Kingdom Builder

Kingdom Builder has won many awards, but looking online, I noticed a lot of 'meh' reviews. Still, we picked up a set when it was $35 during the board game Gold Box deals day. I am happy to say that we absolutely love this game. We'll give you a quick overview then discuss the reasons for the pros and cons of this game designed by Donald X. Vaccarino of Dominion fame. + Amazing design and lovely art + High quality components + Variety of goals to accomplish + Several map boards can be interchanged + Very fun with high replay + Scoring at end of game rather than as game flows - Less freedom of placement - Less head to head gameplay Now let's explain: In Kingdom Builder (KB from here out), the goal is to settle the map and gain gold (victory points). Players assemble a map from four of the eight included map boards. Each quadrant has a castle or two and a location or two. They also contain grassland, canyons, desert, forests, flower fields, mountains and water. The players will then draw three cards from the mission or goal cards. These cards tell the players what they must accomplish in order to gain gold (VPs). These tasks will be completed and added up at the end. Some tasks include having the most settlements in a quadrant or having a lot of settlements on one horizontal line, or gold for settlements next to water tiles or mountain tiles: there are ten in total and three are used each game. Players will draw one card from the terrain cards. This card tells players where they must play settlements. Each player MUST play three settlements on their turn onto the depicted terrain (in a rare instance where all those terrains are full, they draw a new card - we've never encountered this though). The real trick here is that settlements MUST be played adjacent to existing settlements - if this is possible! So if you have settlements on forest only and draw a desert card, you will look to see if any of your forest settlements touch desert hexes. If so, you have to play the new settlements starting with the desert hex touching the settled forest hex. If you draw a card and there are no settlements in or touching that terrain type, you can play anywhere. There are two interesting things that happen when you eventually settle next to a castle or location. If you put a settlement next to a castle, you score 3 gold at the end of the game (don't score immediately, because you CAN get a location tile to move settlements). If you place a settlement next to a location tile, you gain the extra move associated with that location and collect one of the two tiles on that location. You can only gain these once per city / location no matter how many settlements touch either. It is possible to gain two different location tiles if you settle next to two different locations and they have a tile remaining - but you cannot take two from the same. These location tiles offer additional, optional moves, such as placing an additional settlement on any grass hex, placing adjacent if possible and so on. These are optional moves and do not have to be completed. Also, they can be done before settling your three mandatory settlements - but you must reveal your terrain card first (since several optional moves have terrain specifics depending on your card). Once you have taken mandatory and optional moves, you end your turn by drawing a terrain card and keeping it secret. This way you can look over and plan your next moves while the other players are placing their settlements. If the terrain draw stack is depleted, reshuffle (this is common and we found usually we shuffle once per game). The game ends when a player places their last settlements and all other players have taken one more turn afterwards. Therefore it is possible to end the game with a lot of settlements unplayed - though this is not a good thing! Score is tallied by adding gold acquired for each goal. The cards specify how much (you might get one gold for every two settlements..., or one gold for each settlement..., and so on). Then you add 3 gold for each castle a player has at least one settlement next to (so even four players can gain gold for one castle if they each have a settlement touching it). The game is fun with any number of the players from 2 - 4. Granted, it gets a bit more confrontational with more players since players will be vying for more limited space. With two players, it is a more peaceful game and typically players will be going for the goals in separate parts of the map. We found that there isn't really any best number of players since it plays differently with each number of players. The complaints I hear are that the game limits your options: and it does to a certain extent. Often you are forced to settle in one specific area due to the 'adjacent' rule. But then there is strategy where you might avoid placing settlements touching another terrain type, so that you can move anywhere on the map (when the adjacent rule doesn't apply, you can place settlements on any terrain matching the drawn card). Also there is a lot of strategy once you have the location tiles. I found often that if I had one that allowed me to play something not using the adjacent rule, I could do that before playing my mandatory actions and therefore open up a new area for settlement. In terms of Euro games, it is a medium to light game though since your moves are restricted. Though this also helps to level the playing field somewhat for those who are not too accustomed to these types of games. I've found the game is a lot of fun. There is a lot of variety, especially since you can mix up the maps and each map section having different location tiles with different optional moves to acquire. Also, having three unique missions to compete for in each game keeps things fresh. I highly, highly recommend it for both those new to Euro games and those with a moderate level of skill in Euro games (or advanced players wanting a game with a level playing field for all skill levels).

