In Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, players work in partnership with other players to build two separate castles, but they only earn points for the lower-scoring of their two castles. Mechanically, the game features a tile-drafting system, with players using tiles representing castle rooms to design their floorplans.
Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig combines elements from Stonemaier’s Between Two Cities and Bezier Games’ Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Stonemaier produced the game in partnership with Bezier Games. It was created by Matthew O’Malley and Ben Rosset, who both contributed to Between Two Cities, and features artwork by Agnieszka Dabrowiecka (Between Two Cities: Capitals), Laura Bevon (Between Two Cities: Capitals), and Barlomiej Kordowski (Dream Home).
The game will include 230 tiles, 27 cards, 7 wooden castle tokens, a 100-page scorepad, and a four-part sorting tray and game box insert created specifically for the game by Game Trayz. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is intended for 3 to 7 players, and includes a two-player variant. It takes a little less than an hour to play. MSRP is $45.00.Stonemaier released its first family-friendly game earlier this month (see “Stonemaier Games Courts Families with First All-Ages Game”).
In addition to 2015’s Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Bezier Games released the stand alone The Palace of Mad King Ludwig last year (see “‘The Palace of Mad King Ludwig’”).