Mitch Willis
United States
Kathleen
Georgia
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Overview
Palastgeflüster is a unique card game for 3 to 5 players. Michael Rienick, whose previous credits include Cuba, Pillars of the Earth, and Around the World in 80 Days, is the designer and Adlung-Spiele is the publisher. The game first appeared in 2007 and finished in 6th place in Fairplay Magazine's 2008 a la carte awards (for best card game in Germany). Palastgeflüster translates into English as "Dark Whisperings" as each player tries to overcome the intrigue within the royal court to gain the King's favor. The goal of the game is to score the most points by avoiding playing duplicates of character cards already present in your display. In our games thus far, playing time runs around 45 minutes or so.
Out of the Box
Palastgeflüster comes in a very small tuckbox. Upon opening, you’ll find 66 cards and a multi-language rulebook (German, English, French & Italian). Of the 66 cards, there are 5 player sets (a favour marker & an arrow card in each of the five player colors which serve as a scoring tracker), 49 character cards (5 sets of 7 in each player color, 2 sets of 7 in neutral brown), 6 King cards, and 1 multi-language reference card. The player colors are red, blue, yellow, green, and purple. The character cards are language independent (only the name of the character is in German) and have legible icons at the top to describe their specific action. The cards are made from decent stock but I sleeved mine as the game is imported and appears to be rather tough to find over here in the states. I found the rulebook to be fairly straightforward and easy to follow.
Set Up
Each player takes a player set (favor marker & arrow card) of their color to track their score during the game. Select the 14 neutral (brown) character cards along with the character cards of each player's color; in a 3 or 4 player game, the character cards of the color(s) not chosen are put back in the box. Shuffle all the neutral character cards together with the players' character cards and deal out 6 to each player; the remaining cards will form the draw deck. Shuffle the 6 King cards together, forming a face-down King pile. The rules state that the eldest player starts, but I figure most players will just randomly determine the first player.
Game Play
During your turn, you must place a character card from your hand face-up to your display in front of you. You then carry out the action described on that card. You may not have more than one card, regardless of color, of the same character in your display. The color of the card you played determines who plays next; if you played a red card, then the red player plays the next card (even if the red player is you). When playing a brown card, the next player will be the one who has the fewest cards in his/her display; if tied then the person playing the brown card chooses, among those tied, who will play.
Play during the round continues until either a player successfully plays their last card (which must be unique) in their display or until a player is forced to play a duplicate character card in their display. If a player was able to play their last card, then they gain a point and slide their arrow card down on their favor marker increasing their score by one; none of the other players will score for that round. If a player is forced to play a duplicate card, they cause "Dark Whisperings"; all the other players will gain a point and the offending player will not score. The player who ended the previous round begins the next round.
Endgame & Alternate Scoring
The game ends depending upon the number of players. With 3 players, the first to get 6 points wins, with 4, it's the first to get to 5, and with 5 players, the first to 4 wins it. In case of a tie, which can happen quite often, the player among those tied who has the most cards in their last display is the winner.
There's an alternate scoring method mentioned in the rules that some will probably prefer as it should cut down significantly on the number of ties. You can either play to a pre-determined score is reached or just play a certain number of rounds. Whenever a round ends, all players score points equal to the number of cards in their display except for the player who causes "Dark Whisperings" (he/she won't score for that round). Of course, you'll need to mark down and total the scores after each round and the highest score wins.
Character Cards
Here's a short description of each character card:
Jester: you just place the Jester (Hofnarr) as it has no inherent power.
Treasurer: after placing the Treasurer (Schatzmeister), you must show the other players the cards remaining in your hand (this is bad).
Magician: after placing the Magician (Zauberer), you can choose another player and force him to exchange any number of cards with you, as long as both of you have that number in hand.
Maid: after placing the Maid (Zofe), you may discard a card from your hand and draw a new one from the draw deck.
Cup-Bearer: after placing the Cup-Bearer (Mendschenk), you exchange one card each from any two displays on the table; you may not cause "Dark Whisperings" from this exchange.
