Games Kingdomino Award Winning Family Strategy Board Game, 2-4 players

TL;DR - Easy to learn, layers of strategy, excellent components, short play time, excellent replay value, perfect filler game between epic sessions for the heavy complexity gamers. Grab two! Kingdomino is a really entertaining light filler game that deservingly won the 2017 Spiel des Jahres award given to the best game of the year for casual players (dedicated hobby gamers look to the Kennerspiele des Jahres for the heavier games that appear to the more addicted). It is a great entryway to tabletop gaming in a small, teachable format. The components are of high quality - Blue Orange has done a marvelous job producing this game in a manner befitting such a high-caliber experience. The play is simple - you are building your kingdom by selecting one of three or four (depending on player count) available tiles representing one or two land types,and possibly a number of crowns. You draft the piece in turn order, but the piece you select also determines your draft order the following turn. The pieces are numbered on the back and laid out lowest to highest each turn before the draft - the player who selects the lowest numbered tile will select first the following round. When the tiles are all selected, you add them to your kingdom, keeping in mind that the maximum size for your kingdom is 5x5 and each tile is 2x1. How you place the tile is fairly simple as well - at least one of the two land types must be placed against an existing land of the same type or against your castle (effectively making your castle a wild tile). If you cannot place a specific tile, either because no matching land types exist, or it extends beyond the required 5x5 dimension, you discard the tile. When the draft pile has been exhausted, the players total their points by calculating the number of ordinal contiguous tiles of the same type and multiplying it by the number of crowns in that contiguous land mass. As you can see, crowns are critical to scoring, because even a 10 space forest has no points unless a crown exists on one of them! Adding further strategy is the land types vary significantly with the distribution of tiles and the crowns on those tiles - there are only 6 caverns, and five of them average 2 crowns - a well placed cave system can be a viable route to victory, whereas there are 26 fields but only 6 of them have crowns, and a single one at that. Looking at the attached completed game board picture: 1. Note that there's a castle piece located in the 4th row 4th column - there is no requirement that your castle end up in the center of your kingdom. 2. Scoring the completed board starting from the top right: A. A two square Lake scores zero points (no crowns) B. The Swamp that begins in row 3 covers 8 squares and there are 3 crowns total, scores 24 points. C. The Mountain range at the bottom left is two squares with four crowns for 8 points. D. The Wheat fields starting at row 1 column 2 has 4 squares with one crown for 4 points. E. The Pasture located on the bottom row scores zero points for two squares with no crowns. F. The single Mountain in row 1 scores 2 points for 2 crowns in a 1x1 plot. G. The Forest next door has zero value, as does the 2 square Lake below it, no crowns anywhere. H. Finally the Forest at the bottom right has two squares and two crowns for 4 points The final score for this board is: 42 points (a pretty strong score) on the power of a huge swamp with three crowns. Diagram of the completed picture for reference: L W W M F L S W W L S S S S L M S S X F M S P P F (L=Lake, P=Pasture, W=Wheat, M=Mountain, S=Swamp, G=Grassland, X=Castle) Final thoughts: I can cite nothing that I dislike about this game. It has definite replayability, and is asked for with some regularity at my home and on game day. GET A SECOND COPY and play 7x7 kingdoms, for even more challenge and a deeper level of strategy!

Summary: Kingdomino is a tabletop, tile laying game for 2-4 players by Blue-Orange games. It is listed as for ages 8+ (though some six year olds in the neighborhood were able to enjoy a "gentle" game with some grown-ups). The game lasts approximately 15 minutes both according to the box and in practice. Each round, the players take the tiles they selected in the previous round and play them in and around their castles. Each player manages his or her castle and tiles separately. Aside from claiming a tile that might be useful to an opponent, there is no direct interaction between players' strategies. (Please see the enclosed pictures.) Scoring is based on multiplying the number of contiguous tiles of the same land type times the number of crowns appearing on all those tiles. The game is a combination of planning and careful placement of tiles. You can never exceed five spaces in any dimension. All in all, this is a fun, quick game that helps the younger gamer develop skills of planning, spatial understanding, and pattern matching. On to the Dr Games’ Criteria … GO/NO GO Criterion • Complexity: (GO) This is not a complex game. There are two decisions only each turn, which tile do I want next turn, and where shall I place the tile I just picked up. • Balanced: (GO ) It is entirely balanced. • Chance (GO) The tiles are selected randomly, but knowing how many of each tile there is, and being adept at seeing what your neighbors are trying to accomplish add a reasonable level of skill to the game. • Clarity: (GO) The rules are clear enough, but there are videos in abundance on this particular game. • Reasonable Time: (GO) Fifteen minutes is a reasonably fast game. Bonus Criteria • Social: Nothing special here. • Unique/Interesting Mechanics: Nothing wildly noteworthy here either. • Informed: This is a great game for teaching younger players about planning, probabilities, counting, spatial relationships, and pattern matching. • Rewards Throughout: Once played, a tile cannot be moved. Each turn your score will increase.

