To start the game, separate the number and face cards into different decks. Separate the face cards furthermore into Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Shuffle each pile separately then create a pile by first stacking the four Kings, then the Queens, and finally the Jacks. This will be the Castle deck. The remaining number cards are shuffled and placed aside, this will be the Tavern deck. Deal to each player a set number of cards from the Tavern to form their initial hands (5 cards for 4 players, 6 cards for 3, 7 cards for 2, and 8 cards for solo play). The top card of the Castle is flipped up (which will be a Jack), determining the first enemy.
In turns, players play cards to attack the enemy. The damage dealt to the enemies equal to the card's number value. Each suit has a special power: spades decrease the enemy's attack value, hearts allow refilling the Tavern with cards from the discard pile, clubs deal double damage, and diamonds allow refilling all players' hands to the maximum hand limit. Enemies are immune to the power of its suit, for example the Jack of Hearts restricts players from refilling the Tavern. Combinations of cards may be played as long as either all of the played cards are the same value and the sum doesn't exceed 10, or an Ace is one of the cards played. When multiple cards are played, all of the suit powers activate except for the one the boss is immune to. After attacking, players take damage by discarding cards with values that equal to or higher than the boss' current attack points, placing them in a discard pile.
Each face card has their own attack and health points. Jacks attack for 10 and have 20 health, Queens attack for 15 and have 30 health, and Kings attack for 20 and have 40 health. When a boss is defeated, the game moves on to the next boss. When all Jacks are defeated, players start attacking Queens, and so on. Where the boss card is placed is dependent on how much damage has been dealt — if the damage dealt is exactly the same as the boss' health (e.g. a Jack is cumulatively defeated with 20 damage total) then the boss card is placed on top of the Tavern, and if not, it's placed in the Discard pile. All cards played in the previous round are also discarded.
Jesters (or Jokers) are also used in gameplay, for both multiplayer and solo games. If a player is dealt a Jester, they can use it to nullify the boss' immunity power. In solo play, the Jesters are used to reset the hand to a completely new hand, and is commonly used when players are stuck.
A follow-up game, Regicide Legacy, is in development. It is an expansion to the original game with multiple mission packs varying in enemy power, along with additional hero and item cards.
This game provides examples of:
Gameplay Tropes- Boss Game: Each round has the players attacking the bosses, with a total of 12 rounds for each face card.
- Character Class System: Spades are defensive Paladins, Hearts are healing Clerics, Clubs are damaging Warriors, and Diamonds are either Mages or Bards, depending on the deck edition. Each class reflects the suit's respective power.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: Everyone is on the same team against the Castle deck, working together to defeat the 12 bosses. Everyone wins if all the bosses in the Castle are defeated, and loses if one of the players die by being unable to discard enough cards to take damage.
- Defeat Means Friendship: A defeated Royal card goes on the bottom of the Tavern. A Royal defeated by bringing them to exactly 0 goes on top.
- Extrinsic Go-First Rule: Parodied. In the official rules handbook, "the player who has most recently committed regicide" goes first.
- Hand Limit: Players have a maximum limit of cards they can have in their hand, depending on the number of players. This rule also applies when the Diamond suit power is activated, as players can only refill to their max hand size.
- Heel–Face Turn: Bosses that are defeated will end up joining the heroes by entering the Tavern deck, if the boss is defeated with the exact attack points or a Heart power activates and one of the cards going to the Tavern happens to be said boss.
- Maximum HP Reduction: Playing a spade reduces the attack points of the boss by the played card's value as long as the boss is not immune to the spade power.
- Solo Tabletop Game: The game is playable as a solo game with all the rules intact with the exception of how the Jesters work.
- Aerith and Bob: The names of the bosses vary between Lilithnote , Catherinenote and Edwardnote to Tezfurnote , Vexxnote , and Letholdusnote .
- All There in the Manual: The characters on the cards, including the bosses, have names. However, their names are not printed directly in the deck, and are only available online. Averted with Legacy, which has their names printed on the cards.
- Beast Man: The characters for Fives, Eights, and Nines are all humanoid character with animal designs and traits.
- Loyal Animal Companion: The Aces are are depicted as animal companions. A pangolin for Spades, a fennec fox for Hearts, a badger for Clubs, and either a dove or a duck for Diamonds.