Wandando

Once upon a time, the old kingdom of Ardenfell lay in rubble, its walls scattered like fallen tiles across the valley. The court searched far and wide for a patient builder, and at last they found you, the Warden of the Rebuild. Chapter one The work began on a board of plum velvet, eight squares wide and eight squares tall. Three shapes waited beside it, and the Warden dragged each one into place. Whenever a full row or column was completed, it cleared away and became another wall of the castle. Slowly the castle began to rise: 24 halls across 8 chapters, from the Ruined Keep and the Gatehouse to the Great Hall, the Armoury, the High Tower, the Royal Vault, the Throne Room and the Crown Spire. Each hall asked for between 3 and 14 lines within a limited supply of stones, and a careful builder who spent fewer stones was given up to three stars, 72 in all. Chapter two Soon two challenges arrived at the gate. The first was the Timed Trial, where the hourglass held only 90 seconds of sand and the Warden built for the highest score before it ran out, with combos for clearing several lines at once. Every trial was written into a ledger with its lines and score, the finest marked with a trophy. The second was the Royal Duel, in which a rival builder received exactly the same shapes on a board of its own. The rival placed about one piece each second, never faster than a person could, while a small view of its board stayed in sight. When the sand settled, the higher score took the duel. Chapter three As the halls were restored, eight chronicle chapters opened one by one, such as Raising the Gate and Halls of Echoes. The Court Scholar posed ten questions drawn from 22 real facts about castles and monarchies, from the king who commissioned Neuschwanstein to the Tower of London, and the Warden had three hearts for each round. A statistics page kept count of halls, stars, duels, lines, stones set and the highest combo. And the kingdom lived happily offline, with no account and no ads, its shimmering sky and haptics switched off whenever the Warden wished.