Deckula!

About this board game

Deckula is a solo card game for one player that takes about 10 minutes to play. After a century of slumber, you awaken to find your vampire castle in disgraceful condition, and restoring its decadent glory will not be easy.

Renovate imposing rooms, fill your halls with ghoulish servants, enjoy fine wine, pose dramatically on the highest tower, and write dreadful poetry. Every turn presents a simple but important choice: draw a card, then decide whether to buy it for your tableau or discard it to gain energy points for future purchases.

Many cards provide victory points, while most also offer tricky effects that can help defend your castle or manipulate the flow of play. However, visitor cards immediately enter a threat area. These curious locals, aspiring vampire hunters, and looters can harm your score or even destroy you if their negative effects are left unchecked.

• Balance a decadent lifestyle against dangerous visitors.
• Choose between expanding your tableau and gaining energy for later cards.
• Use card effects to defend yourself and control the threats in your castle.
• Play through the deck to win, or lose if a visitor or another card effect defeats you.

The objective in Deckula is to reach the end of the deck without being killed by anyone who wanders into your lair. Make it through, and you win the game before scoring your cards; fail to control the threats, and your vampire’s reign ends early.

Quick to learn, compact, and designed with scalable difficulty, Deckula combines dark comedy with high-stakes solo play. In the 2021 Solitaire Print & Play Contest, it won 1st place for Best Use of Theme, 2nd place for Best Graphic Design, and 2nd place for Best New Solo Designer.