Disney Lorcana: Palace Heist is Disney’s Locana’s new TCG turned board game that allows players to play cooperatively against an enemy together. This one is Jafar from Aladdin. You need to steal back the crown and overthrow Jafar by playing cards to help face off with him, but also to collect lore to win the game. Ravensburger continues to release more Lorcana products, with Palace Heist being one of its newest. If this game sounds intriguing, check out the Lorcana: Shimmering Skies review and Lorcana: Reign of Jafar review.
What’s in the Box?
- 1 Jafar Player Board
- 2 Double-sided Battleground Cards
- 1 “The Reforged Crown” Tile
- 3 Component Storage Boxes
- 1 Special Jafar Surprise Pack
- 1 50-Card Jafar Deck
- 2 60-Card Player Decks
- 5 Lore Trackers
- 1 Jafar Draw Token Marker
- 29 Damage Tokens
How’s it Play?
This is a cooperative card game for 1-4 players. You are playing against Jafar, with the goal of both regaining control of the reforged crown and gaining 20 lore to win. You will be using standard Lorcana decks to play this game. The game includes 2 decks, but if you are a Lorcana fan, you can also play with your own deck.
If you know how to play a Disney Lorcana game already, you’re in luck because many of the basics still apply to this game. If you want to brush up on the rules, yu can revisit my review of Lorcana: Shimmering Skies.
For this game, Jafar has his own board with certain cards and a special setup, though you can change your battleground to make things easier or harder. As Jafar gains lore, he starts drawing more cards.
Players take their decks, shuffle them, and draw 7 cards as normal. Jafar doesn’t begin with a starting hand, but he also starts gameplay. On his turn, Jafar does the following steps: Ready, Set, Resolve the row, and Draw. First, you ready all of his cards; at the beginning he wont have any to do this with, but later in the game he will. Then, set any start of turn effects like gaining lore from locations and enacting any cards that state something like “at the start of Jafar’s turn…”. Also if Jafar has gained the reforged crown, he gains 2 lore.
Jafar’s row is then resolved from left to right. His characters always try to quest if they are able to. If one of his characters gains “reckless”, they have to challenge, if able to. Players can choose the character they challenge. With any decisions, players choose what to do. Thus, you move from left to right resolving the cards, and tilting them after you have complete each one.
You then draw cards for Jafar based on the number shown on his counter, and after placing them in a stack, you draw them one at a time starting with the one now on top. These all have ink costs, and if Jafar is not able to pay for it because he doesn’t have enough ink, it’s added to his inkwell. If Jafar has enough ink to play a card, he plays it. Jafar does not need to exert ink to play cards, as long as he has accumulated enough for the required amount. Actions should be played immediately. Cards are then placed in a discard slot once resolved. All new cards added should be placed to the right of the last one, and will be resolved during his next turn.
When drawn, location cards are placed on the location spot on his player board. If Jafar has 1 or more locations in play, you can’t steal the crown. Whoever controls the crown gains 2 lore, but you also have to have the crown to win.
If Jafar has no locations in play, players can steal the crown by each exerting a character. But beware, Jafar also has cards to steal the crown back. Whenever Jafar gets to 40 lore, he automatically reclaims the crown and wins the game.
Once his turn finishes, all players take your turns together and perform steps just like any other Lorcana game. Playing turns at the same time helps you strategize to take down Jafar. Players also can spend lore to trigger abilities shown on the battleground card.
Again, to win all players must get to 20 lore and have control of the crown. You lose if Jafar gets 40 or more lore, or if a player runs out of cards in their deck. After winning, there is a secret victory pack to open.
The Verdict
I think it’s great to take this card game and do a couple things different with it to make it into an official board game. It’s nice to be able to place all the components back into a box, and place it back on the shelf, versus placing all my other Lorcana cards and gear into it’s illumineer box. This version also comes with a game board instead of a paper mat, so that already makes me smile.
I like that in this board game version, you have to both manage Jafar and his turn while also teaming up with your friends to beat him. I like that if you’re familiar with Lorcana, you already know how to play your turn, get ink to play cards, and setup your cards to gain lore. The only things you are figuring out are how to accomplish the win condition and how to manage Jafar’s turn and make his cards work.
The primary evolution of Palace Heist is the format and structure, plus allowing you to work with you friends instead of against them. The game adds in a keep-away element with the crown, but you also gain extra lore when you control the crown, which is also what helps you get closer to winning the game. Even if you get the lore you need, you also need to snatch the crown back to win.
The cards included in the game should remind you of Aladdin the movie with the different actions and characters. Locations are important too, because you will need to manage them with Jafar, so that you will be able and open to take the crown back.
The game also includes different battlegrounds, some harder than others, but it gives you some variety in the game when playing it another time. I recommend starting on easy and working your way up to extreme.
The last thing to mention is that you are able to use these cards or your other Lorcana cards to make your own deck and play through to beat Jafar over and over again. If you already like your Lorcana decks and are not looking for another avenue or a different mix for the game, then you might be OK skipping this one. But if you wanted to play cooperatively with friends instead of head to head, then this one is a must. The added rules aren’t too complicated, and Palace Heist will immerse you in the world of Disney. It also offers a way for you to experience a Trading Card Game while also holding it just for the game if you do not want to proceed with getting more cards and forming your own deck to really see the combinations between everything.
Images via Ravensburger
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