The White Castle is a board game designed by Isra C. & Shei S. and published by Devir in 2023. It is more closely related to another medium weight euro game The Red Cathedral (another board game inspired by a famous landmark) than the burger joint White Castle. Players’ objectives revolve around drafting dice, gathering resources, and strategically their players’ family members within the Himeji Castle to accumulate victory points. In this guide, we will discuss a few strategies to navigate the challenges presented by the unyielding mechanics of The White Castle.
One can say every battle at The White Castle is won before it is ever fought. Before the game begins, a savvy player should meticulously review the board, identifying scarce and abundant resources based on the offerings at The Castle/Garden spaces and The Well. In our opinion, prioritizing Food and Mother of Pearl on starting cards is generally a prudent move that allows swift deployment of gardeners and/or courtiers in Round 1. Since every card on the first castle floor contains a Daimyo Seal action, players should be on the lookout for these during the draft as well. Daimyo Seals can also be spent to generate money and resources at any time, providing a versatile and strategic advantage from the outset.
All possible starting cards included in base game
For round one, we recommend putting your focus on the Gardener actions and supplement them with the Courtier actions, laying the groundwork for subsequent rounds. If all goes well and you have drafted some Food and Daimyo Seals at the start, you should be able to satisfy the requirements of two Gardener spaces. For the third action, spend Mother of Pearls to deploy a Courtier so it can move up in the later rounds or draft a dice that can provide the best return in resources. Note that you may need to conserve coins and avoid drafting dice from a particular color to ensure your Gardener can be triggered at the end of the round.
The Passage of Time track
As the game unfolds, players would generally want to prioritize the dice colors that can trigger multiple actions if possible. Players may also occasionally use dice placement as a blocking strategy, limiting opponents' options. The Passage of Time track, while not paramount, becomes more relevant in a four-player game. If this is the case and you are 3rd or 4th in player order, moving your influence marker up on the Passage of Time track would be a beneficial final action to take in the first round.
The three Warrior Training Yards
Moving into rounds two and three, we suggest that players devote most of their energy into gathering Mother of Pearls to deploy and increase the levels of their Courtiers at the castle. Note that for the players who did not manage to send out 2 Gardeners in round one, they should aim to complete this task by the end of the second round so that they can reap the benefits of the round end bonus actions. Once that’s out of the way, players can then shift their focus to the Courtiers. If you come into some Iron along the way, it doesn’t hurt to take a Warrior action once or twice, as it synergizes well with the Courtier actions. While the upper “5-Iron” and “3-Iron” training yards provide better immediate rewards, spending less resources to place multiple warriors in the lower “1-Iron” training yard proves more cost-effective when considering the end-game bonus. Alternatively, players may also deploy another Gardener if they collected some more Food, as these spots provide bonus actions and victory points. Just remember to draft dice carefully and save coins so all your Gardener actions can be triggered at the end of each round.
One word can be used to sum up The White Castle - TIGHT. With only nine turns at their disposal, players must navigate a landscape that allows no room for miscalculations; even putting everything back together to fit inside the compact box is not a simple task. Hopefully our tips give you a slight edge in facing the unforgiving mechanics of this game.
-Jackie
(About the author - Jacqueline Chao is the executive producer and main content contributor at Show Me How to Win. Follow her board game journey on instagram @boardgamesetc )
The White Castle was designed by Isra C., Shei S. It is published in 2023 by Devir in the US and our copy was provided by the publisher.