Citadels is the name of a non-collectable card game created by Bruno Faidutti. The original game was called Ohne Furcht und Adel and was initially available in Germany, later in France as Citadelles. Soon it spread to the rest of Europe. The goal is to make your city prosper while hindering the progress of that of others. You do so by taking the role of a different character each turn. This is a game of ambition and intrigue. This website is a web version of the card game. Games are slower, but you can play as many as you like simultaneously.
2- How do you play?In the Rules section you'll find the rules of the game. Even though it's not hard to learn just by playing, I still advise you to check them out.
3- Why are my games not starting?Any player can create games or join those already created by others. When enough players join a game (at least 3 players, or 5 if the game uses the Queen), the game creator can start it. You'll find a list of the games waiting to start in the Your Games section. Please be advised that the password you type in when creating a game will be asked to all players wanting to join the game. If nobody knows it, no-one will be able to join your game.
4- I can't start a game, why?You cannot start a game until there is a minimum of 3 players (5 if you are using the Queen).
5- I've been waiting half an hour and it's still not my turn. Is something wrong?No, nothing's wrong. This is a web-based game and therefore it's rather passive. The player whose turn it is may be out to lunch, out for a walk or (God forbid) working. Very active players may look through their games two or three times a day, while others only play once or twice a week or even a fortnight. Everyone plays when they get a chance to. That's why, to keep a steady level of play, one should be playing 15-20 games. This may seem like a lot, but, talking from experience, it isn't.
6- The mouseover character text does not tell you all it does?!?No, it doesn't. The text shown is the one in the card from the original game. The extended character text is too long to fit in the card, but you can find it in the Characters section. It is highly advisable to read it, otherwise you may encounter situations which are not resolved quite the way you expect them.
7- The Witch doesn't get the money when she bewitches the Thief and uses him to rob someone, why?That is due to the fact that the Witch only gets the character abilities during the half-turn she is bewitching her chosen character. Thus, the Witch can choose who the Thief robs, but when the robbed character is revealed the Witch is no longer bewitching, and it is the Thief who keeps the gold. The same applies to the Tax Collector. You'll find an extended debate on the topic at http://ciudadelas.frenopatico.net/forum/read.php?4,540.
8- The game rules are not the same as in the card game, right?That's right; there are some rules that have a slightly different interpretation on this site. Reasons vary from the difficulty of maintaining a minimum coherence in the turn sequence to the fact that rules differ between editions in different countries. In the House Rules section you'll find all the modified rules used here.
9- The Imperial Treasure is kind of rubbish, isn't it?Indeed! It's a card with a special ability that on average tends to give you less points that gold it costs to build. This is a bit unfair in a purple card. The fact is that it can also give you many more points than any other card. Due to the fact that some people have found ways to exploit it and the fact that a poll held among the players indicated that most people wanted to keep it as it is, the card remains unchanged. Please see http://ciudadelas.frenopatico.net/forum/read.php?4,561 for more information.
10- My card of the Factory is a bit different to that used here, why?That is absolutely right. It is different to any Factory in any of the Citadels editions. The reason for this can be found at http://ciudadelas.frenopatico.net/forum/read.php?4,551
11- I can't find my name in the ranking and in my profile is says 0/xxx, why?That's because you still haven't finished any games. When you finish your first game, you'll be awarded 100 plus (or minus) any you have won or lost during the game. This will place you approximately in the middle of the ranking table.
12- How can I get in touch with other players?You can contact other players using the internal messaging service available from each player's profile. You can also use the Forum, their email address (if available) or irc channel #ciudadelas at irc.irc-hispano.org.
13- How do I complain, report bugs or congratulate the webmaster?To report bugs, make your dislike of the design known, comment on how good the webmaster looks in the picture, etc, you can send an email to ciudadelas @frenopatico.net, send Achiles an internal message or post your comments on the Forum. This last option is the webmaster's personal preference; however, if the bug occurs during a game and something needs to be fixed , put a bug incidence
14- This website is not in my language. Could it be translated?It could, but chances are the webmaster can't speak it. If you are willing to translate a number of texts (a rather large number) the webmaster will be more than glad to have the website translated to one more language.
