Succession 2026

The king is dead. Long live the king!

Succession is a bidding and card-drafting game in which each player leads a faction competing to place their candidate on a vacant throne. Over 8 rounds, players vie for the favor of powerful Citizens — Merchants, Priests, Nobles, and unique named figures like the Benefactor, the Assassin, the Diplomat, and the Spy — racing to build the most influential court.

Each round, six Citizen cards are revealed in three pairs. Players secretly commit Bidding cards (valued 1–8) — one per pair — plus a hidden tiebreaker. Highest bid on a pair gets first pick of the two Citizens; the other player claims the leftover. Ties are broken first by the hidden tiebreaker, then by a Standing Order ranking the factions relative to the Crown — though winning a tie on Standing knocks you to the bottom of that order.

Citizens are more than points: many carry abilities that fire the instant you acquire them, or can be spent by discarding the card outright — swapping cards away from rivals, spying on face-down Citizens, sabotaging opponents, or re-triggering other effects. Bidding cards are a scarce resource, spent down over two-round cycles before fully replenishing, so timing your big bids matters as much as having them.

When all 48 Citizens are claimed, players tally the points printed on their cards (plus any conditional bonuses met), and whoever holds the Minister chooses whether Merchants, Priests, or Nobles grant an extra scoring bonus. Highest total becomes the new monarch — ties go to the highest Standing.

—description from the designer