Let’s take a look at Secrets and Soirees, the expansion to Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
This expansion adds new room types, bonus cards, and rules to allow for solo and 2-8 player play.
How Do You Play?
For an overview on how to play Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, check out our full review.
In the Secrets and Soirees expansion two new room types are added: Activity Rooms and Secret Rooms.
Activity Rooms are all very similar to the original tiles in the base game. They score 1 point for every orthogonally adjacent tile to it, for a maximum of 4 points. Unless one of the tiles in the surrounding 8 spaces is a specific type of tile. If that happens, they score only 1 point.
The second type of tile added are the Secret Rooms. These are the most unique rooms added compared to the original game. Secret rooms are duplicates of the adjacent room that the arrow on the secret tile is pointing to. They essentially act as exact copies of those room and score accordingly. Secret rooms on their own have no scoring ability, room type, or wall hanging. They copy the attributes of the room they are duplicating.
Each secret room will have a room type token relating to the room they are duplicating placed upon it. Because Secret Rooms duplicate a room, they also trigger any room bonuses that would be fulfilled by having 3 or 5 of a room type.
There are also some rule changes for how sleeping rooms score, as well as a host of new bonus cards for players to add to their game for new challenges.
What Do We Think?
For fans of the game, the Secrets and Soirees Expansion will undoubtably be a fun addition to the game.
This expansion could best be described as a “more of what you love” expansion. While it brings about new room types, bonuses, and a few other minor additions nothing inside really reinvents the wheel for the original game. For me, I see this as a positive. The original game is fantastic and I love that this just gives me some new elements to explore and enjoy. We were able to read the new rules in about 5 minutes and get right to playing.
Everything in the expansion is designed to be integrated with the original game. I see no need for players to ever have to separate the expansion from the base game. New players will learn the new tiles just as easily as anything else.
Thematically I really enjoy playing with the secret rooms. I love both the idea of imagining building secret rooms into my castle, and also love the strategic process of trying to duplicate rooms that I know are going to score big. I especially love using them to duplicate downstairs rooms.
While I enjoy each of the new elements, the other tile we have loved is the new bonus Ballroom tiles. These tiles give you points based on the number of a specific type of room the castles to the right and left have in them. Not only does the Ballroom give you the chance to truly rack up some points, but it also increases the incentive to stay focused on what is happening in the other castles as well as influence your drafting decisions when selecting for the surrounding castles.
All around, some really great new elements to play around with. All without changing the game you love drastically.
Components
Thankfully the game comes with its own game trayz organizer that fits perfectly within the base game box. No nee to cart around or keep two boxes for one game.
Because new room types are added, there is a new score pad for the game as well as new player aids.
I personally find nothing lacking in the component quality. The art on the tiles is lovely, the cardboard pieces are sturdy, and it all stores perfectly within the game trayz.
Is This An Essential Expansion?
If you already own the castles game and find that you don’t play it that often, I don’t believe this expansion will change that for you. It’s more of what you love, so if you’re lukewarm on the game, I don’t believe this will turn up the heat for you on any significant level.
If however you are like me and love the base game, the expansion is a no brainer. I have had a lot of fun with Secrets and Soirees and enjoy the new elements to think over and play with.
Haven’t played and looking at getting the base game? I recommend getting the expansion at the same time. You’ll learn everything together and have a lovely time! This is a relatively light game (even if it can be a bit of a brain burn) and don’t think there’s anything requiring one to learn the base before adding this expansion.
Solo and 2 Player Variant
A lovely element of the expansion is the the 2 player variant and Solo mode. I much prefer the variant in the secrets and soirees expansion which eliminates the third castle so everyone plays with a personal castle. This variant can also be used for player counts up to 8 as well. While it takes away the interesting competitive/cooperative elements, it is still just as fun!
Summary
As a big fan of Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, the Secrets and Soirees expansion gave me more of everything I loved about the original while offering new challenges to explore!
This is an excellent choice for any fan of the original game!
To pick up a copy of Secrets and Soirees click here.
Find all our favorite games on our Amazon Storefront
A special thank you to our friends at Stonemaier Games for sending us a copy of Secrets and Soirees for review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
Game Info:
Title:Secrets and Soirees Expansion
Players: 1-8
Designer: Ben Rosset, Matthew O’Malley
Artist: Agnieszka Dabrowiecka, Laurą Bevon, Bartłomiej Kordowski
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