I'm pleasantly surprised! Upon first receiving the game (my fiancé ordered this one), I wasn't interested at all. However, the game is really simple to learn, easy to play, and it's a great deal of fun. The game is literally just about building (placing) settlements on the board and trying to make the most of score multipliers. Score multipliers are shuffled, and only 3 (out of 10, I think) are in play during any given game. These cards dictate how your game strategy will go. On top of that, there are 8 board pieces total and you make your board out of 4 of them (shuffled and randomly drawn). Therefore, there is a lot of replayability. Gameplay: On your turn, ALL YOU DO (bare minimum) is place 3 settlements on the board. Your placement is dictated by terrain cards, which are shuffled and drawn by each player. The terrain card tells you which type of terrain you can build (simple, right?). Then, you place your 3 settlements in a terrain that matches the card. Your #1 priority is to follow the terrain. Your #2 priority is to build, if possible, adjacent to previously existing settlements of *your* color on the board. That's the entire gist of the game. There are a few more mechanics that up the complexity, but for the sake of keeping this review shorter than the rulebook, I'll refrain from explaining further. Overall: It's the Goldilocks between simplicity, luck, and competition. It plays a little bit like Blokus in that your first priority is to build in contiguous/adjacent lines/areas/etc to your own previously built establishments. However, it can get a little bit like Ticket to Ride in that, with score multiplier cards which dictate the best strategies, you may run at a crossroads with other players and begin trying to block them out of winning strategies. It's 50/50 "luck of the draw" and strategy, which is a relatively nice ratio.

On your turn you place three of your settlements on the board. Sounds simple enough, but there are a few qualifications to consider: First, you need to put the settlements on the type of terrain that matches the terrain card in your hand. Then, if possible, you need to place your settlements next to any existing settlements you have already placed. Then you need to consider the goals of the current game that will determine how you will score points (three goal cards randomly drawn at the outset of the game). And if you can get a settlement next to a castle (additional points) or one of the special locations (extra settlement placement options) all the better. Finally, if you enjoy a little cutthroat play, place some settlements where they can frustrate the plans of your competitors. These are all placed on a game board consisting of four randomly drawn quadrants combined to make a multi-terrain countryside (the game supplies eight quadrants to draw from at the start of the game). Simple enough or too simple, that is the question. If the goal of the game is to provide a 20 to 30 minute playtime with enough in-game strategy to be fun and enough variation to entice players to play again, then I feel this game is a winner. This game was the hit at our family's reunion this year because players could learn it quickly and get a different game experience each time they played. Like Carcasonne and Settlers of Cataan, this game is fun enough on its own but could really take off as newer expansions are added. Additional quadrant boards, additional goal cards, new settlement types and differing gameplay options with new locations could earn Kingdom Builder's a prime spot on a gamer's shelf. If you have any questions about the gameplay or need some input on rule interpretations, the boardgamegeek website has a forum with an active community (and the game's designer even responds to the occasional rule question).

First, a bit about me so you know where this review is coming from: I would consider myself a moderately avid player of so-called European-style board games. I've been playing them for about five years. I tend to like shorter, simpler games that emphasize fun over intense strategization. My favorite game is Dominion; my least favorite is Diplomacy. This is a well-designed game that seems simple at first, but aquires more complexity as you get better at playing it. The rules are simple: you draw a type of land, and you must build three settlements on that type of land, adjacent to any existing settlements if possible. Where the game gets more interesting (and more fun) is through the use of special action tiles that you get for building next to certain special areas. These actions typically allow you to build another settlement in a different type of land or move one of your existing settlements away from the cluster of adjacent settlements you've been building. As you acquire these action tiles, it's increasingly fun to try to figure out your best move. While at first there is usually an obvious best move to make, your options multiply exponentially with each new action tile. As with this creator's previos game, Dominion, this game is meant to be different each time you play it. This is achieved through randomized win conditions and a randomized map. In one game, you may score points by having the most settlements in one cluster. In another, it may be just the opposite, motivating you to separate your settlements as much as possible. The random map allows for different action tiles to be in play each game, although there are only like eight possibilities, and the special powers are similar enough that I don't think it changes the gameplay all that much. I played it twice with my friends the night we bought it, and I think the consensus was that it was fun but a little too simple for us to really dig our teeth into (keep in mind that many of my friends are more serious gamers than I am). After playing a couple more times, however, everyone has found more to love. Once you get a feel for the differnt actions and how they might affect the different scoring conditions, you learn that there is a lot to consider with each turn. It's fun to think through your options and watch your friends try other strategies. My favorite thing about the game is that the scoring is rarely so obvious that you can keep track of it to a certainty during the game. I really hate playing games where each player takes ten minutes running calculations before making a move. Because there are three different win conditions in every game, you will find players making intuitive but still gut-based decisions on where to place a settlement, which keeps things loose and quick. My least favorite thing about the game is there is too little interactions between players. You're mostly just building your kingdom (as the title suggests) and rarely do you get the opportunity to mess with anyone else's. I would say there are even fewer backstabbing opportunities in this game than in something light like Ticket to Ride. There are no attack actions, and even with four players, the board doesn't get full enough that you're encroaching on each other's territory very often. All in all, a solid game. I haven't checked out the expansions yet, but if they offer more opportunity for interacting with other players, it could be a truly great addition to my collection.

