Players move around Elsinore castle collecting the ten letters that spell King Hamlet. Each player controls two pieces, a prince and a knight. The prince has extra privileges and if he is killed the player is out of the game. Letters are collected by visiting the various characters - Ophelia, the ghost of Hamlet's father, etc. - on the board. Some locations are assassin's lairs; each player secretly locates an assassin in one of these at the start of the game and may kill a piece entering that location. Each player also has one letter which is a "prince's secret" and can only be discovered if they are successfully dueled.