40 minutes
Humour: 2/5 - Sometimes funny
Luck: 2/5 - Some luck involved

The basic idea is that when it comes to your turn, you can do only 3 things:

• Draw a card or take gold
• Spend gold to play a single card
• Use a special ability

The special ability is what makes this game fun, and what adds a level of interaction between the players. There are 8 role cards to choose from, and every round the players secretly choose a new role.

There is a competitive edge to the game, and many of the special abilities involve hindering your opponents in some way. I could choose the Warlord role in one round, for example, and use my ability to destroy cards that my friend has played.

The game is easy enough to play that everyone can enjoy it on their first play through, and interactive enough that everyone will continue to have fun with it so long as they enjoy their company. I recommend it for any game shelf.