This blog entry is inspired by our daughter. We were at our FLGS passing time after my wife and a member of our gaming family were able to get their hair colored (for free) at a salon who needed “test” subjects.
Our baby girl wanted to play a game before we left the store that she picked, not one that mommy and daddy wanted to play. Her choice was Blue Orange’s Kingdomino.
In Kingdomino, you are a lord seeking new lands in which to expand your kingdom. You must explore all the lands, including wheat fields, lakes, and mountains, in order to spot the best plots, while competing with other lords to acquire them first.
The game uses tiles with two sections, similar to Dominoes. Each turn, each player will select a new domino to connect to their existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The order of who picks first depends on which tile was previously chosen, with better tiles forcing players to pick later in the next round. The game ends when each player has completed a 5x5 grid (or failed to do so), and points are counted based on number of connecting tiles and valuable crown symbols.
Weight 1.22/5
Our Take on the Game
We were surprised that our daughter had selected this game and for the most part, she was able to do the actions herself with little help.
The game does have some strategy involved because you have to pay attention to the 5x5 grid you are creating (7x7 in a 2 player game). If you place a tile wrong that prevents you from filling in the whole grid, you will miss out on points.
What we enjoy about this game is that there are two columns of dominos, one active side (where you place into your grid) and the other is the selection side for the next turn. Turn order, after the initial selection, is based on which of the next dominos you pick is at on the column (going from top to bottom).
Since the dominos are randomly shuffled into a stack, the next number of tiles to pick from is based on player count (3 players equal 3 dominos drawn); but wait, there is more. Of those dominos you draw, you then need to place them in numerical order from top to bottom. This means in a three player game, if your meeple is at the top of the placement stack and the next domino you want is at the bottom of the next stack, you will then go last on the next turn thus giving you whatever domino is left on the turn after. (I hope this makes some since to you as I am trying to visualize in my head what I just said).
Anyways, scoring in this game is easy to understand. The number of crowns in each connected terrain type times the number of tiles of that terrain is your score for that section. Do this for all terrain types and add up the total.
There are additional variants that you could play as well that adds a little more “spice” to the game as well as an official expansion to the game.
FAMILY GAMER VERDICT
We rate this game an 8 out 10.
Kingdomino is a game that should be in everyone’s collection simply because it is an easy to learn, easy to play, and it is a great introduction to tile laying game. This game is a good one to play with younger kids too. Even though the age recommendation is for 8+, a three year old was able to play the game and even win (yes, our daughter beat us at the game).
If you like this game, then you should also check out Queendomino and if your tiny human is not ready for Kingdomino then there is also Dragomino (which is designed for younger players).
LETTER TALLY
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