Sometimes a game comes along that looks like a great simple idea. The trick for these games is to truly be that simple and that interesting to play. Not too complex but also enough that it looks like an interesting game. For me, Castle Combo is one of those games that looks like it has a great simple idea. The question is, is the execution of that idea as good as it looks? So join me as I take a look at Castle Combo.

Before I do, the majority of my plays have been on Board Game Arena. That helps with some elements of the games scoring, but also is less easy to maybe pick-up some other elements. So your milage is going to vary because you aren’t me, but might vary more because I have played Castle Combo more on Board Game Arena.

How To Play Castle Combo

In Castle Combo you are making the best three by three grid that you can. When you play out the first card it’s “in the middle” but you can build out the rest of your grid around it however you like so that you end up with a three by three grid. At the end of the game you will tally up your points and see who has the best grid.

Your Turn

So on a turn what do you do? Your turn consists of two parts. The first part is optional and the second part you must do.

The optional thing is that you can move the messenger pawn between the two rows. The two rows are mainly the same, as they are cards that you can buy. Or you can use the messenger to wipe the cards out of the row the messenger is on and refill it.

Bonus and Placing

Then you purchase a card from the row you are in. You might have a discount, or you might not be able to afford it, or it might be what you can pay. If you can buy a card face up, you spend coins for it. If you can’t afford a card, you buy it face down. It won’t be scoring with what the card says on front.

Then you figure out what bonus you get for playing the card. It might be coins which will help you purchase more cards. It might be a discount that will make future cards cheaper of a certain type. Or it might be keys which are the resource that you use to move the messenger.

The game continues until everyone has filled their three by three grid, which will happen at the same round. And then you tally up the scoring that you get from each card in the grid.

What Doesn’t Work?

I think one common challenge, at least early in playing the game, is going to be understanding the symbology. It’s not complex, but there is a fair amount. How is something going to score exactly? Well you need to look some symbols. What do you get, you need to look at symbols. And there is a good amount of variety. The basics of scoring generally are score X points for Y symbol or thing. But that is variable in what that thing might be. So I think for some people it’s going to feel too complex at the start.

There is also some luck involved. Now you can mitigate some of that. The messenger is your friend. But you need to balance spending keys, getting keys, and spending money. So it is tight that way, and sometimes you might find that you just aren’t able to get keys. So now you must buy what is in that row and what is in that row might not be good for you. Or you might have all the keys, but you can only spend one per turn, and you might be short on money. But you put yourself in those situations.

What Works?

So to talk about that last negative, while there is luck, I love the control you get. You decide what you get both for scoring and the bonus. The bonus might be great, but scoring is bad. But I need the bonus because otherwise I won’t be able to buy a card that I hope is going to be there for me next time. I love that back and forth of that in the game. And I think that it works really well and is fun that way.

I also like how fast the game and turns go. Even on Board Game Arena where I generally play asynchronously a game can cruise sometimes. Especially in a two player game, if you both get on at the same time, it is a fast and snappy back and forth with turns. And in person, the choices are not that extreme. You get two choices, activate the messenger and then decide which card to buy. There is one scenario where you gain a third, but it’s very minor and generally very simple.

And I like the complexity level of the scoring. I say that the symbols can be a bit. I think that is very true. But scoring is a great puzzle in this game. You need to think a lot about where you place everything and how they will interact. There are some cards that give you points if you don’t have a color banner. So that is a tricky thing, but it’s good points. Do you get that early and try and avoid, but everything you do shapes you scoring strategy.

Who is Castle Combo For?

I think that a lot of people are going to enjoy this game. It’s a great game for casual gamers because you can play it multiple times. I plan on playing it at my next game night, assuming a good player count, and it is one that I can see playing twice. Once as people turn and the next time as people will want to play it again.

For more seasoned gamers this is the warm-up or wind down type of game. It’s that great game for when you want to play something more or are waiting for the last person to show up for a bigger game. It is going to engage you in what is happening. But it’s also not going to take too long or require a lot of setup so it’s a great filler option.

Final Thoughts on Castle Combo

I really love Castle Combo. The game is a ton of fun and really offers some good choices. Plus, it’s fast, and it’s easy setup and get to the table. It’s what I look for a lot in games. I want to play all the big games, but sometimes you just need a smaller game. And I also want to plan out everything in this game and keep on finding myself running short in what I want to do. And I can play it a lot on Board Game Arena as well.

For me the negatives aren’t that bad. And I think in person is going to help make some of the symbols clearer. Online it’s not that bad, but it’s also just a bit more of a pain than to look up some of the symbols. In the box, you just pass around the one cheat sheet, could it be better if there were more, sure, but it’s a minor thing. And that is going to make that initial learning curve a bit easier for players as they can read that on their turn to help make their decisions.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B+

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