/pic3984592.png)
Game Info
Year
2018
Players
1-2
Age
10+
Playtime
30 min
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
Castell is a rich folk tradition in Catalonia, for which people gather at festivals to build human towers up to 8-10 people high! In the game, you run a castell team and are traveling around the various regions of Catalonia, recruiting castellers to your team, training new skills to build more impressive towers, and performing at festivals in the Catalan villages and towns. Do you have what it takes to be the best colla, or castell team, in the land?
A game of Castell takes place over the course of 10 rounds. Your goal is to recruit castellers from the regions of Catalonia, then build towers with those castellers to compete in the festivals. You’ll need to train your castellers in various skills so that you can build taller, wider, and more creative towers. The more diverse your performances and the better you tailor your towers to each audience, the higher your final score will be.
Harness your strength, balance, courage, and common sense to take your team to victory!
Featured Videos
Review
GTS 2013 - Castellan
Rules Teach
Castell - How To Play
Ask a Rules Question
All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 7
This page: 7
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 1 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–7 of 7
Video mKsUtSpLEgw
Rules Teach at 1:39
video_pk 69078 · mention_pk 165399
Click to watch at 1:39 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Masters cards are in order from Act I to Act III in this video, but those are supposed to be all shuffled at the beginning.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video lnWn3-Fuk_8
Watch It Played Rules Teach at 0:00
video_pk 68171 · mention_pk 164529
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
none
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
No quotes stored for this video.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video _Z2041GRoDw
Review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66867 · mention_pk 162680
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- A lot of fun
- Engaging pattern placement
- Variety in recipes
- High replayability
- Interesting choice between ingredients and money
- Fun employee variety
- Malfunctions add a cool element
- More exciting and nuanced than Conservas
Cons
- Can lead to analysis paralysis
- Malfunctions can be random and potentially annoying
- Achieving gourmet victory is difficult
Thematic elements
- preparing and serving pastries
- running a pastry shop
Comparison games
- Conservas
- Bullet
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Folding — Players physically fold sheets to create different recipe shapes.
- polyomino placement — Players place polyomino tokens on folded sheets to fulfill customer orders.
- Push Your Luck — Deciding whether to take ingredients or money, and whether to repair equipment or risk a malfunction.
- Resource management — Players manage money to pay employees and repair equipment, and manage ingredient tokens.
- scenario-based play — The game is played through different recipes/scenarios with unique rules and objectives.
- set collection — Players collect ingredient tokens and use them to match customer desires.
- Worker placement (implied) — Hiring and paying employees with special abilities suggests a form of worker management or influence.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I take no money from publishers for my previews. I just want to show off the game so you can make an informed decision.
- It's a chaotic week while you train a lot of new employees, and the busy season has started.
- The idea is that you are not just actually like doing the folding to make it fit the right shape, but you're also trying to look at your customers and make sure you have as many of their icons available as possible so you can start feeding them.
- I don't know. I don't think I'm playing great here.
- I really don't want that to go negative, so I'll spend four, unfortunately, but I get to get a size four token of my choice.
- The nice thing about the final round is you don't have to get any ingredients. They do nothing for you. It's all about the money money money.
- Probably the worst thing I have to say about it is that it can lead to a lot of analysis paralysis.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video vcFbeuTa17c
Unknown Channel Top 5 List at 5:46 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66278 · mention_pk 161176
Click to watch at 5:46 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Abstract yet tactile and satisfying
- Short, teachable, good for quick sessions
- Expandable for more players
Cons
- Not as widely discussed or promoted
- Theme may feel minimal to some players
Thematic elements
- Abstract strategy around surrounding walls to score points
- Medieval fortress-building theme
- Minimal narrative; focus on puzzle-like placement of castle pieces
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Score based on the number of surrounded squares and internal turrets
- area control / scoring by enclosure — Score based on the number of surrounded squares and internal turrets
- expansion-enabled player count — A second pack allows play up to four players
- tile placement — Place tiles to form squares; fully enclosing yields scoring opportunities
- tile placement and enclosure — Place tiles to form squares; fully enclosing yields scoring opportunities
- tile-drafting / card drafting — Draw castle-section tiles that depict walls, turrets, and other features
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- five hidden gems inside my collection
- the art style is amazing the cute animals and creatures
- this is a dungeon crawling rolling right game
- that one extra roll I need to beat him and take his final Health down and defeat him
- it's a very interesting little game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video gvZTaFAHiso
Watch It Played Review at 0:29 sentiment: positive
video_pk 65431 · mention_pk 159104
Click to watch at 0:29 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- It's reminiscent of the old pen and paper dot and line game.
