The white castle: matcha expansion

Expand The White Castle with a new board and more actions! Matcha incorporates a lot of components that will give variability to your games: a new bridge with its own dice, new spaces where you can gain influence (the tea house) and obtain resources (the pond overlook), new clan members (the geishas) and an extra resource, the chasen. You will also have an extra turn to try to get the maximum number of influence points.

Designed by Sheila Santos and Israel Cendrero (the duo known as Llama Dice, authors of The Red Cathedral) and an evocative artistic work by Joan Guardiet, The White Castle: Matcha is the first expansion of The White Castle. This expansion includes a central board extension, 1 green bridge, 5 green dice, 16 coins, 26 tiles, 4 personal boards, 20 geisha figures and 39 cards.

As in the base game, the players' objective is to accumulate the maximum number of influence points by taking clan members to different parts of the castle. With this expansion, a fourth group of pawns is added in the personal domain, the geishas, who will be located in the new spaces of the tea house.

The tea ceremony is at the center of Japanese culture, as it embodies the most basic concepts of hospitality, respect and Zen philosophy. It is considered that tea, imported from China at the beginning of the 12th century, solved the problems of health of the Buddhist monks who consumed it. Over the years, the tea ceremony evolved to offer samurai a space of calm, away from battles. Master Sen no Rikyu was influential in turning the tea ceremony into an element to show status and later into a cultural, religious and political negotiation space for Japan. Thus, the ritual of the tea ceremony is not only a matter of hospitality, but also of respect and political intrigue.

Throughout the game, having your clan members well placed in the Chashitsu (tea house) will allow you to gain greater influence in the Himeji court. And that's not all, since you will also have an additional action in each round. Thus, the actions available throughout the game increase from 9 to 12. Are you ready to return to Himeji Castle and master the subtleties of the tea ceremony?