What The White Castle Is
The White Castle is a dice-drafting and worker-placement game published by Devir, released in 2023, for one to four players. A game runs about 80 minutes according to one review, and BoardGameGeek lists its weight as medium-heavy at roughly 3. Players manage resources and place clan members around Himeji Castle. The game is short in structure: three rounds, with each player taking three turns per round.
Components Worth Knowing
- A personal Domain board for each player, with tracks for Food, Iron and Pearls.
- Three types of clan members per player: Gardeners, Warriors (also called Samurai) and Courtiers.
- Dice in three colors, orange, black and white, held on bridges.
- Die tiles, Steward and Diplomat cards, Garden cards, and Starting cards.
- Heron tokens for turn order, and a round tracker.
Setup in Brief
Place the die tiles on the board following the rulebook’s placement rules, set the Steward and Diplomat cards in their castle rooms, and put a Daimyo card in the top room. Shuffle the Plant Garden and Stone Garden cards separately and reveal three of each. Prepare Starting Resource and Starting Action cards, one pair more than the number of players. Roll dice and place them on the bridges that match their color. The low die goes to the left end, the high die to the right end, and the rest in the middle in order. Place Heron tokens on the turn order track, and in reverse order each player picks a pair of starting cards and takes the rewards.
How a Turn Works
- Draft a die. Take either the lowest die from the left end or the highest die from the right end of a bridge. Never take one from the middle. The nearest middle die then slides into the empty end.
- Place the die. Put it on an action space whose die tile matches the die’s color.
- Pay or gain coins. Compare the die value to the value on the space. A higher die gains you the difference in coins, and a lower die means you pay the difference. In games with three or four players, you may place a die on top of one already there.
- Take the action. Perform the action tied to that space.
Taking the lowest die from the left also allows you to trigger your Lantern action, which collects resources shown on cards in your Lantern row.
The Three Clan Member Actions
- Gardeners: pay Food to place a Gardener on a Garden card. They score points and can trigger an extra bonus at round end if dice remain on the bridge above them. You may place only one Gardener per card.
- Warriors: spend Iron to send a Warrior to a training yard for the bonus listed. Their points depend on the yard and on your Courtiers in the castle.
- Courtiers: pay coins to bring a Courtier to the castle gate, and use Pearls to advance up the castle. Higher rooms bring new action cards and more points.
End of a Round
After everyone has taken three turns, the round ends. Turn order is reset based on the Passage of Time track, so the leader chooses first in the next round. Gardeners with dice remaining above them trigger bonuses, then dice are rolled again. In the last round, this Gardener bonus is not used, according to one review.
Final Scoring
After the third round, players add Clan Points from their placed clan members, track positions and other scoring sources, and the highest total wins. For edge cases, check the official rulebook, which is available from the publisher and the BoardGameGeek files page.
The White Castle Duel
The Duel is a separate two-player game set in the same world. It has its own rules, so use its own rulebook rather than the main game’s.
Is It a Good Game?
Many players find it a tight, efficient game with interesting dice decisions. The short length of three rounds means every turn matters, and some players may find it prone to analysis paralysis.
Related Reading
For another strategy game with a different turn structure, compare our Arcs rules overview. If you want something lighter, see our Parks rules guide.