Cloudy Kingdom (2023)

Overview

Up in the skies there is a battle brewing. Four noble Families vie for power. Every Family has four castles which they try to connect by growing beanstalks between them. Connecting these castles combines their powers resulting in that Family claiming the throne. Who will sit on the throne of the Cloudy Kingdom?

In this game Players play one Route (or Magic) card per turn until the game finishes due to two Castles of one Family being connected. These Castles must be on opposing sides (north-south or east-west). On your turn, you play the Route card from your hand, or you discard it and play a Magic card instead. At the end of your turn, you draw a new Route card and play continues clockwise to the next player.

Sounds easy enough. But. Route card can be placed perpendicular on top of each other (so at a 90-degree angle). Meaning that when you want to play a Route card, you can either use an empty space or play your card on top of an existing card. Add to that a dash of magic with the Magic cards, and you have got yourself a challenging game with lots of options and strategies.

—description from the publisher