Dreaming Spires

About this board game

Dreaming Spires is a board game for 3–5 players that takes around 90 minutes, inviting you to lead an Oxford college from the medieval era through to the modern day.

Build your college by placing building tiles according to simple rules. Tiles feature whole, half, and quarter icons that can be positioned next to one another to complete whole icons, developing the benefits your college offers.

• Beauty
• Academics
• Status
• Sociability

These benefits help your college attract famous men and women of Oxford. Once admitted, scholars can increase your reputation directly in their subjects, while their unique special abilities offer additional ways to develop your college’s standing.

Each turn presents an historical event that sets the colleges against one another in a range of activities. The winner earns a reward and becomes Chancellor, leading play during the following turn. Cards bring Oxford’s eccentric characters and tumultuous history to life with original illustrations, famous quotes, and amusing written accounts.

At the end of the game, the college with the greatest reputation wins. Reputation is calculated from the scoreboard using an innovative scoring system that supports different strategies and keeps every player in contention until the final stages.

Released in 2014, Dreaming Spires combines tile placement, college development, scholar abilities, and historical competition in a game about building a distinctive Oxford institution and guiding it through the ages.