- It offers strategic depth with decisions about how to use cards and pieces.
- The ability to merge sets for more players is a good feature.
- It's a great two-player game with different strategies that work at different times.
Cons
- You could be potentially leaving opportunities for your opponent.
- You might have to pass pieces to the next person if you can't use them.
- The red and blue set includes rulebooks in multiple languages which might not be needed if you only speak English.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Dot and Line
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area enclosure — The primary goal is to play cards to enclose areas on the board, which can be of any size and configuration as long as they have 90-degree angles.
- hand management — Players manage a hand of four cards, which represent their resources, and must play at least one card per turn. Playing cards generates building pieces.
- Modular board — Multiple sets can be combined to create larger games for more players.
- Resource management — Players must use every piece they generate. If they cannot, they must pass it to the next player, potentially creating opportunities for opponents.
- scoring — Score is equal to the number of towers that touch an area surrounding one of your keeps. Players can choose to double score an area once per game by placing two keeps.
- set collection — Players draw cards from either a wall deck or a tower deck, with each card in the wall deck having at least one wall, and each in the tower deck having at least one tower.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- hi welcome to gts distributions come and play day here in seattle
- i've been joined by randy from steve jackson games
- this looks like it's a little a little more advanced than that though
- you have to use every piece you generate if for some reason you can't use it you have to pass it to the next person and they'll be forced to
- so this is a whole other layer then okay
- this is this is a two-player game here that we're looking at
- the length of the game will increase just because there's more time in before you play again
- there are only three of these spread throughout the two decks
- for any of the steve jackson games products uh you can go to sjgames.com
- for this specific game you could go to costellon c-a-s-t-e-l-l-a-n dot sjgames.com
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video C6dbkqTxh0Q
Watch It Played Discussion at 0:13 sentiment: neutral
video_pk 65017 · mention_pk 158626
Click to watch at 0:13 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is not meant to be just a token bang fact I think yeah I'm pretty sure I think this is meant to be a hat
- it's definitely a hat and that's why on Twitter I posted recently this picture and my good friend Marty canal from the rolling dice of taking his podcast agreed that it was a swamp fashion choice
- take a picture of yourself wearing your new fancy castel chapeau and post it to Twitter with the hashtag Castel Fez contest
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video J5Qo1BGwlQ0
Meeple University Review at 0:25 sentiment: positive
video_pk 64552 · mention_pk 158019
Click to watch at 0:25 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Simple rules allow players to focus on strategy
- Balanced action point system with two actions per turn
- High-quality, thick components; pastel aesthetics
- Effective catch-up mechanic preventing runaway scores
- Direct two-player tension and the ability to block opponents
- Clear end conditions that avoid runaway scoring
Cons
- Rotation elements add cognitive load and require mental rotation
- Time pressure from a timer can induce AP (action point) stress
- Maintaining balance by not leaving matching heights for opponents can be frustrating
Thematic elements
- Connecting colored dots through tile placement to form paths
- Abstract, pastel-colored aesthetic with no explicit theme or setting
- Abstract puzzle-like presentation without a story
Comparison games
- Photosynthesis
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Timer — A timer option can be used to impose 60 seconds per turn and increase pressure.
- end_condition — Game ends when a stack of tiles is exhausted, there is no legal placement, or someone reaches 50 points.
- Limited Resource Pool — There are always three tiles available; when this supply is exhausted, players get one more turn.
- passing_and_scoring_conversion — Passes are tallied and then converted into victory points via a scoring table.
- scoring_passes — Players score by counting passes through connected tiles; the number of passes is tied to the height of tiles.
- tile_height_and_connections — Connections between tiles of various heights contribute to the total passes counted.
- tile_laying — Players place a tile onto the board on their turn.
- tile_rotation — Some tiles can rotate, adding complexity and requiring players to rotate or reposition tiles.
- tile_supply — There are always three tiles available; when this supply is exhausted, players get one more turn.
- Tile/Map Shifting — Some tiles can rotate, adding complexity and requiring players to rotate or reposition tiles.
- timer — A timer option can be used to impose 60 seconds per turn and increase pressure.
- token_movement — Players move one of their tokens up to two spaces around the board, skipping over other players.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Pastali is a tile laying and fast changing route building game
- It's an abstract game
- This is actually quite cute
- It's a filler for us
- It's a race to 50
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–7 of 7