Designers | Bruno Cathala |
---|---|
Illustrators | Cyril Bouquet |
Publishers | Blue Orange Games (2016) |
Players | 2–4 |
Playing time | 15–20 minutes |
Random chance | Moderate |
Skills required | Strategy, tactics, logic |
Kingdomino is a 2016 tile board game for 2-4 players designed by Bruno Cathala and published by Blue Orange Games. In this 15-20 minute, family-oriented game, players build a five by five kingdom of oversized domino-like tiles, making sure as they place each tile that one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The game was critically successful and won the 2017 Spiel des Jahres award, and was followed by several spin-offs and expansions.
In the game players take turns choosing domino-like tiles and adding them to their kingdoms. Like traditional Dominoes, each tile has one or two different ends, which in this case also show different landscapes, and possibly a number of crowns on it. [1] Choosing a tile with the most crowns gives a player last choice in the next round for choosing a tile, and vice versa - choosing the worst tile now ensures the first choice in the following round. [2]
When a tile is placed next to other tiles of the same landscape, they form a larger property. Each kingdom can be no larger than a 5x5 grid of landscapes. [3] The game ends when the tiles run out, [4] and then each property is scored based on how big it is, multiplied by the number of crowns in it. [5] The player with the most points in all their properties wins.
There is also a two player variant of the game which allows players to form a larger 7x7 grid of tiles. [2]
Kingdomino is considered by reviewers to be an accessible entry point into strategy board games, with its 15–20 minute playing time and its familiar game mechanics which bear similarity to Dominoes. [6] [7]
The first version of Kingdomino was only available to families in the French Alps who paid for a week-long pass at the nearby ski resort. [6]
Kingdomino received positive reviews upon its release, and won the Spiel des Jahres award for the best board game of the year. [6] [8] In a 2017 article, The Guardian praised the combination of accessibility and depth of strategy, describing Kingdomino "the standout game of the past 12 months". [9] Sam Desatoff IGN also praised the simplicity of rules, strategy and the engagement of the tile selection mechanic, stating that "every single fast-playing round into a mindgame of maximizing the points you can earn right now", but criticised the "analysis paralysis". [10] A review in The Wirecutter praised the fun and engagement of the game, but criticised the interactivity and complexity of the rulebook. [11]
In 2017, Blue Orange Games released Queendomino, a standalone board game which used a tile laying gameplay similar to the original, but added knights, dragons, a queen, and buildings to build. [12] This was followed in 2018 by the release of Kingdomino Age of Giants, an expansion for both Kingdomino and Queendomino. [13] In 2019, Kingdomino Duel was also released as a two player, roll and write version of the game. [14] In 2021, a simplified version, Dragomino, was released, receiving positive reviews and won the Kinderspiel des Jahres award. [15] [16] Kingdomino Origins, a prehistoric-themed sequel, was released in the same year and introduced three modules. [17]
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end is marked with a number of spots or is blank. The backs of the tiles in a set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design. The gaming pieces make up a domino set, sometimes called a deck or pack. The traditional European domino set consists of 28 tiles, also known as pieces, bones, rocks, stones, men, cards or just dominoes, featuring all combinations of spot counts between zero and six. A domino set is a generic gaming device, similar to playing cards or dice, in that a variety of games can be played with a set. Another form of entertainment using domino pieces is the practice of domino toppling.
A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical components. Eurogames are sometimes contrasted with American-style board games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama. They are usually less abstract than chess or Go, but more abstract than wargames. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit.
The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award was one of the major drivers of the quality of games coming out of Germany, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. A Spiel des Jahres nomination can increase the typical sales of a game from 500 to 3,000 copies to around 10,000; and the winner can usually expect to sell to as large as 30 million copies.
Pac-Man Fever is a party game developed by Mass Media and published by Namco, released for GameCube and PlayStation 2 on September 3, 2002, exclusively released in North America. Players move about on a virtual game board, with the object of the game being to reach the end first. It allows for up to four players, featuring six characters from other Namco games to choose from: Pac-Man (Pac-Man), Astaroth (Soulcalibur), Heihachi Mishima (Tekken), Ms. Pac-Man (Pac-Man), Tiger Jackson (Tekken), and Reiko Nagase.
