The White Castle rules: how to play and how to score

The White Castle quick rules

The goal

You lead a minor clan at the court of Himeji Castle. Your Courtiers climb the Castle, your Warriors train and your Gardeners tend the gardens. The game lasts three rounds of three turns per player, and the most Clan Points wins.

Taking a die

On your turn, you take a single die from either end of one of the three Bridges, and the next die slides into the empty end without changing its value. The die on the left end, near the lantern, also gives you your Lantern Reward.

Placing the die

The die always covers a value, printed or that of another die. If yours is higher, you gain the difference in coins; if lower, you pay it. Then you carry out the space’s actions. At most two dice can be stacked on the main board, and never with 1 or 2 players.

Where to place your die

In the Castle’s five rooms, you carry out the card’s actions that match your die’s color. Outside the Walls, any color gives you a Gardener, Courtier or Warrior action. The Well is always worth 1 and gives a Daimyo Seal and the benefits of its two tiles.

Your Domain board

Each color has its own line: coral for Courtiers, black for Gardeners, white for Warriors. You gain the line’s visible rewards, then your Action card’s action. Each Clan member who leaves reveals new rewards.

Warriors and Gardeners

A Warrior goes to a Training Yard for Iron and carries out its Yard tiles’ actions. A Gardener goes to a Garden card where you don’t have one yet, for Food, and carries out its action; it acts again at the end of rounds.

Courtiers

For 2 coins, a Courtier enters the Gate of the Castle; for 2 or 5 Mother-of-Pearl, a Courtier moves up one or two levels. On the first two floors, you take the room’s card, which replaces your Action card, and carry out one of its light-background actions. With the Daimyo, you gain your Lantern Reward and a favor from the Daimyo card.

Lanterns, Seals and the Passage of Time

A Lantern Reward gives every benefit visible in your Lantern Area, which grows with each new card. You keep five Daimyo Seals at most: two are worth one Resource, one is worth one coin. On the Passage of Time track, each Checkpoint costs 1, 2, then 3 Seals.

The end of a round

It comes when only three dice are left on the Bridges. The new turn order follows the Passage of Time track. Each Bridge that still has a die activates its two Garden cards for the Gardeners on them, then all the dice are rolled again.

Solitaire mode

You face the Tokugawa Clan, which never pays for anything and only gains coins. Its Solitaire cards choose its die and its actions; it turns its coins into points at the end of each round and scores the rest like a player.

Beginner traps

A die lower than the value it covers costs you coins. Without a Courtier inside the Castle, your Warriors score nothing. And without Daimyo Seals, your Influence marker stays stuck before the next Checkpoint.

Matcha

With the Matcha expansion, each player takes four turns per round, which ends with four dice left. The green Bridge adds dice that never go into the Castle, the tea fields and the Himeji outskirts, and geishas who go to the pond or follow the tea path to the tea house.

How to score The White Castle

Clan Points scored during the game

Your space on the Clan Points track before final scoring, plus 40 or 80 for your tile.

Coins and Daimyo Seals

1 point per set of 5 coins and Daimyo Seals combined.

Leftover Food, Iron and Mother-of-Pearl

For each Resource, 1 point if you have 3 to 6 left, 2 points if you have 7.

Passage of Time

3 points in the second season, 6 in the third; in the fourth, the number shown below your space, from 10 to 15.

Courtiers

1 point at the Gate, 3 on the first floor, 6 on the second, 10 with the Daimyo.

Warriors

The value of your Warriors, 1 or 2 each depending on its Yard, times the number of your Courtiers inside the Castle, not counting those at the Gate.

Gardeners

The points printed on the Garden cards your Gardeners are on.

Matcha: leftover chasen

With the Matcha expansion, chasen count like the other Resources: 1 point for 3 to 6, 2 points for 7.

Matcha: geishas in the tea garden

2 points for your geisha at the edge of the pond, 1 per geisha at the entrance, 2 on the first space of the tea path, 3 on the second.

Matcha: geishas in the tea house

For each geisha, 2 points per Gardener you placed in the top room, per Warrior in the middle room, per Courtier, Gate included, in the bottom room.

Worked example

Emma has 34 points on the track. She keeps 4 coins and 3 Seals: 7, so 1 point. She has 2 Food (0), 4 Iron (1) and 7 Mother-of-Pearl (2) left. Her Influence marker ends in the fourth season, on a space worth 11. Her Courtiers: one at the Gate, two on the first floor, one on the second and one with the Daimyo, so 1 + 6 + 6 + 10 = 23. Her Warriors are worth 2 + 2 + 1 = 5, times her 4 Courtiers inside the Castle: 20. Her Gardeners score 4 + 6 = 10. Total: 34 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 2 + 11 + 23 + 20 + 10 = 102 Clan Points.

Common mistakes

• Counting Courtiers at the Gate in the Warriors’ multiplier: they score 1 point each, but multiply nothing.
• Multiplying the number of Warriors instead of their value: a Warrior is worth 1 or 2 depending on its Yard.
• Counting coins alone: Daimyo Seals are added to them, 1 point per set of 5.
• Scoring 1 point for a Resource at 2 units: you need at least 3.

How to set up The White Castle

Setup is done in three phases, plus one for the solitaire mode. The player count changes the Castle cards and the number of dice; the Matcha steps are added if you play with the expansion.