Game Night – Castle Panic

Castle Panic

• Designer: Justin De Witt
• Manufacturer: Fireside Games
• Artist: Justin De Witt
• Year: 2009
• Players: 1 – 6
• Time: 60 minutes
• Ages: 10 and up

The forest is filled with all sorts of Monsters. They watched and waited as you built your Castle and trained your soldiers, but now they’ve gathered their army and are marching out of the woods.

Can you work with your friends to defend your Castle against the horde, or will the Monsters tear down your Walls and destroy the precious Castle Towers? You will all win or lose together, but in the end only one player will be declared the Master Slayer!

We played this last weekend and it’s a fun, light cooperative game. All the players work together to save the castle. However, at the end, there can be only one master slayer, so for me at least, there’s some conflicting emotions while playing. Yes, I want to help save the castle, but I also want to kill more monsters than everyone else. Of course, when we played last weekend, we saved the castle easily enough, but I think I only killed like two of the monsters, the least of anyone. I think I’ve mentioned that I have a slight problem with cooperating before.

The rules are simple enough to learn in just a few minutes, although there are variations that can make the game tougher, more panicky. An enjoyable game with a great theme, nice looking pieces, notice the 3-D castle walls, and a system that makes sense. A little strategy, a little randomness.

The monsters move in from the woods closing in on the castle. Each space they mover forward puts them in range for your various forces, first the archers have shot, then the knights and finally the swordsmen. Heroes, naturally, can slay monsters in any of the circles. The monsters don’t all take just one hit to kill. Some take up to three, so while the archer may have injured the ogre, the monster’s still a threat.

Castle Panic was nominated for the Origins Award for Best Board Game. Although it didn’t win, just being nominated is impressive.

Two things I really like about this one – great family game and plays up to 6 people, which means it’s perfect for both groups that I play with.

The copy we played was purchased by a friend and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon associate.