My 6 y/o daughter enjoys playing Carcassone with me (w/out the farms), so I thought this would be a nice simpler change of pace. I was not disappointed. Kingdomino is a game of placing tiles, to form matching areas (farms, forests, deserts, etc.), to earn points IF you have crowns on the areas. The scoring is a bit intense for a 6 y/o still (you multiply matching connected squares by number of crowns in the connected area), but if you keep it simple ("make big areas and watch for crowns!") you can still have fun and inspire some match skills in the process. My 8 y/o was able to handle the scoring just fine. Three things make KD unique from Carcassone and others. First, you make your own kingdom, and that kingdom needs to be contained in a 5x5 grid. You do not add to a communal kingdom, or to other players' kingdoms. You will run into situations where points conflict with space, forcing you to plan ahead. It does, however, decrease the interactiveness on the tile placement. That decrease is in turn mitigated by the second distinct feature: tile selection. Each round, you place four randomly drawn new tiles and arrange them numerically based on the numbers on the back of the tiles (so you will line them up, as an example, 4 23 28 45). Higher numbers typically are harder to place but potentially earn more points. After placing their tile for the turn, a player selects which tile they want to play next round from the line of four tiles. Your selection then determines the play order for the next round, meaning the players who go first have the first pick of the high point tiles... or they can force a player into picking difficult tiles! This is a really unique way of taking turns that I absolutely love, as it allows players to police themselves and prevent one player from running away with all the points. Lastly, the standard 2-player game of KD adds a substantial amount of luck compared to other tile-matching games I have played. In 3- and 4-player KD and in Carcassone, you will play with all the tiles. This in turn means that you know you have a shot for all the tiles. In contrast, in 2-player KD you randomly remove half the tiles. This adds lots of replayability and forces you to play the game as thrown at you rather than game the system by knowing all the pieces. And it you would prefer to play it with all the tiles (turning the game into more of a chess match), there is a 7x7 variant that allows for just that! Finally, the art of KD needs special mention. The "big art" - the plains, forests, etc. - are well done but standard. Included in most tiles, however, are "little art" - dragon shadows, wizards brewing, travelers, ogres, etc. All are such a small (but still detailed) scale that they really give some dimension to the environments in a way not typically seen in games. Excellent job! I enjoy Kingdomino a lot. I had fun playing it with my kids, am happy with the skills it is teaching them, and had a great time playing the 2-player version with my wife. It's an awesome medium-light family game all around. Recommended for families especially, and for groups or couples interested in light games that still require some thinking.

So one thing to know about Kingdomdomino is it's very easy to learn. Don't let the word domino scare you off either. Yes the concept is related to dominos but the visual and thee way you think of the game is quiet different which makes it a great game for people who like dominos but also for individuals who just want to play a cool little game that let's you build a kingdom. So yes. It's a small box which makes it portable and easy to bring to a friend's house. It only goes to four players, and it can be played relatively quickly with people who know how to play and can make decisions which makes great for an on my break, having lunch kind of game. It's also not a bad game to play a few times to warm up for more complex games. Now that's not to say this game is lacking in anyway. It's not. It's just not oozing with a ton of parts and won't take 3 hours to finish. It's competitive without the screw your neighbor kind of competitive flare. Oh, you should definitely pay attention to what your fellow players are doing but it's just not the kind of game where you typically go after someone so much as deny them their huge scores once in awhile while scoring high yourself. Really though, as far as competition goes, this game is going to be as competitive or laid back as the group playing it. It's just not as say obvious as something like Carcassone might be. This is definitely a good intro game for those looking to branch out into something a little niche but not too niche too. Kid can learn this relatively easily. They won't have high scores initially, but they pick it up because the rules are simple and start that thinking process going. They'll probably not look at other kingdoms and deny their fellow players very many tiles, but if you get them thinking strategy, you are well on the way to getting your little munchkins ready for more complex titles. As far as components go. I've got the original and the tower game. The towers sets up the tiles nice but the box is a lot bigger. The original game is more compact and easy to take with you. It's a bit of a trade off. The components are all well made and hold up well. Great Game!

