The game board is a grid of 7 columns and 9 rows. The blue middle row represents an impassible river, leaving a 4-by-7 area for each player to control his/her pieces. The tan rows on each side of the river represent sand, and the green columns are grass. Walls cannot be built on sand, but all the other pieces treat the sand the same as the grass. The middle square in each outside row contains the “Portal” for that player. If a player’s Portal is open at the beginning of the turn, a new piece can be added to that square.

• King: Each player starts with a single King, which needs to be protected throughout the game. If a player’s King gets hit by a cannonball, the game is over and that player loses.

• Wizards: These pieces add moves for the player to use each turn. Players start with 3 moves/turn, and get an additional 3 moves/turn for every Wizard they have on the board.

• Builders: Builders can add and remove Walls from the board. Since cannonballs cannot pass over Walls, Builders can be used to build up protection for their King (and other pieces too).

• Cannons: Cannons fire cannonballs at the opponent. Cannonballs can fly over any piece on the board, except for Walls. The game is over when a King is hit by a cannonball.

• Walls: Walls are added to (and removed from) the board by Builders. Walls provide protection, since cannonballs cannot fly over them.

• Fire: Fire is left behind wherever a cannonball hits. The Fire lasts only through the opponent’s turn, then disappears. Other pieces cannot move onto a square that is holding Fire.

The Blue player starts the game, and players alternate turns. A turn is played as follows:

1. Remove Existing Fire & Reset Fired Cannons: Any existing Fire of the current player’s color should be removed from the board at the start of the turn. Also, any Cannon showing its “fired” icon should be reset to showing its “unfired” icon.
2. Calculate Moves: The current player is allowed 3 moves in the turn, plus 3 more moves for every wizard that player currently has on the board. Special Exception: On the first turn, Blue is only allowed 3 moves in total. All other turns use the “3 + 3 x Wizards” calculation. [Example: If a player has 2 Wizards on the board at the start of his/her turn, he/she will have 9 moves to use during the turn – 3 base moves + 3 x 2 Wizards.]
3. Add a Piece: If the current player’s Portal square (the middle square on his/her outside row) is empty, he/she can add a new Wizard, Builder, or Cannon to the board on that square. [Note: Adding a new Wizard to the board will not give the player extra moves for the current turn.]
4. Use up Moves: The moves calculated in #2 can be used up in the following ways:
   1. Moving Pieces: Kings, Wizards, Builders, and Cannons can be moved one square at a time into any unoccupied adjacent square (only horizontal or vertical moves are allowed – no diagonal movement). Each square that a piece is moved costs one move. No pieces can move onto the water.
   2. Building or Removing Walls: Builders can add a Wall to any unoccupied adjacent grass square (Walls cannot be built on the sand or water). Adding a Wall costs one move. Builders can also remove existing Walls from any adjacent square. Removing a Wall also costs one move.
   3. Firing Cannons: Cannons can only fire cannonballs in a straight line toward the opponent’s side of the board. One move is used up for every square the cannonball travels. Any existing piece is removed from the board where the cannonball lands, and Fire is added to that square (except for the Portal squares – these do not hold Fire). The following rules must be followed when firing Cannons:
      1. Cannonballs cannot fly over Walls. If one or more Walls lie along a Cannon’s line-offire, then destroying that first Wall is as far as a cannonball can travel.
      2. A cannonball can only fly as far as the player’s remaining moves will allow. [Example: If a player only has 4 moves remaining in the turn, the furthest he/she could shoot a cannonball would be 4 squares from the Cannon being fired.]
      3. Each Cannon on the board can only be fired once per turn.
5. End of Turn: The current player’s turn ends when he/she has used up all of his/her available moves. The player can also choose to end his/her turn even if there are moves remaining – any remaining moves are forfeited.fuck out

The game ends when a player’s King is hit by a cannonball. The player shooting the Cannon is declared the winner.

The Hidden Danger variant of Castle Danger introduces 2 new commands, smuggle and reveal. These allow you to introduce pieces that your opponent (and kibitzers) cannot identify. They can move but cannot use any special abilities until revealed. The owning player can reveal a piece at any time for a cost of 1 AP. Opponents may do the same for 3 AP, providing they have a wizard on the board. This may be done once each turn for each wizard the opponent has in play.