Designer(s) Tom Lehmann Players 2-5 Setup time Approx. 5 minutes | Illustrator(s) Volkan Baga Age range 10+ | |
Publisher(s) Amigo Spiele (German)
Rio Grande Games (English) | ||
To Court the King is a dice-based board game designed by Tom Lehmann. It was published in German by Amigo Spiele and in English by Rio Grande Games in 2006. The basic mechanics of rolling and re-rolling dice have drawn comparisons to the game of Yahtzee.
Gameplay
Each player starts with the ability to roll 3 dice. After the first roll, a player may choose to reserve any number of those dice and re-roll the rest. He may then repeat this process a second time. Once the player is done rolling, they may use those dice to claim any of the character cards. Different cards will require different combinations of dice. The Laborer, for example, requires a total of 15 or greater. The Knight requires 5 of a kind. Each character card gives that player an additional ability. These range from rolling more dice, having additional re-rolls, the ability the change the die to the facing of your choice and other abilities. Play then passes to the next player.
This continues until a player claims the King and Queen card by rolling 7 of a kind. Once this occurs, each player in turn, gets one final roll. If they are able to roll same number of dice with a higher value or more dice of any matching value (8 of a kind, for example), they then receive the king card. This proceeds around the table to the player who originally claimed the King card, who also rolls. The game is then over and the player who has the best final score wins.