I have loved this game since the first time I played it. This was purchased as a gift for family. Pretty much everyone who has played it has wanted a copy. It is well built, with quality pieces. The game itself is fairly easy to learn (as strategy games go). You can quickly go to YouTube anymore and find a video explaining the game. The best thing about this game, however, is that the board and key components are randomly built every time you play (randomly select game board pieces and characters from various options), so the game board and strategy for winning changes every time. It is not like those games where, once you find the one key strategy, you win every time. I love this about it. It is entertaining and can play fairly young (probably ages 10 and up) easily.

EDIT: I contacted Queen Games directly with the list of missing pieces from the box and they sent them along promptly! Fantastic customer service, so I'm editing this to 5 stars. Original post: I purchased this game for the family for Christmas after seeing it on the Geek and Sundry show Table Top. We finally got a family game night tonight and found that an entire punch out board was missing (we were short 2 landscape boards, 2 tower location tiles, 2 barn location tiles, 4 paddock location tiles, the tavern summary tile, and the barn summary tile). But, we popped out the other pieces and could make the game work. The game play is great! It's easy enough for our 10 year old to play but allows for strategic thought for more experienced players. Even with it being the family's first time playing, we got through an entire game (setup, play, and tear down) in less than hour...and the scores were all pretty close. If the pieces were all present, this would be a 5-star game!

Our family plays a lot of games. Ticket to Ride, Catan, Carcassonne, 7 Wonders, Azul, etc are among our favorites. This game isn't too hard to learn, and is great because the map/boards, special abilities, and victory conditions/points change every time you play. Also, the game doesn't involve directly attacking an opponent (unlike the thief in Catan), so your wife won't hate you after a round or two of Kingdom Builder. Gameplay is typically 30-45 minutes, and doesn't take too long to setup or cleanup. Highly recommend it! Only complaint is that it doesn't come with a few extra settlements of each color in a small bag. You need to have the full number of settlements each game in case you get through yours first.

Had a blast so far playing this game with my wife & a friend. Fun with 2 or 3 players. Haven't had a chance to try with more yet. The box says games last 45 minutes, but this hasn't been the case. I'd say games last about 25-30 minutes once each player understands the gist of the game. The randomness of the game keeps things fresh. Each game is familiar, but plays entirely different. I have a couple small gripes, which have nothing to do with gameplay, but result from the bizarre packaging. There are only two sections in the box to store game pieces and cards in and it feels very cluttered. It's silly, but I like to keep my games organized. It comes with large ziplock bags to store the pieces in, but they're comically large. Furthermore, the game comes packaged with what is apparently an extra set of English cards (not necessarily a bad thing!) and several sets of non-English language cards. It was a bit confusing when trying to setup the game for the first time.

Fun game and changes each time you play it which is nice. Try to avoid shuffling the foreign langue deck into the English deck the way we did. You don't even need to open deck B.

Kingdom builder comes with 8 boards (sectors). You have to combine 4 sectors to form your board. Each of the 8 sectors give additional powers to the players. There are 10 Kingdom Builder cards which are determine the scoring rules at the end of the game. You have to pick 3 of these at random for each game. All the board games I've played have fixed scoring at the end. This is the first game where you don't know the scoring rules until you draw these three cards. The sector powers combined with the scoring cards determine what strategy to use during your play. Not to mention, the game rules are simple and its very easy to learn. Makes it easy to introduce this game to new groups. This is a 2-4 player game. The Nomads expansion has a 5th player. It should have been part of the base game itself.

I started playing this game online during the pandemic. It's an excellently designed game that incorporates a manageable level of strategy with amazing graphic details and well thought out game rules. The game pieces have been well designed and are of high quality. The criteria cards also come in different languages, English, German, Dutch, French and Spanish. Very impressed, we love this game so much!

Bel gioco, arrivato subito, istruzioni in tutte le lingue immaginabili. molto buono anche la scatola che è bella resistente. bello

Un tres bon jeu. J aime: La qualite des plateaux et graphismes Les pions en bois Les cartes et instructions disponibles dans toutes les langues La diversite du jeu avec ses regles qui evoluent de partie en partie Je n aime pas: RAS!