KingDomino is a favorite game at our house. I bought this for a friend who has played it with us and wanted his own version for when his family visits. It's easy to learn and seems that anyone can win (not like some games that are geared toward certain mentalities or knowledge base). The game is in a small box, making for easy storage. It has a cute design, visually pleasing.

Wow is this game great! We have a ton of games for children and family to more serious gamers. We own the original Kingdomino, and I enjoy that as a filler. That one can be played quickly and has some fun strategy, and if you want to add in the expansions, you can easily enough for a more rigorous game. This game is light and fun and builds on the same tile laying mechanic as Kingdomino. My kids (6 and 3) are really into dragons and Dragamonz and a dragon game on the iPad that they play every once in a while. This builds on that, and they think this game is the best. The first day we opened it, my eldest played it 5 times, and my youngest played it 3! I taught both of them separately, but teaching each took only about 3 minutes. It’s that quick. Now my youngest doesn’t know any strategy behind it, but has picked up the mechanics quickly. My eldest has learned some of the strategy when placing tiles already to increase the ability to get dragon tokens. Next, we will work more on the probability factor that is also found in this game. Both kids like the art, and when they pick up a dragon tile they are fascinated with them. They name them even. Each tile and token is made of thick cardboard (the tiles are thicker, but both are right for their uses). The insert is made like it should be - with a perfect spot for everything. To help keep things organized, I stack the dragon tokens rather than spread them out while playing to make table organization simple. A whole game takes about 10-15 minutes depending on player count. This game is just fantastic. I have been trying to find good games for my 3 year old to play where we can all play. Both my children like this game the best now for family time which is great because often times they have favorites where the other can’t or doesn’t want to play. This is a must have game for young children because they can easily compete in this game, and parents will like the puzzle aspect of it too.

I love this game! 1. Easy to learn. 2. Strategy involved. 3. Good family game. 4. Only takes 15-20 minutes to play one round. 5. Beautiful artwork and feel to the pieces.

Kingdomino is a fast and fabulous game! Setup and play are super simple. Each player begins with a starter tile, then adds dominoes to build outward into a 5x5 square. Kingdominoes are played similarly to regular dominoes: dominoes can only be played if one side matches an existing domino in the kingdom. But instead of numbers, kingdominoes contain a variety of landscapes (fields, water, swamps, pasture). And rather than creating a line or a chicken foot, players are attempting to cluster the same types of land together to gain points. Here's where the trick comes in: it's a gamble to get the right dominoes! Four dominoes are laid out at a time. During the first round, players are drawn in random order, then claim dominoes in that order. The player who claims the first domino in line plays first, the second plays second, and so on. The last person in line isn't left with much choice--but this is where strategy comes in! A second row of four dominoes is revealed once the first four are claimed. After the first player plays, they can claim a new domino from the second line--but their best choice may be third or fourth in line, which affects turn order. So--do you claim land you don't really want, just to keep others from choosing first? Do you select the best piece of land, knowing it puts you at risk for always being the last to play? For the cutthroat player, this opens up another level of variety! Less competitive players may not be making choices to spite their opponents, yet the variety of dominoes will force gameplay to stay interesting. When all 5x5 squares are finished, players count up their points. The one with the most points wins! This game is fabulous for a variety of reasons: It's easy to explain. It's easy to prepare. It's colorful and inviting. It takes 5-10 minutes per game. And it's flexible enough to appeal to those who like simple games and those who like more strategy. If you're looking for something fresh to bring to game night, or something to play with kids, or something to play between heavier games, or something that's as affordable as it is wonderful, Kingdomino is a winner!