The Royal Court

For centuries, rulers have ruled their Kingdoms with the support of a royal court. A royal comprised of the Kings closest and most trusted family, advisors and nobles. A Kingdom lived or died on the strength of their Kingdoms royal court.

In The Royal Court, players take on the role of royal advisors to their respective kingdoms. Each advisor has been tasked with gathering trusted individuals to join their own kingdom's court.

Overview and Object of the Game

The Royal Court is played in a series of rounds. Over the course of a round, players fill their royal courts with trusted royals, clergy, servants, and of course the Kings and Queens themselves.

The object of The Royal Court is be the first player to win 3 rounds. To win a round, a player must assemble the highest scoring royal court.

Set up

Shuffle all 18 Royal Court cards, then randomly discard 2 cards and place the rest in the middle of the play area. Set aside the scoring cubes. The most regal player is the first player.

Gameplay

Players take alternate turns drawing cards and performing actions. When the deck empty the round is over

To play a turn, players perform the following actions in order:

1. The first player draws the top 4 cards of the deck and forms 2 pairs of their choice face-up next to the draw pile.

2. The second player chooses which pair of cards they receive and which pair the other player receives.

3. Both players take and place their assigned pair of cards face-down in a single pile in front of them. This is their court. Now starting with the second player, repeat the above steps until the deck is empty.

End of a Round

When there are no more cards left to draw, each players score their own royal court for the current round. The player with the most points wins the round.

If there is a tie, the player with the most MAIDS in their court is the winner. If there is still a tie, that round is counted as a dead round and no one scores. Give winner of that round a scoring cube. Reset and start a new round. The player who lost the previous round starts the new round as the first player.

The first player to win 3 rounds is the winner of the game.