Game of Thrones card game rules

The Game of Thrones card game is filled with just as much intrigue and fighting for dominance of the Iron Throne as the television show and novels are.

Lovers of one of the biggest television series in history, Game of Thrones, may be aware of the Game of Thrones Card game. The card game takes you into the world of battle, intrigue, politics, and betrayal in anticipation of the approaching Winter.

Based on the George R.R. Martin bestseller, A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series, players can immerse themselves in the world of the houses fighting to gain influence and control of the Iron Throne to rule Westeros, as was depicted in the television series. The game, much like other games, is played with cards.

Contents

Game of Thrones card game
Game of Thrones card game rules

Game of Thrones card game

In A Game of Thrones card game, two or more players can play. In a game of two players, the Joust format of the game is best used, while the Melee format works best in a game of more than two players.

Each player is from one of eight factions or houses and governs two card decks: a draw deck with the forces that a player faction has under their rule for every round, and a special plot deck for creating and overseeing their long-term strategy.

The card game is now also available in a second edition in which certain elements have been removed, modified, and renewed from the first edition, with new elements also added.

Game of Thrones card game rules

Game of Thrones: The Card Game is played over a number of rounds, each round with different rules . In a round, players need to show their plots, collect supplies (in cards and gold), arrange their forces into play, challenge each other, and come together for the next round.

Each round has seven phases to be completed:

Phases	What happens in the phase
Plot	Players each choose plot cards Show their cards to each other A plots signifies a long-term strategy for the player and their faction throughout the round
Draw	Players draw two cards from their decks at the same time
Marshalling	Active players can now introduce characters, locations, and attachment cards from their hand This is done by paying the card’s gold cost
Challenges	Players can come up with challenges against other players There are three challenges in the game (Military, Intrigue, and Power challenges) Starting a challenge makes you the Attacking Player and the opponent, the Defending Player After an active player completes their challenge, the next player does the same, until all players have done this
Dominance	Each player will concurrently count the total strength of their standing characters and add one for each golden token in their gold pool The highest total wins Dominance
Standing	Stand kneeling cards in play
Taxation	Players return the gold that they did not spend Players check their reserves If a player’s hand is bigger than their reserve, they must select and remove cards from their hand until it is the same value as the reserve

Challenges explained

Challenges	How they are carried out
Military	The Defender selects a number of characters in his control equal to the claim value of the Attacker’s plot card The Defender needs to kill these characters, after which they are discarded in the owner’s Dead pile
Intrigue	The Defender removes a number of cards from their hand equivalent to the claim value of the plot card
Power	The Defender eliminates power counters from his faction card to the value of the claim on the Attackers plot card Power counters are moved to the Attacker’s faction card

Melee game format rules

Players can choose to play the Melee format of the card game if there are between three and six players in the game. The Melee format has the same structure and rules as the Joust game with two players, but it presents title cards to the game.

There are six title cards introduced. The Melee format of the game has a Melee plot phase and a Melee Taxation phase.

Melee Plot Phase and Taxation Phase

In the Melee plot phase, the play is split into three steps: choosing plot cards, showing your plot cards, and selecting tiles. To select tiles, players must shuffle titles facing down and choose one of them to place on the table near the treasury.

All players must show their titles. The Taxation phase involves returning any gold that has not worked, checking the reserve, and returning any titles to the Title pool.