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! is a puzzle video game developed by Artdink and released for the PlayStation in 1998. The user controls one of five anthropomorphic dominoes, placing other dominoes in rows that will successfully topple while avoiding obstacles and working under a time limit.
Muggins, sometimes also called All Fives, is a domino game played with any of the commonly available sets. Although suitable for up to four players, Muggins is described by John McLeod as "a good, quick two player game".
Mexican Train is a game played with dominoes. The object of the game is for a player to play all the tiles from his or her hand onto one or more chains, or trains, emanating from a central hub or "station". The game's most popular name comes from a special optional train that belongs to all players. However, the game can be played without the Mexican train; such variants are generally called "private trains" or "domino trains". It is related to the game Chicken Foot.
Santorini is an abstract strategy board game for 2-4 players designed and released in 2004 by Gordon Hamilton and republished via Kickstarter in 2016 by Roxley Games. Inspired by the architecture of cliffside villages on Santorini Island in Greece, and primarily designed for two players, the game is played on a grid where each turn players build a town by placing building pieces up to three levels high. To win the game, players must move one of their two characters to the third level of the town.
Dixit, is a French card game created by Jean-Louis Roubira, illustrated by Marie Cardouat, and published by Libellud. Using a deck of cards illustrated with dreamlike images, players select cards that match a title suggested by the "storyteller", and attempt to guess which card the "storyteller" selected. The game was introduced in 2008. Dixit won the 2010 Spiel des Jahres award.
Kingdom Builder is a strategy board game designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, published in 2011 by Queen Games with illustrations by Oliver Schlemmer in German, British and international versions. A Finnish-Swedish version was released in 2012 by lautapelit.fi.
King of Tokyo is a tabletop game using custom dice, cards, and boards, designed by Richard Garfield and released in 2011. A New York City-based edition, King of New York, was published in 2014. The game was re-released in 2016, with all-new artwork and characters.
Splendor is a multiplayer card-based board game, designed by Marc André and illustrated by Pascal Quidault. It was published in 2014 by Space Cowboys, Asmodee. Players are gem merchants of the Renaissance, developing gem mines, transportation, and shops to accumulate prestige point. Spelendor received positive reviews and received numerous awards, including winner of Golden Geek Best Family Board Game, and nominated for the Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year in 2014. The game also received a mobile application and an expansion released in 2017.
Blue Orange is a French board game company based in Pont-à-Mousson, France. Often called Blue Orange international or Blue Orange Europe and mistaken for Blue Orange Games.
Azul is an abstract strategy board game designed by Michael Kiesling and released by Plan B Games in 2017. Based on Portuguese tiles called azulejos, in Azul players collect sets of similarly colored tiles which they place on their player board. When a row is filled, one of the tiles is moved into a square pattern on the right side of the player board, where it garners points depending on where it is placed in relation to other tiles on the board.
Kraken-Alarm is a children's board game designed by the German board game designer Oliver Igelhaut. The game was published in 2010 by Kosmos in Germany and later as SOS Octopus in France. Within the game the players take the role as an expedition team in a sea region where an octopus father lives with his son. Every time when the boat gets near to the son the octopus father throws its tentacle and if the player is unlucky it hits his boat. The game concept is based on a Concentration where the players have to remember animal chips in the sea area mode combined with a phase of luck while the tentacle swings.
The following is a glossary of terms used in dominoes. Besides the terms listed here, there are numerous regional or local slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific, i.e. specific to one particular version of dominoes, but apply to a wide range of domino games. For glossaries that relate primarily to one game or family of similar games, see the relevant article.
Patchwork is a two-player board game created by Uwe Rosenberg. It was released in 2014.
Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King is a tile-laying board game designed by Alexander Pfister and Andreas Pelikan that was published in 2015. It uses the Isle of Skye as its setting, with players representing clan chieftans each vying to build a kingdom.
Dragomino is a children's tile-laying board game designed by Bruno Cathala, Marie Fort, and Wilfried Fort and published by Blue Orange Games. It is based on Kingdomino.