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How to play
Grounded in The Old King's Crown's rulebook — cite-checked answers, not guesses.
Get a straight answer with the exact rulebook passage to back it up.
The easy-to-forget bits, straight from the rulebook.
Game end trigger
The game ends at the end of the final Round.
Standard game length
A standard game length is five Rounds.
Tie breaker
If two or more players are tied for the most [GOLD], the tied player who has control of the Kingdom's Favour is the winner. If none of the tied players have the Kingdom's Favour, the tied player who is highest on the Order Track is the winner.
Turn order tie breaker
When adjusting the Order Track, in the case of a tie, reverse the previous order of the tied players.
Active Player Marker
The player who is first on the Order Track takes the Active Player Marker.
Start of Year Phase
The Start of the Year Phase is skipped in the first Round of the game.
To set up The Old King's Crown, follow these steps: * Place the Kingdom Board and the Councils Tile in the center, within reach of all players. * Players choose or randomly determine their Factions, then take their corresponding Player Board and place it in front of them. * Each player takes their Faction's Herald piece and five Supporter pieces and places them in their designated slots on their Player Board. * Determine the starting player order by using the *Absolute Primogeniture Law of Succession* (oldest player first, then descending in age), or determine it randomly if preferred. All players then place their Order Markers on the Order Track according to this determined order.
On your turn, which occurs during various Action Steps and other phases throughout a Round, you can do several things: **General Actions during Action Steps:** * There are three Action Steps in a Round: Spring, Day (during Summer), and Autumn. * During your Action Step, you may activate any number of available [ACTION_ICON] Actions and [COMMAND_ICON] Commands. These actions are optional and can only be activated once per Round, per player. Action Steps are resolved in turn order. **Specific Actions in Phases:** * **Spring Phase:** * You simultaneously place one face-down card from your Hand as a Bid. * When bids are resolved (from highest to lowest Strength), you choose to either take a Kingdom Card from the Great Road, steal a Kingdom Card, or return your Bidding card to your Hand. * You place your Herald on a Location (in turn order). * You simultaneously place one face-down card from your Hand next to each Region. * During the Spring [SPRING_ICON] Action Step, you may activate [SPRING_ICON] Actions and Commands. * **Summer Phase:** * During the Day [ACTION_ICON] Action Step, you may activate any number of [SUMMER_ICON] Actions and Commands. * Any [ACTION_ICON] Actions or [COMMAND_ICON] Commands printed on or gained by Faction Cards may only be activated if the card is Active in the current Clash. * If face-down Faction Cards were added to the Clash and are newly revealed, you may activate their printed or gained [ACTION_ICON] Actions or [COMMAND_ICON] Commands in turn order. * **Autumn Phase:** * During the Autumn [ACTION_ICON] Action Step, you may activate [AUTUMN_ICON] Actions and Commands. * You may also Govern and Journey, which allows you to install yourself in Councils and gain Advanced Faction and HQ Cards.
Rules summaries are AI-generated from the official rulebook and may contain mistakes — check the manual for anything critical.
To win The Old King's Crown, the game ends at the conclusion of the final round. At this point, players tally a specific score type in their Supply. The provided rulebook passages offer conflicting information regarding the specific score type that determines the winner: * One passage states that the player with the most **Victory Points ([VP])** in their Supply is the winner. * Another passage indicates that players accrue **Influence ([INFLUENCE_TOKEN])**, and the player with the most Influence in their Supply will be crowned the winner. * A third passage states that each player tallies the total **Gold ([GOLD])** in their Supply, and the player with the most Gold is the winner. **Tie-Breaking Rules:** If players are tied for the most score: 1. The tied player who has control of the Kingdom's Favour ([KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON]) is the winner. 2. If none of the tied players have the Kingdom's Favour ([KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON]), the tied player who is highest on the Order Track is the winner.
At the end of the final Round, the game ends. Scoring is determined by one of the following methods, with tie-breakers applied if needed: * **Influence Tokens:** The aim of the game is to accrue the most Influence, which is represented by [INFLUENCE_TOKEN] tokens. Players tally up the [INFLUENCE_TOKEN] in their Supply, and the player with the most [INFLUENCE_TOKEN] is declared the winner. * **Gold:** Some rules state that players tally up the total Gold ([GOLD]) in their Supply, and the player with the most [GOLD] is the winner. This method is associated with game lengths such as SHORT, STANDARD, and EXTENDED. * **Victory Points:** Other rules indicate that players tally up the [VP] in their Supply, and the player with the most [VP] is the winner. **Tie-Breakers:** If any players are tied, the tied player who has control of the Kingdom's Favour ([KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON]) is the winner. If none of the tied players have the [KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON], the tied player who is highest on the Order Track is the winner.
The game ends at the end of the final round. This occurs when the Round Marker is advanced to the final slot on the Round Track. The game length can be chosen at setup: * A **Standard Game** lasts five rounds. * A **Short Game** lasts four rounds. * An **Extended Game** lasts six rounds. When the game ends, the winner is determined as follows: 1. Each player tallies the Victory Points ([VP]) in their Supply. The player with the most [VP] wins. 2. If there's a tie, the tied player who controls the Kingdom's Favour ([KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON]) wins. 3. If tied players do not control the Kingdom's Favour ([KINGDOMS_FAVOUR_ICON]), the tied player highest on the Order Track wins.