In Linnapeli, each player first draws a tile telling which castle(s) out of six possibilities is/are to be built. With 4–6 players each player builds one castle, with 3 players 2, and with 2 players 3 castles. Players then pick tiles and place them on 4*4 grid, trying to avoid errors in placing the tiles or taking tiles that do not belong to their castle(s). The first player to complete his/her castle(s) is the winner.
There are three variations to the gameplay:
1) The easy variation is to keep the common heap of tiles face-up, and the game box with pictures of the castles visible to the players.
2) The hard variation is to keep the common heap of tiles face-up but show the pictures of the castles only shortly in the beginning of the game.
3) The hardest variation is to keep the common heap of tiles face-down.
The castles to be built are Kastelholma, Turun linna, Viipurin linna, Kuusiston linna, Olavinlinna and Kajaanin linna.