In Königswahl, each player takes the role of a medieval dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire between 1000 and 1600. Players start as bondsman and attempt to ascent ranks, with the goal to obtain ministry positions at the court of the kaiser. Each ministry equals one vote. The objective of the game is to gain enough votes to assign the new emperor after the old kaiser died. By managing workers, building new buildings, trading with cities, raising taxes, diplomacy and using political influence, cultural development, population growth, and military actions, each player tries to reach specific conditions which qualify him/her for either secular or religious ascension. Moreover, each player has to guarantee the continuous existence of her/his dynasty by getting offspring and marrying offspring with the offspring of other players. In each round, every player plans ahead 5 actions which, in most of the cases, can be played simultaneously. Seven different kinds of actions are possible (diplomacy/intrigue; get influence cards; income/trading; build; development; expansion; action upgrade), each of which can be improved up to five levels (except for "action upgrade"). The population size determines the number of workers a player commands. Workers are necessary for military expansion, operating buildings, trading with cities etc.