Description
Regicide is a cooperative, fantasy card game for 2 to 4 players, played using a standard deck of cards.
Players work together to defeat 12 powerful enemies.
On their turn a player plays a card to the table to attack the enemy and once enough damage is dealt, the enemy is defeated.
The players win when the last King is defeated.
But beware! Each turn the enemy strikes back. Players will discard cards to satisfy the damage and if they can’t discard enough, everyone loses.
Rich with tactical decisions and a deep heuristic tree, Regicide is a huge challenge for anyone who is brave enough to take it on.
—description from the designer
Solo Rules
Set up the game as per usual but place the two Jesters to the side.
You play with a single hand limited to 8 cards. (Never hold more than 8 cards in your hand)
Play as normal, playing each turn one after the other.
A Jester can be flipped to activate the following power:
“Discard your hand and refill to 8 cards – this does not count as drawing for the purpose of enemy diamond immunity.”
Since you have two Jesters this can be done twice per game. Flipping the Jesters in this way does not cancel immunity.
You are allowed to use the Jester power
a) at the start of step 1 before you play a card or
b) at the start of step 4 before you have to take damage.
Winning the game after using both Jesters achieves you a Bronze Victory.
Winning after flipping only 1 Jester is called a Silver Victory.
And winning the game while having both Jesters untouched grants you the ever-elusive Gold Victory!
Learn to Play Regicide
Review of Regicide by J Simmons
When was the last time the hottest game exciting the BGG community was a regular 54 deck of traditional playing cards?
Beyond that, this modest card game has great depth, energy, artwork, replay value, and something no other traditional playing card game has actually ever accomplished in my opinion – which is being heavily thematic.
I remember a black and white silent film entitled “The Artist” winning the Academy Award winner for Best Picture roughly a decade ago. Although another medium, it’s a reminder that genuine creativity can still blossom.
Enter Regicide.
Describing itself as a challenging 1-4 player solo/cooperative card game set in a fantasy world where adventurers attempt to purge the corrupt darkness from a once-loved kingdom.
But defeating the monarchy and storming the castle by numbers alone will cost your adventurers their lives, so you must activate special powers granted in order to best prepare for damage in battle, and even heal your wounded.
Hire brave new warriors from the tavern when you must. Fallen royalty may even join your ranks.
Following alongside you on your quest are your trusty animal companions, sketchy court jesters, and the strength of combined halflings.
Yield at times if you must, but life can only be brought back to the land by defeating the last standing sinister King.
I realize I’m overselling it, but the flavor text is actually perfectly reflected in the gameplay.
Did I mention it was just a deck of cards? Enjoying the game may be subjective, but it’s hard not to admire the ingenuity.
Part of the genius of the design is how the traditional boring suits are reimagined into thematic and intuitive abilities that you’re likely familiar with in a fantasy or dungeon crawl.
In basic terms, the Hearts heal, Diamonds hire, Clubs damage, and Spades shield.
The card art also reflects these fantasy roles, so it’s easy to visualize how to best use your adventurers (side note: these images would make great minis).
Enemies with immunity using those same abilities adds so much meaty flavor to the game. The same powerful card can land very differently depending on the current enemy.
The mechanics are mostly made up of hand management decisions, but it also uses bits of trick taking, deduction, and deck building.
There’s so many good highs and lows in this game. Perfectly timing a card to exactly defeat a Queen and then have her join your ranks with the right ability to best attack the next enemy’s immunity is very rewarding.
Having both public and private information deters quarterbacking and elevates the cooperative play.
There’s a good mix of strategy and luck that parallels well with the challenge and variety in every game.
It plays quick with minimal setup and begs you to play again right after you’ve finished.
My only negative is that hit tracking might seem a bit much math for a new player, but after the first game, it starts to click.
There’s an official mobile companion app that can assist in visualizing tracking attack and health, plus it also adds a great soundtrack to welcome the gameplay.
For those wanting a completely analog experience, I recommend using two red D20’s and one black D20 as they just seem to fit right into the theme of the game. But then again, part of the appeal is that it’s just a simple deck a cards.
Once you get over the initial barrier of seeing the cards for all they can do, the deck is really all you need.
And while the limited deck might be the gimmick that initially draws you to the game, it’s impossible for that to overstay its welcome. Simplicity is king. You already have the game materials to play.
It’s a game meant to be played and shared collectively.
I’ll never think of a deck of cards the same again. When I bring out a deck of cards and someone asks “What game do you want to play,” Regicide is at the top of that list.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bicycle picked this game up to sell as an official deck.
Seeing a deck of cards transformed into something thematically exciting using nothing but the suits that have always been present is impressive.
I don’t want a nice deck of cards to play Regicide, I want a nice Regicide deck to play other card games.
Go play!
Files
A selection of files from BoardGameGeek. Links will open in a new window or tab.
Rules for Regicide
Complete rules for how to play Regicide with 2 to 4 players (Note: Does not include solo rules – see notes in the introduction of this post)
>> Click to download PDF <<