Kingdom Builder

Last updated
Kingdom Builder
Kingdom Builder game.jpg
Designers Donald X. Vaccarino
Illustrators Oliver Schlemmer
Publishers Queen Games
Publication2011;13 years ago (2011)
Players24 (5 with expansion)
Playing time45 minutes

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 (English, French, Dutch, Spanish, German).

Contents

Kingdom Builder is a construction game in which each player creates a kingdom by placing settlers' houses in various locations. The winner of the game is the player with the most gold. However, the gold is only awarded at the end of the game, according to three sets of rules that were randomly revealed at the beginning. The rules are simple but each game is likely to play out differently due to the random selection of board sections (choosing four from eight) and scoring rules (choosing three from ten), the luck of the draw, and competition for resources. Upon its release, the game received the 2012 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) and placed seventh place in the Deutscher Spiele Preis for 2012.

Gameplay

game material Kingdom Builder material.jpg
game material

The base game has eight different game board sections composed of 100 terrain hexagons each. Five terrain types are suitable for building: canyon, desert, flower field, forest and grass. Four terrain types are not suitable: castle, "location", mountain and water. At the start of the game four game board sections are selected at random and constructed to form a square game board. Three random Kingdom Builder cards are drawn and displayed, which explain the rules for earning gold in that particular game. For example, one Kingdom Builder card may award gold for settlements next to mountains, while another awards gold for settlements arranged in a horizontal line. Additionally, each player receives three gold for each Castle space adjacent to one or more of their settlements.

Each player's turn consists of:

The game ends at the completion of the round in which at least one player places their last settlement. Then each player totals their gold according to the several scoring methods. The player with the most gold wins.

Expansions

Several expansions for Kingdom Builder have been released. They contain new game board sections, new locations and more ways for a player to expand their kingdom and receive gold during and at the end of the game.

Additionally publisher Queen Games has produced three minor expansions, called "Queenies."

In 2014, Queen Games published a "Big Box" edition of Kingdom Builder containing the base game, the Nomads and Crossroads expansions, and the Capitol and Caves Queenies. In 2017, Queen Games published a second edition of the Big Box which additionally includes the Marshlands and Harvest expansions, and the Island Queenie.

Reception

A board game review in The Wirecutter stated that the game is weaker than similar games in the genre, such as Catan and Carcassonne. [3] A review at Ars Technica states that the game is easy to learn, but requires more "strategic thinking" than beginner-level games. [1] A Finnish-Swedish version was released in 2012 by lautapelit.fi. The review described the game as simple, praising its engagement and scalability while critiquing the theme as abstract. [2]

The game received the 2012 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), with the jury praising its replayability and strategic challenges provided from variable starting positions, additionally stating that "The different starting positions and the importance of luck create new strategic challenges for the players." [1] [4] Deutscher Spiele Preis for 2012 listed it at number 7 out of 10 best games for that year. [5] At BoardGameGeek, it has a rating of 7.0 out of 10 based on over 21,000 user ratings as of Feb 2022. [6] The Big Box 2nd Edition, which includes all the expansions, has a rating of 8.1 out of 10 based on over 500 ratings as of Feb 2022. [7] That's a Good Game feels Kingdom Builder "can be done in less than an hour, and because of its high replay value – we can play again and have a totally different experience." [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Zimmerman, Aaron; Anderson, Nate; Mendelsohn, Tom (8 December 2017). "Ars Technica's ultimate board game buyer's guide". Ars Technica . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kingdom Builder -lautapelin arvostelu > Lautapeliopas". Lautapeliopas (in Finnish). 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  3. Perling, Anna; Austin, James (9 December 2019). "The best beginner board games for adults". The Wirecutter . The New York Times . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  4. "Kingdom Builder". Spiel des Jahres. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  5. "Preisträger – SPIEL Messe". Spiel . Archived from the original on 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  6. "BoardGameGeek - Kingdom Builder".
  7. "BoardGameGeek - Kingdom Builder Big Box 2nd Edition".
  8. mandtanderson. "Kingdom Builder Review". Thats A Good Game. Retrieved 2023-12-27.