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?
Mervyn Peake’s extraordinary ‘gothic’ novels, centered on the castle of Gormenghast, have captured the imaginations of millions of readers worldwide, turning the work into a cult classic.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Pick Up and Deliver
Collect goods at one location and transport them to another for rewards.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Read the full game description
Mervyn Peake’s extraordinary ‘gothic’ novels, centered on the castle of Gormenghast, have captured the imaginations of millions of readers worldwide, turning the work into a cult classic. The atmosphere of the rambling and decaying castle of Gormenghast with its intrigues, its rituals, its morbid humour and its sheer eccentricity has been a lovingly recreated in this amazing board game. In this board game each player takes on the role of a ‘kitchen rat’ similar to Steerpike in the books. Like Steerpike you have the same murderous desire for power. Your goal is to accumulate as much influence as you can (in the form of Victory Tokens), rise to the top and become Master of Ritual. To acquire Victory Tokens players move characters around the board to complete various intrigues (detailed on Plot Cards). When a player completes a plot they gain Victory Tokens. The first player to acquire 9 (or more) Victory Tokens wins the game. Contents Rule book book of ritual 10 x character pieces 30 x castle tiles Three card decks totaling 106 cards - 66 action cards, 10 character cards and 30 plot cards 30 x artefact tokens 20 x influence tokens 40 x victory tokens 1 x blocking token 1 x ritual die