Cathedral

About this board game

Cathedral is a two-player abstract board game that takes about 20 minutes to play, first released in 1979. Each player uses a set of building pieces in a different color while competing to place buildings and capture territory.

The game begins when the first player places the single neutral Cathedral piece on the board. Players then alternate placing one of their own buildings at a time. Every building has a distinct shape and covers between one and five square units, making each placement part of the developing board layout.

As the board fills, players can capture territory by surrounding areas occupied by at most one opposing or neutral building. When a capture occurs, the captured piece is removed, and the captured territory becomes off-limits to the opponent. This changes where future buildings can be placed and steadily narrows the available space.

• Two players, with a different-colored set of buildings for each player
• Building pieces covering from one to five square units
• A single neutral Cathedral piece placed at the start
• Territory capture that removes a captured piece and restricts access

Players continue taking turns until neither player can place another building. At that point, the winner is the player with the fewest square units of buildings that cannot be placed. Cathedral offers a compact contest centered on shape, space, surrounding territory, and the changing limits of the board.

With its clear placement rules and distinctive building shapes, Cathedral turns every available area into an important part of the final count. The result is a focused game for two players in which successful captures can affect both pieces and future placement options.