Citadels

by Fantasy Flight Games

Product Features

• A compelling card game of nobles, intrigue, and cities
• Includes the Dark City expansion
• Age: 10+
• Number of Players: 2 - 7
• Playing Time: 20 - 60 min

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 4 x 7.8 inches ; 10.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: 158994030X
• Item model number: MA04
• Manufacturer recommended age: 10 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #75 in Toys & Games > Games > Board Games
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Citadels is a game of nobles, intrigue, and cities for 2-7 players, playable in 20-60 minutes. The current printing of Citadels includes the Dark City expansion detailed elsewhere - look for the purple logo on your box lid if you're not sure if your copy includes the Dark City. Citadels with the Dark City Expansion includes: •66 District cards•8 Character cards •8 Reference cards•30 gold coins•1 wooden crown marker•10 Bonus character cards!•14 Bonus purple district cards!

Product Description

Nominated for the German Game of the Year in 2000, Citadels has finally arrived in an English-language edition. Game enthusiasts of all genres will be enchanted by this wonderful game of bluffing, deduction, and city-building. Wrapped in a medieval theme and gorgeously illustrated, players seek to be the first to complete a grand city of their own. Each game round players secretly take the roles of either the King, Magician, Architect, Assassin, Thief, Bishop, General, or Merchant and seek to use the powers of such offices in their efforts to win the game. As an additional bonus, the English version will ship with 10 new cards designed by Bruno Faidutti himself. These cards feature new locations and new characters to make your game of Citadels even more diverse than the original German version. The game is for 2 to 7 players and it takes 20-60 minutes to play.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Citadels - Deceptively Simple, Outright Fun, June 28, 2009

By 

Erik Willett (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Citadels (Toy)

Citadels has become a great addition to my group's gaming headliners among Settler's of Catan and Puerto Rico. Depending on who you play with, this can be a very strategic and tense game as you vie for the best roles and the largest stash of gold.

If you've played Puerto Rico, then you might be familiar with the role-based mechanic of the game. There are a total of 8 roles in the base game and 10 more in the expansion that comes included (Dark City). Your choice of role provides you with different options to backstab others, build up your own city, or gather the necessary resources. It also determines the turn order. For instance, the Assassin goes first and can choose anyone to assassinate (who ever took that role skips their turn). The Thief goes next and can steal gold from a role.

Roles are taken secretly, with some put aside at the start of the turn to make sure no one can easily figure out who is who. You must balance between getting the role you need and the role which no one will suspect you of because the Assassin or Thief can shut you down in a pinch. Once roles are obtained, they are called out one by one in order - if that's your role and you haven't been Assassinated, you go.

The eight roles are:
Assassin, Thief, Magician, King, Bishop, Merchant, Architech, and Warlord

The expansion adds 14 interesting Special locations. It also adds the following eight roles correspond to and replace ones from the base game (they're similar in spirit but do drastically different things):
Witch, Tax Collector, Wizard, Emperor, Abbot, Alchemist, Navigator, Diplomat

The expansion, which is included, as features roles that take up position 9:
The Queen, and the Artist


The artwork on the card are all very interesting and roles themselves take on a life of their own with caricature-like depictions. You'll quickly gain a connection with the style and capabilities of each role ("Damn Warlord!"). We all really get into it.

Expansion cards are marked with stars for easy separation.

2-7 players, 30-60 minutes (depends on who you play with), and ages 10+ (though one or two locations depict naked people in the background, hard to really pick up on at first but when waiting for the roles to be passed around you might notice)

All-in-all, one of my favorite games for casual or intense play. It has plenty of character, quick to pick up, and is deceptively simple - making for great game play on the fly.

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TIPS: For your enjoyment and the preservation of the product, I offer some tips:

-Put the role cards into plastic card protectors; this will prolong the life of them as they will be shuffled and battered by the players throughout the game

-Get more gold counters; this isn't an issue most of the time, but with more players and with certain roles a player can stock up quite a bit of gold at times (this is important when using the expansion characters); quality of the gold counters depends on the version, from cardboard to plastic pieces

-Print or write up a card with the numbers of each role; at times, people will forget who goes next and a card like this is not provided

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply fun, December 4, 2007

By 

Lilblackbird (USA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Citadels (Toy)

This strategy card game is fun, quick to set up and doesn't have a lot of pieces or rules to keep track of. I've played with 2 players and with 5, and it was just as fun either way, which is unusual for this genre. It takes about 10-15 minutes per number of players.
The objective is to build 8 buildings and gain the most points, which are printed on the building cards. Each turn players act as one of the characters and use the abilities: collect money for certain districts, steal from or assassinate another character, trade or draw extra cards, be the first to choose a character, destroy a character's building, etc.
Characters are drawn secretly, and at least one is randomly excluded. Each character goes in a predestined order, and collects money or cards, may build, and can use their ability during their turn. Whoever gets the king chooses a character first for the next round, giving them an advantage. The strategies change as the game goes on, and you're always wondering what another player is going to do, if they can sabotage you, if you can foil them, and eventually who is going to call the game by building their eighth building.

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comes with Dark City expansion!, March 8, 2008

By 

J. Beck "br4v3_s1r_r0b1n" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Citadels (Toy)

The game is awesome; all great reviews are spot on. Just wanted to add that this game comes with the "Dark City" expansion, so that you don't need to buy it separately. It says this on the box, but it's too small to see from the product photo.