King Up!

With the announcement of the King's retirement, the pirouette for succession begins! All of his subjects from cobbler to cook, painter to paladin, debutante to duchess bustle about the castle in preparation for the succession. One of your favorites can attain the throne. But, beware! It will require clever maneuvering and selective positioning to be in the right place at the right time to achieve the crown!

Vive le Roi! is a bluff and deduction game. Players receive a card that lists a number of characters, and they keep this card hidden from the other players. The game is won by points, and players gain points depending on how "high" up in the castle their characters are located. Lower floors are worth fewer points, and higher floors are worth more. At the beginning of the game, players take turns placing one of the 13 characters on the board, honoring the limit of 4 people per floor.

Once this initial setup is done, a turn is simple: move a character of your choice up (never down) a floor. Easy. The king's throne on the top floor is worth the most points, but every time a character is moved to that spot, the entire group simultaneously votes either "Yes" (of which they have an unlimited number of "Yes" cards) or "No" (and each player has a limited number of "No" cards). If there is even one "No" vote, the character in question is removed from the round and won't be scored. When everyone eventually votes "Yes" (usually by accident but sometimes because everyone is out of "No" cards) for a proposed king, the round ends and scoring takes place. At the end of a few rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Admin note: Most editions of King Up! are for 3-6 players, whereas the 2025 edition accommodates 2-8 players.