The White Castle is a deeply strategic worker-placement, dice-placement, and resource-management board game set in Himeji Castle, Japan, during the Edo period.

Players take control of rival clans competing to gain influence within the castle and earn the favor of Daimyo Sakai Tadazumi. Send your Courtiers, Gardeners, and Warriors to different areas of Himeji Castle, carefully manage resources, recruit powerful cards, and use dice to perform actions.

🎯 How to Play

1. 🏯 Choose Your Clan

Each player controls a clan seeking to gain prestige and influence at Himeji Castle.

You receive your own Personal Domain, along with:

• ⚔️ Warriors
• 👘 Courtiers
• 🌿 Gardeners
• 🍚 Food
• ⚙️ Iron
• 🦪 Mother-of-Pearl

Your objective is to manage these resources and workers more efficiently than your opponents.

2. 🎲 Choose a Die

Three bridges hold the game's coloured dice.

On your turn, choose an available die from either end of one of the bridges.

The value of the die determines how much you may gain or pay when using an action space.

This makes dice selection an important strategic decision.

3. 🪙 Place the Die & Take an Action

Place your chosen die on a matching action space on the main board or your Personal Domain.

Depending on where you place it, you may be able to:

• 👘 Send a Courtier into the castle
• ⚔️ Train or deploy a Warrior
• 🌿 Send a Gardener into the gardens
• 🍚 Gain resources
• 🪙 Gain Coins
• 🏯 Gain Daimyo Seals
• 🃏 Activate cards
• ⭐ Gain Clan Points

If the value of your chosen die differs from the value shown on the action space, you may gain or pay Coins based on the difference.

4. 👘 Send Courtiers Into the Castle

Courtiers can enter Himeji Castle and climb the social hierarchy.

Move your Courtiers through the different levels of the castle to get closer to the Daimyo.

Higher positions can provide stronger rewards and opportunities to gain Clan Points.

The castle's three levels feature different cards representing Stewards, Diplomats, and the Daimyo.

5. ⚔️ Deploy Your Warriors

Your Warriors serve as members of your clan who protect and patrol the castle.

Deploying Warriors can provide useful benefits and help you gain resources, influence, and points.

Strategically placing your Warriors is an important part of developing your clan.

6. 🌿 Send Gardeners to the Gardens

The gardens around Himeji Castle provide another path to valuable rewards.

Send your Gardeners to maintain the castle grounds and interact with the different garden areas.

Garden actions can provide resources, points, and other benefits depending on the available Garden cards.

7. 🪙 Manage Your Resources

The White Castle revolves around careful resource management.

You'll need to balance:

🍚 Food → ⚙️ Iron → 🦪 Mother-of-Pearl → 🪙 Coins → 🏯 Daimyo Seals

Every resource has a purpose, and running short of the right resource at the wrong time can prevent you from taking an important action.

8. 🏮 Use Lantern Rewards

Your Personal Domain contains a Lantern Area where cards can provide additional rewards.

When certain dice are selected, you can activate the benefits shown by the cards in your Lantern Area.

This allows you to create combinations that make your turns more efficient.

Careful card placement can turn small actions into much larger rewards.

9. 🏯 Gain the Daimyo's Favor

Your clan's ultimate goal is to gain influence and prestige within Himeji Castle.

As your Courtiers move closer to the Daimyo and your clan develops throughout the game, you'll gain opportunities to earn Clan Points.

The player who manages their workers, resources, dice, and cards most effectively will have the best chance of victory.

10. ⏳ Play Across 3 Rounds

The game is intentionally compact.

Each player gets a limited number of turns during each round, so there is little room for wasted actions.

Across the three rounds, your clan develops its influence and accumulates points.

By the final round, every action can make the difference between victory and defeat.