Royals Board Game

Played my first game with 5 (max player count) and everyone loved it!!! The artwork is beautiful - board looks amazing as well as the cards. It is pretty simple to teach, but there can be a bit of AP throughout the game (although I am sure that would decrease the more you play it). What I love about this game is that there are numerous ways to score. There are ways to score instantaneously, at the end of each round, and at the end of the game. Because there is so much happening on the board and there are cubes placed everywhere, it can be somewhat difficult to tell who is going to win until the very end (which is a good thing in my opinion). It seems like certain strategies worked much better than others, but part of that also had to do with the execution of those strategies. Something to note is that throughout the game (especially at the end), there were A LOT of "take that" moments. With intrigue cards and the correct number of country cards, you are able to bump someone's noble cube out of place in a particular city and replace that space with one of your noble cubes. This is critical because it will effect not only end of round scoring, but also end of game scoring. This is a big part of the game, so if you don't like a lot of conflict, this may not be for you:/ Granted, I imagine with a smaller player count it wouldn't happen as much, so maybe just play with less players if you want to minimize conflict. Overall, this is a very good game that I would highly recommend!

Excellent set collection/area control board game that reminds me a bit of another similar type of game called Ethnos (which is also really good), it gets pretty competitive mid-game as players try to take over each other's territories and push other nobles out. There are lots of diff routes for scoring in this point salad type of game so you have to keep your eyes open as to where you are in diff tracks (e.g., most diff types of nobles, most cities in a country, etc.) and play cards accordingly but what you can do also depends on the hand of cards you are dealt. I enjoyed this a lot. Only con I noticed was that for some reason, there were some small patches at the edge of the game board where the art was scrubbed out and it looked like the surface was scruffed up but maybe I just got a suboptimal copy.

Great, strategic, easy to play game for 2-5 players. It has depth but also easy of access. Probably great for ages 10 and up. In the style of Ticket to Ride, but has its own flair and lots of ways to earn points. Lasts about and hour or so. Longer but also lots of fun with higher player count.

Our family of six play a lot of board games, all four of our kids ages 6-10 were able to pick it up pretty quickly. Not the most exciting game but a fun one to have in our rotation. After you play it once you’ll have a better idea on how you can get the most points so you have a better strategy.

Easy to learn. Beautifully illustrated. We've played it many times. Strategy has to vary according to which cards you draw, so there are many ways to win.

Royals is a terrific Euro-style game that uses area control and set collection. Royals is very similarly to game like Ticket To Ride and is a great 'step up' from that game for players who want something harder. It's also great for those players who weren't thrilled with Ticket To Ride's theme., but like that games mechanics.In Royals, instead of collecting trains, you collect cards that have royal shields (heraldry) that represent the four major houses in Europe: Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany (Prussia). Each of those for nations has 4-6 royal heirs/titles (each worth various victory points) that require you to play a certain number of cards of the right 'set' to take control over (i.e. marry or murder your way into that title.) the noble, and place your 'control cube' on the space.. But, unlike Ticket to Ride, wherein once you control a rail line it's yours, in Royals you can kick players out of their noble spaces and take them over for yourself (removing their cube, etc)! Yes, this game can BE MEAN! Players who hate players v. players will not like this game. Things can get ruthless.Royals also has an interesting scoring system (3x during the game) wherein you score points for controlling individual nobles/titles, AND controlling the most nobles PER nation (i.e having control of the most nobles in France is with "X" vps; Controlling the most nobles in Britain is worth "Y" points, etc.) It's very clever and requires strategic planning and forethought.If you like games like "Ticket To Ride,' but want something deeper, GET this game!

My friend pulled this out and we played 3 handed.. Much Fun, Following week we played it 4 handed. Super fun. Bought a copy and can't wait to play more. I'd give it a 9 on BGG scale.

My gaming group had a lot of fun with this game. I enjoy that you have a lot of paths to victory. Also I really loved the art work in this game.