The rules change as inmates make their way from the depths of the castle to the outer countryside, with players whose pieces are arrested outside the inner courtyard having to discard precious equipment. Included for extra atmospheric flavour are replicas of objects from the prison, such as a German newspaper front page announcing the escape, and a 32-page history booklet.

Now a significant part of that task is done for you, though once again all is discretionary and you can dispense with this change as you wish. Tunnels can only be occupied when the Escape Officer holds the appropriate Tunnel card which he must show when challenged. In 1972, BBC produced Colditz, a television series about Allied POWs imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle and their many attempts to escape.I suspect that we will find ourselves using one of the optional rules if Security Officers continually find themselves on the losing end. The original box of both these editions featured a swastika; in later editions, this was replaced by an Reichsadler (Imperial eagle).

Not only does rolling doubles release a prisoner from solitary, it grants the player another 2d6 roll to add to the previous one, plus another roll if the player is lucky enough to roll doubles twice in a row. Another reason to be careful is that escape markers allow guards to enter the rooms around the edge of the inner courtyard, which are normally off limits to them. In a typical game between six players, the PoWs will spend up to an hour collecting the equipment and escape kit necessary to make escape attempts; thereafter, escape attempts will be made frequently. The player takes on the role of a prison Escape Officer trying to facilitate the escape of his men beyond the prison walls or of the German Security officer trying to thwart those attempts. So, for many players, it was often a sore point as to who would be willing to take on this rather unforgiving task of trying your hardest to prevent any of the other players winning, knowing that you were unlikely to succeed and if you did would probably draw several players' wrath at having spent an afternoon or evening failing to win.Everything in this beautiful game instantly establishes a feeling that you’re about to step back in time, and the elements of secrecy and discovery are as much a part of the packaging as the game itself.