Sultans of Karaya

About this board game

Sultans of Karaya is a hidden-role strategy game for 5–15 players, playable in about 60 minutes. Each player secretly receives a character aligned with either the Loyalists or the Rebels, while a spare role card remains in the center of the table.

The Sultan and Guards seek to eliminate every Assassin and keep the number of Slaves in play to two or fewer, or protect the Sultan after their identity is revealed. The Assassins and Slaves aim to kill the Sultan or reveal three adjacent Slaves, triggering a revolution.

• Peek at another player’s role card.
• Switch or hide role cards to reshape the hidden information.
• Use character abilities to detain, assassinate, reveal, or resist other players.
• Play with neutral characters whose victory conditions can support either side.

Guards can detain other players and make them lose their turns, while Assassins may eliminate a player at the risk of being stopped and killed by a Guard. Slaves work toward revolution, and distinctive neutral characters add further uncertainty: the Belly Dancer can neutralize adjacent revealed Guards, while the Vizier can force another player to reveal themselves and use their special action.

Players score points according to whether they belong to the winning side and whether their role was face-up or face-down when the round ends. After each round, all role cards are redealt, creating a fresh contest of deduction, deception, and shifting loyalties.

Across five rounds, Sultans of Karaya combines secret identities, tactical actions, and competing victory conditions into a constantly changing struggle for control of the kingdom.