The Wizard’s Tower

Description: Castle Panic is a cooperative tower defense game set in a fantasy realm for 1-6 players with a playing time of 60 minutes. Simplicity: Moderately Simple Objective: The players act as a team to defend their castle at the center of the board. Monsters march out of the forest ring towards the castle. The players lose if all six towers are destroyed by the monsters. If all monsters are defeated before the last tower falls the players win the game. Basic Game Play: Each player will be dealt a hand of cards. The number of cards dealt can change depending on how many players are in the game. On your turn you have the opportunity to defeat monsters on the board. The board is divided into Colors (Red, Green, and Blue), arcs (numbered 1-6), Rings (Forest, Archers, Knights, Swordsman, and Castle), and Spaces. On a players turn they may use their cards to “hit” a monster and damage it by a point. The player then discards the played card. It takes one hit to defeat a Goblin, two hits to defeat an Orc, and three hits to defeat a Troll. You may only target a monster with a hit card that matches the monster's location (e.g. Blue Swordsman may only hit a monster in the blue section of the Swordsman’s ring.) When the player has accomplished all that they wish to do they move all monsters one ring closer to the castle keeping them in the same arc. Two more monsters are drawn from the bag. The player rolls the die and places the new monster in the forest ring of the matching arc number then rolls the die again for the second monster. If an action token is drawn the player or players follow the required task. The next player then begins their turn. Thoughts: This game is simple to pick up and by a player’s third turn they’ll know what is going on and how to make a decision on what to do. The game is entertaining and the anticipation of what monster will show up next is one of its highlights. Some players may wish for more and this game can only go so far with just three types of monsters and a healer. Despite that fact I still enjoy this game. Having your castle overrun with monsters closing in is intense and the event tokens will stir things up during the game. It is very satisfying when you’re able to perform a move that clears the board of the monsters. The components are of great quality and the art work is fitting for the focus of the game. Castle Panic is wonderful family entertainment. Rankings: Components: 2.5/3 Theme: 3/3 Mechanics: 3.5/4 Enjoyment: 8/10 Overall: 17/20 (85%) = B Conclusion: Castle Panic is a Great game that rarely disappoints me. High on my request or recommend list.

This is one of my favorite board games! It is easy to learn and great to play in a mixed-age group. It is a cooperative game where the players are working together to defeat all the monsters (ogres, trolls, etc.) before their castle is destroyed. I’ve both won and lost several times, and you can adjust the difficulty level to fit your group. Everything came in good condition and it was easy to assemble a few pieces that had two parts. The cards and pieces are high quality and have detailed illustrations, and I can tell the game will last a long time. This is a great game for team-building or a fun family game night!

Where do I even begin with this game? Castle Panic has officially turned my living room into a war council chamber, and my family into the most passionate group of castle defenders you've ever seen. The good news: We're finally working together as a team! The bad news: We're working together to frantically scream about goblins. My 10-year-old has become a strategic mastermind who now refers to herself as "Commander of the Red Arc" and takes her tower defense duties VERY seriously. She's developed this intense stare when analyzing the board that honestly makes me a little nervous. My spouse has turned into the Card Trading Czar, negotiating swaps like they're running the stock exchange. "I'll give you my Knight for that Archer, but I need a guarantee you'll take out that troll!" And me? I've become the person who yells "BOULDER!" way too enthusiastically every time we roll that boulder token. What makes this game pure gold: The moment when you realize you're all about to lose and suddenly everyone becomes a military strategist Watching my teenager actually put down their phone to help plan our "monster elimination sequence" The collective groans when we draw ANOTHER orc token That sweet victory dance when we barely survive with one tower standing (happened last Tuesday, still celebrating) The learning curve is perfect. Easy enough that our 8-year-old nephew jumped right in, complex enough that dad still gets that "I'm solving a puzzle" face. The cooperative element is genius because instead of someone rage-quitting when they lose, we all lose TOGETHER and immediately want to try again. Fair warning: This game has turned us into people who plan family strategy meetings. We've had legitimate dinner table discussions about optimal card trading protocols. I caught my kid drawing battle formations in their notebook. We may have created monsters (pun intended). The addiction is real. We've played this thing 15 times in the past month. FIFTEEN TIMES. We bought the expansion because apparently defending one castle wasn't enough chaos for this family. Bottom line: If you want a game that brings your family together to collectively panic about imaginary monsters while building actual teamwork skills, this is your jam. Plus, there's something deeply satisfying about looking at a board full of defeated monster tokens and knowing you did that TOGETHER. Just be prepared for your kids to start referring to household problems as "monster situations" and suggesting we "trade cards" to solve them. Would I buy again? We already bought the Big Box. Send help. (But also send more monsters because we're ready for them.) Pro tip: Keep snacks handy. Strategic planning makes everyone hungry, and you don't want anyone making poor tactical decisions due to low blood sugar when there's a troll one space away from your last tower.

