In 1570 Ming Dynasty China, powerful families vie for influence by exchanging gifts with Forbidden City officials. Players offer higher-value gift cards to perform actions like traveling across China, sailing the Grand Canal, buying jade, aiding Great Wall construction, securing decrees, and wielding intrigue for an emperor audience. This strategy game unfolds over four rounds, each with Morning preparation, Day actions at seven board locations, and Night checks matching discard cards to Destiny Dice.
Victory hinges on points from Great Wall progress, level 3 decrees, palace arrival order, and jade collections. The PC app pits you against Meng, a solo opponent with three difficulty levels, plus a tutorial and full rules. Strategy enthusiasts who relish calculated gift trades and multi-phase turns will find a tight, thematic challenge.
China, 1570. China is under the reign of the Longqing Emperor, of the Ming Dynasty. He inherited a country in disarray after years of mismanagement and corruption. He resided in the Forbidden city, which was the seat of many emperors under the Ming Dynasty. Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 ha (over 180 acres). It is also under the Ming Dynasty that the Great Wall of China was rebuilt, fortified, and expanded. Around this period, China was under heavy attack from the Mongols, so maintaining the Great Wall was essential. Most of what we now have left of the Great Wall, we owe to the Ming dynasty.
The country was already famous for its very intricate bureaucracy, but this also led to a lot of corruption. Even though the penalties for corruption were very high, the highest Officials of the Forbidden City would pretend to uphold the ban on corruption, by accepting gifts of petitioners, and returning one of seemingly lower value.
Gugong uses this extraordinary custom as its basis. Players take on the role of powerful Chinese families trying to gain influence and power by exchanging gifts with Officials. The gift cards you offer as a player have to be of a higher value than the one you receive, forcing you to make strategic choices regarding which actions you want to take each turn. You will travel around China, sail down the Grand Canal, purchase precious jade, help construct the Great Wall, secure advantages through decrees, influence the game through intrigue, and ultimately, receive an audience with the emperor.
In this App version of the board game you will play vs. Meng, the solo automata, with three different level of difficulty.
The App includes a short tutorial which explain the basic concepts of the game to help the player dive in immediately, and a full set of written rules.
Game Overview
“Gùgōng” is played in 4 rounds, representing 4 Days. Each Day consists of 3 Phases:
1. The Morning Phase, where players prepare the game for the coming Day.
2. The Day Phase, where players perform multiple actions. Players perform various actions by exchanging Gift Cards with the Officials working in the Forbidden City, represented by the 7 Card locations on the Game Board.
3. The Night Phase, where players check if they have successfully matched cards in their
discard pile with the Destiny Dice.
At the end of the 4th Day, players receive additional VP for the completion of the Great Wall, the level 3 Decrees, their arrival order in the Palace and their collection of Jade. The player with the most Victory Points at the end of the game is declared the most influential Chinese Family and wins the game.
