Description

In ???????? ("Tsumiki no Oujisama", "The Prince of Toy Blocks"), you have to build a castle out of tiles featuring toy blocks along with roofs, castle residents, bridges, and various kinds of windows. The tiles are all 2x3 but their contents vary wildly, and placement rules just require that every block be supported. The ultimate shape of your castle is up to you!

There are four main ways to earn points: you can have the highest or second highest roof in each of three colors, you can build a bridge that spans two tiles, you can place a castle resident at their preferred height, and you can add a new shape of windows to your castle. These goals interact in interesting ways - for example, to get roof points you want a very high castle, but most residents prefer relatively low levels of the castle.

Normally you place one tile each round, but if you place a colored toy block next to another colored toy block you get to place one extra tile on your turn. This can be used to take tiles from the shared stock in quick succession or to make a surprise play.

Once someone has played their 15th tile, play continues until everyone has had the same number of turns before entering final scoring. The game is flexible and can be played as a casual game with children and families, but the scoring and high degree of freedom leave plenty of room for serious play. What kind of castle will you make?

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