Chateau – d4 D.I.C.E. Review

Check out my final thoughts

My d4 DICE reviews are a quick and easy to digest review of a board or best party card games; talking to, game. Along with a brief introduction to the game I use DICE as an acronym for Duration, Interaction, Complexity and Engagement to quickly explore a game. Enjoy!

Player count: 1 – 99 players

Play time: 10 – 15 minutes

Designers: Martin van Rossum

Publisher: Rolling Rhino Games

Chateau is a roll and write game about constructing historical landmarks. You play as an architect with a blueprint of a famous, historical landmark in a race to complete it before your opponents. Each turn, two dice are rolled. The pip values of the die determine the size and shape that you can draw. If you roll any ones you pass your player sheet to your opponent where they cross off a single square on your sheet. The sheets are then passed back. The size and shape for pip values two and three are set but can be drawn multiple times throughout the game. Pip values of four and five give you a set number of shapes but each shape can only be drawn once. If you roll a six then you select one of several symbols and cross off all of that symbol. If any hammers are crossed off you immediately get to cross off a bonus square. Each player sheet also has a special bonus.

All players use the same rolled dice and the first player to compete their blueprint is the winner.

d4 D.I.C.E. Review

Duration

The game is amazingly quick. You could probably get this out and play within 10 minutes. The play is simultaneous so even with a higher player count the playtime is still short.

Interaction

There is some degree of player interaction. When a one is rolled your player sheets are passed to your opponents and your opponent draws a single square.

Complexity

Chateau is a very light weight and simple game. It is very accessible and easy to teach

Engagement

The game is so quick that it does keep you engaged. The game is fairly abstract but has a fairly simple puzzle element to it.

N.B. Thank you to Rolling Rhino Games for the review copy.