Slot cards together to create a dream castle.
Choose from 64 different cards – all of which have two designs, one on either side – to plan and build your castle. The cards are contained in a neat storage box which with a guidebook. This explains how to build with the cards and suggests possible layouts. It is equally possible to use your imagination or to free build.
The graphic design makes great use of contrasting primary colours, with thick black outlines. Simple shapes create gateways and turrets, flags and arched doorways, windows and tower-top roofs. This would be a great game for learning about shape and colour, and also for naming the parts of a castle.
The way the cards fits together may seem complex at first but it’s actually a very simple system. They have grooves on every side and can be slotted together any which way. To build a sturdy tower, the cards horizontal cards need support from the vertical, and vice-versa. To teach younger players how this works, lay a piece of paper flat on a table. Draw a line pointing left and right, stand a card up and hold it along the line. Then draw a line pointing to the top and bottom of the paper, hold a card up and do the same thing.
This is a game that is equally fun for people of all ages. Children will love it and it is highly educational. Discussion could be had about shape, colour, older architecture, and the basics of structural engineering – that to stand upright a building needs support. It is equally attractive to big kids and would make a great coffee table novelty or stocking filler come Christmas. When it arrived, I handed it to my Dad (early 60s) and he spent a happy hour and a half engrossed in the game. The retro design and simple genius of it make it perfect for older members of the family to share with younger ones.
Be warned – while the cards are study and stand happily on any solid surface, moving a castle requires skill and luck. Warn all players that, at the end of the day, this is a pack of cards. They fall down. They get rebuilt.
A joyful and non-competitive game that fosters cooperation and patience.
- Build a Castle is available now from Pavillion Books. RRP. £12.99
