Castle Combo

How many combos Are There in Castle Combo?

Castle Combo is a game in which you spend money to invite subjects to live on your estate. During the game, you’ll build a castle consisting of 9 rooms arranged in a 3-by-3 grid of cards. So you could say it’s like your own medieval version of M3. When a new resident settles into their chamber, you’ll receive various bonuses in the form of cash and keys. You’ll spend the keys to refresh the pool of available guests at the market. At the end of the game, we’ll score points for various conditions specified on the cards. These can include card colors in a row or column, collected keys, money in pouches, sets of cards, and so on.

So you could say this is yet another game in the “line things up next to each other and score points” series. There are many such titles on the board game market, and they don’t really excite me anymore. However, there’s one thing that made my gamer’s heart beat a little faster…

Shut up and take my money

To invite guests, you need to have the funds to do so. We start each game with 15 coins, which must be managed wisely, since the game doesn’t include any income phase or other mechanics of that sort. With every penny we spend, we have to look ahead and make sure we’ll be able to afford to buy more cards. That’s why literally every expense is worth its weight in gold. Many of the cards we’ll play will offer us a little financial help, but we must constantly ensure a steady cash flow. When we run out of funds for purchases, we’ll have to take out a loan in the form of a blank card, which is worth 0 points at the end of the game. This is very painful, considering that every single point counts here.

Everyone is comboing

I’ve mentioned this before, but this game is mainly about placing cards next to each other and triggering combos. There’s no deep strategy involved, but once you land that proverbial combo, the rush is incredible. It’s a feeling of pure satisfaction when everything falls into place perfectly, and the game showers you with cash or keys.

By the way, there are also plenty of scoring conditions, which means every game lets you focus on something different. That’s one of the reasons why my door is always open to new guests.

Game Duration and Number of Players

With two players, the game moves so quickly that we’ll easily have time to play and still catch a glimpse of the lasagna baking through the oven window. The games were over in a flash.

The number of players mainly affects the game duration and the fact that you’ll be cycling through cards at the market more often. You’ll also have more opportunities to take advantage of the bonuses from certain cards related to your neighbors.

Quality and Components

Inside the box, you’ll find mostly cards, along with thick tokens representing keys and money. Probably the most expensive piece is the huge noble meeple, which you’ll be moving around constantly. Overall, I have no complaints.

Summary

It turns out that there’s actually quite a lot of… combo in Castle Combo. It’s supposedly a simple game where you place cards next to each other to reap various benefits, but the whole thing works brilliantly. I especially like the theme of constantly being short on cash, which really reminds me of real life. The key to success in Castle Combo is making sure you can always afford to buy more cards and create the best possible synergies among the residents.

For me, Castle Combo perfectly fits the niche of games that work well both as a filler between heavier titles and as the perfect finisher to a board game night. After all, every player likes to combo, but without overworking their brain too much.

Final verdict: I combo, you combo, we combo, everyone combos!