This is a fun game that kids pick up quickly (age 7-11). The pieces are made very well, thick and durable. They have lovely pictures and creative design. This is a very fun strategy game but it does feel a bit “young” for adults who enjoy strategy games. Wonderful to play with kids but I’d never choose to play it with just a group of adults.

Très bon jeu coopératif, immersif, et qui est agréable aussi en solo. Le matériel est joli et de qualité (un bon point pour le château en 3D!), la mécanique du jeu est fluide, intégrer les règles n'est pas compliqué, et l'équilibre échec / réussite est bon: il n'est ni trop difficile, ni trop facile de gagner. Après plusieurs parties épiques - pas le temps de s'ennuyer durant la partie -, je pense que la rejouabilité est bonne, mais je conseille quand même l'extension The Wizard's Tower, qui renouvelle le jeu et lui apporte de la profondeur. Ravie de mon achat! Les règles étant en anglais, si vous maîtrisez mal cette langue, cherchez la traduction illustrée des règles en français, elle existe en pdf sur le net.

Me encanta este juego, muy divertido, es en general sencillo y de muy buena calidad de componentes. Todas las expansiones en un solo lugar, buena capacidad de la caja 0ara guardar todo inclusive aunque haya enfundado las cartas! Eso me parecio destacado.

Castle Panic is a co-operative board game where everyone plays on the same team against the board, thus providing a relief from friends confronting each other and potential disputes. The game can be played by 1-6 players who are in a castle attacked from all directions from goblins, orcs and trolls swarming from the surrounding forest. These monstrous foes can be dispatched by playing archer, knight or swordsman cards depending on far away the monsters are. After each go, the monsters advance ever closer to your castle ...... The castle consists of six towers and six walls. The walls can be rebuilt by playing a combination of two cards, while towers are removed permanently if destroyed. If all six towers are destroyed, the monsters have won, and if all the monsters are killed (depicted by tokens which are drawn at the end of each turn), all players are victorious. The feeling of everyone either loosing or winning together adds a great sense of team feeling, and everyone shares the panic when they see the castle surrounded by a flood of monsters. The co-operative element comes from players having the option to trade cards to stop as many monsters as possible, or build a wall, each go. In our household, we have two other co-op games; The Lord of the Rings Board Game [With Dice and 105 Cards and 44 Tokens and 3 Game Boards ] board game and Pandemic . Of these three, I would recommend Castle Panic for younger players as it is the simplest (this game is played by our 4 and 7 year old children) or to introduce the concept of co-op board games. We had a great 6-player game with player ages ranging from 4 to 65 and it was a close exciting game, just barely winning with only one tower left standing. The older players, who were only used to the Monopoly-type games liked the co-op aspect and seeing the children helping each other, with obvious tides of excitement ebbing and flowing throughout the game. Players do not have roles, such as in Pandemic (suggestion for an expansion?) which really adds to the co-op element of the game, but Castle Panic does have a Master Slayer competitive element, where the player who kills the most powerful monsters is crowned the 'Master Player', effectively becoming the winner, but only if the Castle still remains standing. It will count for nothing if the monsters have won. So this can add some hidden agendas in thinking how to help the team be victorious while thinking about personal achievements. Only with the solitaire version does it feel that in some games there is no chance of winning. Otherwise, the game is well balanced, with most games being close. The difficulty of the game can be tweaked by suggestions in the rules and at the Fireside Games website. Watch you don't fold the board the wrong way, as it can cause the board to easily split. Otherwise all game components are well presented and durable. There's really only educational value to younger players who can benefit from team work and starting to think a step ahead in anticipating what cards to play once the monsters have advanced. In summary, an excellent game that can bring the family together.

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Genial juego cooperativo, muy divertido y que mantiene la tensión todo el rato al ver cómo se acumulan los monstruos. Las expansiones lo hacen todavía mejor.