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The White Castle: Matcha box art

Expansion for The White Castle

The White Castle: Matcha

Kritiku rating

Early

8.2

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Published
2024
Reach
Well known (via base game)
Players
1–4
Play time
90–110 min
Weight
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Ratings
1
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How it plays

Build influence by placing clan members in Himeji Castle and the new tea room while managing resources efficiently. On your turn, draft a die and place it to activate actions, gain resources, move courtiers, gardeners, warriors, or tea-ceremony participants; Matcha adds one action per round. After three rounds, score clan-member positions, resources, and bonuses, and highest influence wins.

Main mechanics

  • Worker placement
  • Drafting
  • Dice rolling
  • Worker placement: You claim limited action spots before anyone else does.
  • Drafting: You pick from a shared pool and pass the rest along.
  • Dice rolling: Dice create swing and force you to adapt.
Full publisher description

The tea ceremony lies at the heart of Japanese culture, giving life the most essential and elemental concepts of hospitality, respect, and Zen philosophy. There, they believe that tea, which came from China in the 13th century, resolved the health problems of the Buddhist monks who drank it. Over the years, the tea ceremony evolved to offer the samurai a place of calm, far from the chaos of the battlefield. In The White Castle: Matcha , you will have to deal with a new place in which to influence the court using new members of your clan. Having members of your clan in good seats within the Chashitsu (tea room) will help you achieve a greater level of influence within the court of Himeji. Also, you will have one additional action each round. Will that be enough? The first printing includes The White Castle: Promo 4 packaged inside the expansion box. It is currently not available by itself. To be played with the base game and the Matcha expansion. Contains 3 Die tiles, each of which with Chasen on the back. When setting up the game, replace the 3 Die tiles that grant a Resource of your choice with these 3 new tiles. description from the publisher

How this expansion changes the base game

ComplexityNo change
Much lighterNo changeMuch heavier
DepthDeeper
Much shallowerNo changeMuch deeper
SkillNo change
Much more luckNo changeMuch more skill
InteractionNo change
Much lessNo changeMuch more
Table ExpBetter
Much worseNo changeMuch better
Integration / RefinementImproves it
Makes it worseNo changeEssential
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Base vs with this expansion

See how this expansion changes the base game across the six criteria. The farther a line reaches from the centre, the higher that criterion scores.

ComplexityDepthSkillInteractionTable ExpProduction
  • With this expansion
  • Base game