Custodian: after placing the Custodian (Wachter), you may pick up one other card from your display and put it back into your hand.
Marshal: after placing the Marshal (Hofmarschall), you flip over the top card of the King deck; the revealed King card will cancel the action of the displayed character card until a new King card is revealed. With the exception of the Jester, the character displayed on the King card can still be played, but its action is invalid.
Observations
Palastgeflüster is primarily a game of hand management but differs when compared to most other hand management games when you factor in the turn order and special powers of the character cards. Like most card games, this one has its share of randomness; however, this can be mitigated to a certain degree with skillful play and innovative thinking. In this game, you have to walk a fine line between being too passive or too aggressive. If you’re too passive, you might allow a player to get six cards in his display quickly. However, if you’re too aggressive, you might find yourself stuck; as in having 4 or 5 cards in your display with no legal plays left in your hand where you’re just praying that play doesn’t come back to you. A popular and effective ploy in our games thus far, is to use the power of the Magician against aggressive players; when a player has many cards in their display, you can trade cards with them, optimally sticking them with cards already in their display. Then, if you can force play back to them, they cause "Dark Whisperings" and you’ll score!
From what I’ve seen thus far, you need to think more tactically in this game as opposed to long-term planning. You may think you have a hand where you’ll be able to place all 6 cards and then BAM! Someone plays a Magician or Cup-Bearer and suddenly your perfect hand went from sugar to Shinola! Cup-Bearers, Maids, and Custodians have proven to be pretty good defensive cards to hold for emergencies, when possible, as they can help you when legal plays to your display become scarce. I try not to think more than 2 or 3 plays ahead as usually things change so much that any planning further out than that is useless.
I think the Cup-Bearer is the most versatile character card in the game. You can use it to "attack" another’s display by exchanging a character to their display that they also have in their hand. As stated previously, it’s also highly useful in defense of your own display; you can exchange a card out of your display that you also have in hand, thus freeing up another play on a future turn.
Remember, when you place a card, you control who will play next. Always strive to use this to your advantage; if you think you can go out with a 6-card display, place cards that will bring the play back to you; if you think you can force another player into "Dark Whisperings," try to place a card that makes them play next.
One more thing...always be aware of the active King card. While it may not seem important when you first start playing, there have been several hands where the King card either kept me from going out or provoked me into "Dark Whisperings." Use your Marshal cards with this in mind...
Conclusions
I tend to like most trick-taking, rummy-based, and unique card games; Palastgeflüster falls into the latter category and is no exception. While it has its share of luck, I’ve found it fun and unlike any other card game I’ve played. I especially like the turn order mechanic and the sometimes subtle game play; there’ve been several times where I made what I thought was an obvious play only to look back later and think of a much better play. Another plus is that this game plays rather quickly, making it a good choice for our lunchtime gaming group. People who have little tolerance for chance might want to steer away from this one, but for folks looking for a quick, fun, and one-of-a-kind card game, I can recommend it with no reservations. I currently rate Palastgeflüster a solid 7.
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T. Nomad
New Zealand
Winnipeg/Auckland/Cheonan
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*sigh* One more added to my massive wishlist. Thanks fer nuthin'.
(translation: Good review, Mitch!)
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Blue Fox
United States
Kentucky
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Nice review, nice images too
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Mitch Willis
United States
Kathleen
Georgia
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tommynomad wrote: *sigh* One more added to my massive wishlist. Thanks fer nuthin'.
(translation: Good review, Mitch!)
Thanks Tommy...know what you mean about a wishlist...seems like every couple of days I read where another game comes out that I've just got to have...this one had been on my radar for some time, but it took me a while before I could find a copy over here...
bluef0x wrote: Nice review, nice images too
Thanks for the kind words and thank you for some of the nice images I used in the review...I guess I'm lazy and since I'm not a great picture taker, I leach off of all the nice photos in the data base here that more talented BGG users produce...
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Blue Fox
United States
Kentucky
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Oh no worries, glad I can help. This is a very under rated game, that more people should get exposure too. Great review.
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Posted Fri May 1, 2009 7:57 pm
