CROWNS

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Play Areas
4. Play Phases
   1. Draw Phase
   2. Action Phase
   3. Discard Phase
      1. Crypt
5. Objective
6. Rally Troops
7. Raids
   1. Pass Troops
   2. Access Target
8. Game End
9. Variant with +3 Players
10. Cards Reference
    1. Kings and Queens
    2. Numbered (A – 10)
    3. Jacks

Overview

CROWNS is a game of strategy, cunning, and luck where players manage a realm's dynasty as kings and queens reign and fall. Choose when to coronate a monarch and seat them on the throne, oversee their rule, use the aristocracy to your advantage, and amass an army to protect your strongholds and usurp the royalty of rival kingdoms.

Setup

1. Determine the dealer in whatever random way players choose
2. For a 2 player game shuffle a standard 52-playing-card deck (A – K, four suits)
   1. See end of document for 3+ player variant
3. Deal 5 cards to each player
4. Any player may choose to mulligan. A new hand is dealt to the player and the cards from their original hand are shuffled back into the deck. Players can only mulligan once at the start of the game
5. Place the remaining Deck of cards between players. Each player draws from this Deck
6. The player to the left of the dealer goes first and the order of players proceeds clockwise

Play Areas

In CROWNS each player manages their own play area i.e. their Realm. A Realm consists of a House, Throne, Stronghold, Crypt, and Troop Rally Points (four for each player). At the beginning of the game, besides the Deck and the 5 cards in the players' hands (represented by their Stronghold), all areas are empty.

The figure below is an example of an in-progress 2 player game. It illustrates the following:

• Deck: Where players draw cards from
• Strongholds: Represents the players' hand of cards
• Thrones: Where Kings, Queens, and Jacks can be “coronated” (face down) and advanced
• Houses: Where Kings and Queens are placed (face up) that have reigned or being stolen
• Crypt: Where cards are discarded to
• Rally Points / Troops: Empty Rally Points and pairs of Troops that have been rallied in front of Strongholds and Thrones (face up or face down)

Play Phases

Play progresses clock-wise, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer. A player's turn consists of three phases in the following order: Draw, Action, Discard (DAD):

1. Draw: At the beginning of their turn the player must draw one card from the Deck and add it to their Stronghold (i.e. their hand)
2. Action: The player has three actions they may use on particular abilities
3. Discard: If the player has more than five cards in their Stronghold they must discard down to 5 cards. If they have 5 or less cards this phase is skipped

Draw Phase

• To start their turn a player draws one card from the top of the Deck and adds it to their Stronghold
• A player cannot pass on this step
• This step doesn't cost an action. Actions are only used in the Action Phase
• If the player draws the last card in the deck the cards in the Crypt are immediately shuffled and form a new deck to draw from

Action Phase

• During the action phase the player has three actions they may use on their turn
• Players can pass on any actions in their turn
• The actions available to a player are Draw, Coronate, Advance, Rally, Recall, and Raid (DCARRR):
  • Draw: The player takes the top card from the Deck and adds it to their Stronghold
  • Coronate: The player takes a card (J, Q, K) from their Stronghold and places it, face down, on the Throne (the area to their right)
  • Advance: The player places a card (A – J), face down, on a card already on the Throne to advance it
  • Rally: The player places a card or pair of cards (A – 10) on rally points in front of their Throne or Stronghold
  • Recall: The player can return already rallied Troops back to their Stronghold
    • Note: During a Rally action if there are existing Troops on the rally point they are automatically recalled to the Stronghold without having to spend an additional action for the recall
  • Raid: The player attacks an opponent's Throne or Stronghold. If the player can pass all Rallied Troops defending a Throne or Stronghold they may access cards from the raided target. A player's House, the Deck, and the Crypt cannot be raided

Discard Phase

• After the action phase if the player has more than 5 cards in their Stronghold they must discard down to 5 cards
• If the player has 5 or less cards in their Stronghold they are not allowed to discard any cards and this phase is skipped
• Cards are discarded to the Crypt
• The next player, in clock-wise order, begins their turn

Crypt

• Where cards are discarded to
• Cards are placed in the Crypt face down
• Once there are no cards left in the Deck, the Crypt may be shuffled and form a new deck to continue play

Objective

To win the game a player must have 5 points worth of Kings and/or Queens in their House. Kings and Queens are placed in a player's House after reigning or being stolen. Kings and Queens reign when they are advanced the required number of times after coronation. They can also be stolen from an opponent's Throne or Stronghold after a successful Raid.

