Between Two Castles Essential Edition is a competitive drafting, tile-placement game for 1-8 players designed by Ben Rosset and Matthew O’Malley. It plays in about 45-60 minutes.

The Essential Edition combines the original game and the Secrets & Soirees expansion into one box. That’s it! There are no gameplay or product design changes.

The king demands a castle! You are a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by the king to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you are paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans. Will your planning and partnership skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world?

Between Two Castles is a competitive tile-drafting game in which each tile is a room in a castle. You work together with the player on your left to design one castle, and with the player on your right on another castle. On each turn you select two tiles from your hand, reveal them, then work with your partners to place them.

At the end of the game, each castle is scored. Your personal final score is the lower of the scores of the two castles you helped design, and the player with the highest final score wins the game. To win, you have to share your attention between two castles.

Featured Components:

194 unique room tiles (most are 44x44mm tiles)
88 other tiles
28 bonus cards (44x67mm)
8 player aid cards (70x110mm)
8 wooden castle tokens
76 cardboard tokens
32 Automa-related cards (solo mode)
1 full-color, double-sided, 100-sheet scorepad
3-piece Game Trayz custom insert with lids
1 rulebook
the box is 296x296x70mm and weighs 2.1 kg

Players: 1-8
Playing Time: 45 to 60 mins
Age Range: 14+

It may not be possible to ship very heavy items outside of the Mainland UK.
Released: 07 March 2025