Castle Panic and My First Castle Panic Review

Don’t panic! Just work together to save the castle in both Castle Panic and My First Castle Panic! 

This Castle Panic is actually the second edition of the game. It’s the same cooperative gameplay as the original but with updated artwork and a custom die. To play, you’ve got to work together to defend Castle Bravehold, slaying monsters before they can reach the castle. If the monsters destroy all six of the castle towers, everybody loses. This game is for one to six players ages 8 and up.

On your turn, you’ll complete a series of actions. First, if you don’t have a full hand of cards, you’ll need to draw until you do. (The number of players determines how many cards each player gets.) Then, you have the option of discarding a card and drawing a new one. You can also trade a card with another player if you’d like. Next, you’ll play cards. You can attack a monster by playing a card that matches the color and ring location that a monster is in. You can also play cards to build a wall to replace one destroyed by monsters. After this step, you’ll move all the remaining monsters on the board one space. And the last step is to  draw two new monsters and roll the die to determine where to place them on the board.

As stated before, if the monsters destroy all the towers, the game ends. But if all 49 monster tokens are played, all the monsters are slain, and there is at least one tower remaining, the players win.

Think that sounds cool but don’t have kids old enough to play? Check out My First Castle Panic, which is for ages 4 and up. It’s still a cooperative game, but in this version, the object is to catch all the monsters with the castle still standing. If the castle gets knocked flat, the game ends and players lose.

There are four steps a player takes on his turn. First, draw a card from the draw pile. Then play a card from your hand. You can catch a monster by playing a card that matches the color and shape of the space the monster is on. Hero cards can match one monster in any of the shapes of the color shown, while Any-color cards can match a monster in any color of the shape shown. If another player has a card that matches, and you want them to play it, you can “ask for help” so that they play their card instead of you playing one of yours. There is also a Wall card that rebuilds the wall if it gets knocked down, and a Boot card lets you pick any monster to “boot” to the monster pile. Next, you’ll move all the monsters on the board one step closer to the castle. Then you draw one monster token and put it on the board’s Start space. Beware of the Shover, Runner, and Marcher monsters because special actions happen after you add them to the board.

With this game, there are some alternate rules to make it easier or harder. And, of course, as kids get older, they can graduate to the original Castle Panic.