In Louis XIV, each player takes on the role of court attendants. Your aim is to manipulate the court to gain prestige. The player who backs the influential members of the court will raise their status (gain victory points) and win the game.
Louis XIV uses 12 mini game boards, each one representing a different aristocrat in the court of Louis. Around and among these boards, a series of mission chips and cards (mission, influence and intrigue) are placed. The set-up is completed with each player receiving a set of influence markers and 2 mission cards. Completing mission cards is the main means of earning victory points. Each mission card depicts 2 mission chip symbols. Simply collect those chips and you can complete the mission. Completing a mission card will not only award 5 victory points at the end of the game but also grant a special ability during the course of the game.
This leads to the main phase of playing the game. Each player is dealt 5 influence cards and each one depicts a member of the court. In turn each player will play 1 card and this allows them to either place up to 3 influence markers on that member or do nothing and take 3 markers from the general supply (I will explain this later). If markers are placed then they can remain there or be moved diagonally to influence other characters. The card play and marker placement continues until each player has only 1 card left in their hand, which is discarded. Scoring is then calculated by determining who most influenced each of the court members. They will receive that member's reward for free. If other players had a marker present they too can access the benefit but must pay a cost to do so. The rewards offered by each member include - mission chips, gold or an intrigue card that alters play. There is one last twist in the tail for those that most influence a member of the court. After getting their reward they must remove all markers from that member and place them into the general supply pile, whilst the losing players have their markers return to their own supply. This is an excellent mechanic as frequent success will leave a player with few markers. This forces them to discard a card to regain 3 markers from the supply. In this fashion the leader will not get to far ahead, keeping the final result a nail biting affair.
In this way the play flows very well and the player's find themselves caught up in the intrigue and treachery of the court. When mission cards are completed a new one is drawn so all players will have 2 unfulfilled mission cards at any one time. The game will end at the conclusion of the 4th round.

Louis XIV is a very intricate game that requires a great deal of thought. For this reason I would not recommend it to the occasional gamer. But if you like the freedom of many options then this game is definitely for you as it will take many plays to master. Louis also has great replay as there are a large number of mission cards to draw from. This is in my top three for best game for 2005!