Castles of Mad King Ludwig Wiki

I have the board game and this makes set up so fast for solo, I wouldn't go back to the card board version! Controls are intuitive, the tutorial mission are helpful, and the replay ability so far is very good for quick games vs AI or campaign mode with various challenging ways to score and get full achievements. Great board game made better with the app.

I love "Castles..." the board game, and this app is a good proxy for it. The AI is pretty predictable, though, once you've played enough games. The AI players also make some very unusual choices at times, such as placing rooms illogically or passing on every turn simply because they have the 5-coin bonus card. There are some rule bugs such as AI players on rare occasions closing off or blocking all of their open doorways, or being able to collect the corridor room completion bonus twice in one turn. The AI players also have a very annoying quirk of pricing very valuable rooms (i.e. king's favor bonuses) very low so the other AI players can buy them cheap, and somehow knowing which rooms are valuable for me (based on my secret bonus cards) and pricing them very high- almost seems like cheating at times. Don't get me wrong though, I do enjoy playing the app a lot, despite some annoying quirks. Some things I'd like to see in a future update: a cleaner, tidier interface (it's hard to see the scores as they pop up, and avoid having parts of the interface cover large portions of the board); smarter, adjustable AI; INTERNET MULTIPLAYER; a digital rule book for new players (the tutorial isn't very helpful).

I love the 4-player version of this game, and I've started getting into the Campaigns as well. This game plays just like the board game. There are only two complaints at this point: 1) I have 3 other friends who bought the app so we could play a 4-player game remotely, but then discovered that, apparently, is not possible with this app! 2) There is a frequent glitch that posts all the players moves in the middle of the active screen, and then you can't see where to place your next room without a lot of hassle, until the text finally goes away. Otherwise, this app would get 5 stars.

I love the physical board game. This mobile version is nice, but doesn’t replace a live experience. Buttons for rotating pieces and submitting turns are too close together so on multiple occasions I’ve accidentally submitted a placement when I was trying to rotate the piece. Bugs I’ve experienced a couple times now are with the basement. When completing a stairway with a basement the free hallway bonus was awarded, but the bonus for the basement was missed. I thought maybe the basement bonus was not given at all, but I completed a basement room in the same game without using a hallway or stairs and did get the basement bonus.

This is one of my favorite board games. It's fun and beautiful, and doesn't take forever to play or to teach. The app is pretty good but there are a couple small issues. The game gives completed room bonuses for hallways and stairs and shouldn't. The pass and play isn't much fun because the bonus cards for the human players are always visible and there's no pass prompt, so you can't watch other players take their turn. Hiding the bonus cards until the player taps them would solve that problem. An online or local internet option would also be nice.

The app is the same as the board game, which is great! There's even an added "campaign" which adds a nice extra level of game play. If you enjoy the game, you'll love the app. BUT there are definitely some issues as other users have pointed out. In addition to bugs others have pointed out, I just played a game in which the computer chose to take a utility room one turn and then took a utility room in their second turn. They used that room to connect to their foyer and then blocked the final entrance. They could only build two rooms the entire game, even though always having one entrance is required in the rules of the board game. Definitely a fun game. But I'm not sure it's worth $7 with the current problems.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a top notch board game. The app is fun, but has several serious bugs. - If you complete a bedroom bonus on the final round, IT DOESN'T EXTEND THE GAME. Though there are tiles that you have just laid on the draw stack, the game ends after that round regardless. If you want to extend the game, you thus need to make sure you complete a bedroom on at least the second to last turn. This is a game changer, and it's very annoying. - You can't see when the Utility Bonus Card deck has run dry. You'll build a Utility Room and THEN get a message saying "There are no more bonus cards". Thanks for the heads up... - Once when playing it allowed me to build a tile up against the face of a garden fence, which is illegal. It would also be nice to be able to adjust the AI speed level. And the AI difficulty level for free play games. The free play board also has "edges" to the map. It would be nice to be able to toggle that option off and have unlimited space. Also, how do you change your player color when playing campaign mode? Final suggestion for a major feature: I would love to be able to play my friends over the internet.

This is an ok game - but totally not worth the inflated price. I've never played the 'real-life' version, so I need a good tutorial or rules description. The tutorial is not very informative; I had to go through it three times before I fully understood what was happening. There is NO rules section that explains the game. Therefore, I'm definitely getting the full value of the game - I can't get past the third challenge. I've also had a frozen screen a few times. For the price of this app, everything should be excellent, but it's totally lacking.

So I purchased the mobile game and loved playing through the campaign. Liked the play of the open games. But after having the game for a couple of weeks I tried opening the app and got an error message that said something to the effect of, "pairs set came back null." And the game would not open. Even after powering off my phone. Deleted app an reloaded it, and now I have to start the campaign all over again. Would love to give a higher grade but, game failing to open bugs are a bit of a downer.

I really enjoy this game. I will play it when I am out and about on my phone when I have a few minutes. But like most games it is better on a bigger screen so I like to play this on my iPad when at home. The problem is the campaign doesn't sync between devices even though it uses apple's Game Center. I don't want to go through the tutorial and all the levels I gave already beaten on my phone again. This would be a five star app if this was fixed.

I just completed the tutorial and kind of enjoyed it but was confused about some things. I couldn’t find any instructions in the Main menu. Getting frustrated, I read some reviews and saw in a developer response to another user, that there is an instruction manual that is only accessible when playing a Match or in a Campaign. There is a gear icon in the upper left corner that must be clicked to access the help button that will then bring up more Options that include the rule book. I’m starting with a 2 Star review and will change it as I read the rule book and learn how to play. Easily worth another Star if the Instructions could be found easier.

I loved this app to a point. The campaign feature where you play yourself and/or the computer in various scenarios was super fun until . . . you get half way down the campaign road and it tells you that you have to go back and get 100% score on ALL the prior games before going further. But the rules of many of the games to that point apply only to you, not to the computer generated competitors. (Like you can have no gardens, oh but they can?) So some games are IMPOSSIBLE to win. Thus it is impossible to play a big part of the app because it won’t let you progress on. For $6.99 this is bad. I do not recommend buying this app.

I bought this purely on the strength of a recommendation. I should have read more carefully. While the game is well implemented and the AI is challenging, I can’t give it more than 2 stars with no online play. If it had it, I would go to a 4 or 4.5. There’s really no excuse for not having online play at this time. While I will get $8 worth of fun from it, there really should be a prominent disclaimer. The wording is also misleading, something like “play with your friends and compare scores.” While indeed you can do that, it’s only via pass and play.

I love the board game castles, but this version is lacking. I do enjoy playing the campaigns, but there are so many bugs. There is no indication of when the bonus card deck is out of cards, but then I see that my opponent after me gets a bonus card. One of the campaigns wouldn't end. A different campaign glitches causing you to have to restart. And on it goes. Very annoying and disappointing to have paid so much for a game that functions so poorly. I was also disappointed that playing against the computer is easy. It makes poor choices in laying out the pieces, making all of them easy to beat. I do like that the campaign is more difficult to beat. That's fun! But, I wouldn't recommend the game as it is due to the glitches that continually happen.