In the Secrets & Soirees expansion, we once again return to the castle of the insane King Ludwig to quench his thirst for crazy elaborate castles filled to the brim with very specific rooms for even more specific purposes. Once again, players will be building these crazy castles. Mad Ludwig’s castle is being remodelled by the players with new rooms focused on entertainment and secrets, and players can now build with eight players or even build on their own!
Secrets & Soirees is an expansion of Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, based on Between Two Cities by Stonemaier Games and Castles of Mad King Ludwig by Bezier Games. In this game, players construct castles in a cooperative and competitive manner. Together, players get paired up to please the mad king Ludwig with dozens of bedrooms, paintings, mirrors and of course a board game room. Will that room be filled with Ikea Kallax cabinets?
As I described above, Between Two Castles is part co-operative and part competitive. This feels a bit strange at first… You have to work together but you also have to go for you own egotistical victory. During the (base) game you build two castles simultaneously. You build one castle together with the player on your left and the other together with the player on your right. The castles are built with a kind of drafting mechanism. You receive several tiles in your hand. These tiles represent rooms, quarters and other locations in the castle. The players choose which tiles to place in which castle, and together they choose where to place these tiles in the corresponding castle.
At the end of the game, all the castles score points, but each player only gets the points for their worst scoring castle. So you have to work like a true planning genius. Try to place the right tiles in the right castles and at the right location.
The expansion Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets & Soirees includes two new types of rooms: 1. activity rooms where soirees can be held (a kind of fancy dress party) and 2. rooms full of secrets. These new rooms (which are also the namesake of the expansion) provide different ways to score points and therefore more choices and variety. The expansion also allows players to play with a group of 8. The duration of the game does not increase, as players still play simultaneously, making the game perfect for a loaded game night. For the lonely board game player or solo game enthusiasts, (new) solo modes have also been added to the game.
Secrets & Soirees is a perfect expansion. It adds more gameplay and variety and even some extra ways to play. All parts fit in the original box with the help of the new insert. That makes a person insanely happy!
