The Rose King
Jump a shared pawn around a grid with face-up cards and claim big connected regions of markers.
Who it's for
You want a no-luck abstract for two where planning ahead and reading your opponent's hand beat anything else.
Not for you if…
You want more than two players on the main game or a story-driven theme. The medieval flavor is thin.
Vibe's take
Cool, clever and tense, a bit like a sharp little puzzle you play against someone. Every card is both a gift and a trap because your opponent sees it too.
About this game
A two-player duel where one shared pawn wanders a square grid and every move claims territory. Each of you holds a hand of face-up cards showing a direction and a distance. On your turn, you either draw a card or play one: the pawn jumps that far in that direction onto an empty square, and you drop one of your markers there. You score every connected group of your markers as the square of its size, so big blobs pay off hugely. A few judge symbols let you overrule an enemy marker once, flipping it to your side, and a hand limit can push you into awkward plays. Dry, clever, and sharper than it looks. Also known as Texas and Rosenkönig.
Get it
Mechanics
Categories
By the numbers
Players
Duration
30 min
Ages 8+
Complexity
1.9 / 5 — LightBGG Rating
6.3/10
Rank #1,830
4.0k ratings
Published
1992
Designed by
Dirk Henn
Published by
999 Games, White Goblin Games, KOSMOS, Tilsit, Playte and 2 more
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