The Cathedral of Orléans (2023)

About this game

It is 1598, and you have settled in the middle of France in the city of Orléans on the Loire. Your goal is clear: Build a cathedral in Orléans — all of you together because only together can you meet this challenge! In the co-operative game The Cathedral of Orléans, players will recruit followers familiar from Orléans to take actions — knights, craftsmen, scholars, traders, and monks — but these followers are divided between two pouches, so the question you will constantly face: From which pouch should I draw to get the desired tile? You will want to remember which tiles go into which bag at the end of the round, dividing duties between one another in order to work out your strategy together as effectively as possible. Time is always a pressing issue. The cathedral must be completed in the third round at the latest, and if a tile can no longer be placed elsewhere with an action, it must go into the bell tower, with that tower's toll ending the round. Special highlight: You build a real, three-dimensional cathedral!

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 4.
• Rules load. At 1.8/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.