Think and play till kingdomino come

CHENNAI : Kingdomino is one of those games where the theme doesn’t really matter — you play rival kings, trying to build up the nicest kingdom you can out of domino-esque tiles. That goes out of the window fairly quickly, though, because all you’re doing is using these lovely thick cardboard tiles to build a 5x5 grid comprising various terrain features. Don’t let the lack of theme turn you off, though, because this is a fun fast little puzzle of a game.

Here’s the central turn structure — four tiles are laid out in ascending order (each tile has a number on the back). The higher the number, the better the tile — usually. The problem is, however, that if you choose to take the highest-numbered tile, ostensibly the most valuable one, which guarantees that you’ll be choosing last in the next round; because the order of the pieces you choose also determines turn order next time around.

Kingdomino’s not the first game to incorporate this sort of deterministic turn-order mechanism, but it works wonderfully here. It’s a small decision, but with pretty large ramifications — should you take that really nice tile and risk getting a useless one next round, or maybe a middle-of-the-road tile that still ensures that you’ve got more choice?

As to what determines how ‘good’ a tile is, the scoring system in Kingdomino is equally simple. Certain tiles will have crowns on them, which act as scoring multipliers. So if you’ve got a lake that’s five squares big and you’ve got three crowns in there, that’s a 15-point lake come the end of the game. However, you need those crowns to make any region worth something — a 12-square forest with no crowns in it isn’t going to do you any good.

Adding to the puzzle are a couple of endgame scoring bonuses. The first gives you points for completing your 5x5 grid, which means you must take a tile every round and place it successfully; while the second gives you bonus points for having your starting castle in the exact centre of your 5x5 grid come the end, which can be trickier than it sounds.

These two objectives, although extremely simple, add a little more crunch to what is a very light and family-friendly game. What’s more, if you’re playing a two-player game, you can instead use all the tiles that come with the game to build rival 7x7 kingdoms which is also a little more involved than the regular game.

Make no bones about it, though — Kingdomino is not a complex game. That shouldn’t be held against it, though — it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. It’s a lightning-quick little kingdom builder that will almost certainly get played multiple times every time it hits the table; and that’s why it’s well worth a place in just about anyone’s collection.