Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Lead an Oxford college from the medieval era through to the modern day. The eccentric characters and tumultuous events of Oxford's history are brought to life in cards, featuring original illustrations, famous quotes and amusing written accounts.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Auction/Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Variable Player Powers
Each player has different abilities, restrictions, or strategic advantages.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
Lead an Oxford college from the medieval era through to the modern day. The eccentric characters and tumultuous events of Oxford's history are brought to life in cards, featuring original illustrations, famous quotes and amusing written accounts. In Dreaming Spires, players each build a college of Oxford University out of building tiles placed according to simple rules. Tiles display whole icons and half and quarter icons, which can be placed next to one another to complete whole ones. These icons represent the benefits of your college: Beauty, Academics, Status and Sociability. Famous men and women of Oxford can be admitted to your college if it has the relevant benefits to attract them. These scholars can be used to increase the reputation of your college directly in their subjects but also indirectly using their unique special abilities. Each turn there is an historical event pitting the colleges against one another in various activities for a reward. The winner becomes Chancellor and leads play for the following turn. The college, which has the greatest reputation at the end of the game is the winner. This is calculated from the scoreboard with an innovative scoring system that leaves ample room for different strategies to succeed and keeps everyone in with a chance till the end!