Quick Facts
Age range: 14 and up
Play time: 5 to set up, 30-60 to play
# of Players: 2-6
Price point: $49.95
Ah, the intrigue of a royal court! It’s a resource so rich that countless novels, movies, and games mined it over the years. Its most common tropes come to mind effortlessly: the scheming prince, the conspiratorial advisor, the powerful queen, the manipulative merchant. We could go on and on.
Refreshingly, you find none of that in Cursed Court, a new title from Atlas Games.
The game uses the people and activities of a classic fantasy-setting royal palace as its backdrop, but instead of focusing on politics and intrigue, Cursed Court hidden information and clever betting mechanics to build a unique, fun, and engaging player experience.
Let’s look at the top five things you need to know about Cursed Court.
Working Your (Shared) Sources#
Although royal courts are rife with secrets, someone always knows something about someone. Cursed Court creates that feeling through shared hands of cards.
Two cards get dealt between pairs of players, giving each player access to four cards (two on the left and right). In addition, one card is dealt face-up at the start of the round (what the game calls a “season”).
This combination of public information with secret-but-shared information creates a fascinating game environment where everybody knows something but nobody knows it all.
At the end of four seasons (a “year”), all of the hidden cards get revealed and added to the face-up tableau. Players then score points based on the bets they made (more about that in a moment) and the revealed combination of cards dealt that year. Play ends after three years (12 seasons).
Placing Your Bets#
Players earn points in the game by placing bets on which nobles will appear in tableau at the end of the year. Bets can cover a single noble or a group of three of four nobles.
To bet on a single noble, a player puts one of her four “wagering crowns” onto the noble’s picture. To bet on a group (or “set”) of nobles, the player’s crown goes onto one of the 18 set regions, each of which shows pictures of the nobles included in that set.
Bumping with Coins#
What if someone places a bet on a space that you wanted? That’s where your stack of 20 influence coins come into play.
When you place a bet, you can stack some of your influence coins under your wagering crown. In order for an opponent to bump you off the space, they must play at least twice the number of influence coins you played.
The game creates some delicious tension on this point. Players only get 20 coins to use each year. If you place too many coins with your early bets, you risk getting bumped out of a lucrative spot later in the year. But once your play the coins, they stay in position until someone bumps them off or the year comes to a close. Decisions, decisions!
Scoring Points#
Bets on individual nobles pay one, two, five or eight points, depending on how many copies of that noble’s card came up in the year.
Sets always pay either three or four points, giving one point per noble that’s part of the set.
After scoring, players get all of their crowns and coins back, the cards are shuffled, and the new year begins.
Trying Some Variants#
To give the game plenty of variety, Atlas Games included four variants at the end of the rulebook.
In “The Court Remembers,” cards from the first year are set aside instead of shuffled back into the deck, changing the odds of for each noble. After the second year of play, the first year’s cards go back into the deck, while the second year’s cards sit out.
“The Coinless Court” and “The Great Exchange” variants both tinker with the influence coin supply. One uses no influence coins at all, letting multiple players bet on a single space. The other uses replaces the influence coins with a set of poker chips, turning the coin mechanic into a straight betting game.
The last option, “The Royal Maquerade,” introduces a new level of intrigue by turning one of each player’s wagering crowns into a fake bet to disguise what the player knows.
The Verdict#
Cursed Court hits a very unique spot. The combination of shared and public information creates an air of mystery, while the interactive betting and influence coin mechanics infuse the game with tension.
The game really shines with 3-5 players. With six players (or even more that play as teams), it becomes both an awesome and insane party game thanks to the hidden information combined with a limited number of betting spaces.