Rally Troops

• A player has a total of four rally points where pairs of Troops (A – 10) can be placed; two in front of their Throne and two in front of their Stronghold. The House has no rally points
• Troops must be placed at the innermost empty rally point
• Troops on a rally point must always be a pair of cards
• Newly rallied Troops may be placed face down to conceal the Troop strength and suit to the opposing player. Troops already face up must remain face up i.e. they have been “scouted”
• Troops can be rallied in the following ways:
  • As a pair on an empty rally point
  • As a pair to replace an existing pair on a rally point (recall existing pair to Stronghold)
  • As a single card to replace one card of an existing pair (recall replaced card to Stronghold)
• If Troops are scouted and then recalled, they may be placed face down if rallied again

Raids

Pass Troops

• Troops in front of the Throne must be used to raid the opponent’s Keep, and troops in front of the Keep must be used to raid the opponent’s Throne
• The Raid action cannot be performed on an opponent’s Throne or Keep unless there are troops rallied in front of the opposing Keep or Throne, respectively
• All Troops must be turned face up to use in a raid, whether for defense or offense. The cards only need to be turned face up when strength and suit are compared (see below) i.e. if the attacking player can’t pass the outermost troops the defending player doesn’t need to reveal their innermost troops
• To pass a pair of defending troops the attacking troops must meet the following requirements:
  • Strength: The strength of the attacking troops must be equal to or greater than the strength of the defending troops. Strength is the summation of the cards’ face values.
    • Reinforcement: Raiding players can boost the strength of a single pair of rallied troops by placing cards face down beside the troops being reinforced, for +1 strength per card used for reinforcement. Cards used for reinforcement are discarded at the end of the raid. Defending troops can’t be reinforced
  • Suit: There must be at least one card in the attacking troops that matches the suit of a card in the defending troops. Cards used for reinforcement are placed face down, so are not considered for the suit requirement
• Once a pair of attacking troops have been used in a raid they can’t be used again in the same raid
• A raid ends when:
  • A pair of defending troops are encountered that can’t be passed
  • The attacking player cancels the raid before they access the target. A raid can be cancelled immediately after troops are passed, including before the target is accessed
  • The attacking player successfully passes all defending troops and chooses to access the target

Access Target

• If there are no Troops protecting the target the Raiding player immediately gains access
• If the Raiding player accesses the Stronghold they may randomly choose a single card from the other player's Stronghold. If the chosen card is a:
  • Numbered (A–10): The Raiding player may discard it if they also discard a card from their Stronghold. Otherwise the card returns to the defending player's Stronghold
  • King or Queen: They may steal it and add it to their House
  • Jack: The raiding player must discard one card from their Stronghold to the Crypt. If the Raiding player has no cards in their Stronghold, the raid ends
  • No Cards: If there are no cards in the Stronghold the raid ends
• If the Raiding player accesses the Throne, and there is a card on it, they may see the card there. If it is a:
  • King or Queen: The raiding player steals it, adding it to their House
  • Jack: The Raiding player has fallen into a trap. The Jack is discarded and the defending player can choose to discard any pair of Troop cards from one of the raiding player's rally points
  • No Cards: If there are no cards on the Throne the raid ends

Game End

• The game ends when a player has 5 points worth of Kings and Queens in their House

Variant with 3+ Players

The game can be played with 3 or more players:

• For each extra player shuffle 26 additional cards into the Deck
• As an additional step of raiding, the raiding player must declare the player they're attacking as well as the target i.e. their Throne or Stronghold
• All the same rules of raiding in a 2 player game apply once a raid is initiated between the two players

Cards Reference

Kings and Queens

• The following things can be done to Kings and Queens:
  • Coronated: Place on the Throne face down to be advanced until their reign is complete or they are stolen by an opposing player. Once coronated Kings and Queens can't be removed from the Throne until they have 'reigned' (i.e. they have being advanced the required number of times to be scored and added to the player's House) or another player has stolen them from the Throne
  • Advanced: Once placed on the Throne Kings and Queens can be advanced. To reign Kings must be advanced 4 times, and Queens 3 times
  • Reign or Stolen: When they reign or have been stolen a King or Queen is placed in the House area of the player who possesses it. Kings are worth 2 points and Queens are worth 1 point
• Kings and Queens can't be used to advance, rally, reinforce, or any other purpose

Numbered (A – 10)

• Numbered cards can be used for the following purposes:
  • Rally Troops: Place the card(s) as Troops on a rally point in front of the player's Stronghold or Throne. Troops are used for defense or offense during Raids, depending on which player initiated the Raid action
  • Advancement: Place the card, face down, on a card on the Throne. Once a card is removed from the Throne the cards used for advancing are discarded
  • Reinforcement: Place cards, face down, on existing Troops during a Raid. This does not cost an action and can only be done by the Raiding player. Once a Raid ends any cards used for reinforcement are discarded. Face value and suit are not considered for cards used for reinforcement, and so are placed face down
• Numbered cards can't be placed on the Throne (i.e. coronated) like Kings, Queens or Jacks

Jacks

• Jacks can not be used as rallied Troops
• They can be used to advance or reinforce
• They also have these additional abilities:
  • On the Throne: Can be placed on the Throne like a King or Queen (i.e. coronated) to be advanced as a “False Crown”
    • The Jack can't reign and awards no points. Advancing has no effect other than to make the deception to other player(s) more convincing
    • If accessed by a Raiding player (in the defending player's Throne) the defending player can remove a pair of Troop cards from a rally point of the Raiding player's Throne or Stronghold. The Jack is then discarded along with any cards used to advance it
    • If a Jack is currently on a player's Throne and they want to coronate another card there, the Jack and any cards used to advance it are discarded
  • In the Stronghold: During a Raid if a Jack is accessed from the defending player's Stronghold the Jack returns to the defending player's Stronghold and the raiding player must discard one card from their Stronghold to the Crypt
    • If the raiding player has no cards in their Stronghold the raid ends

Game designed by Glen van den Bergen