Kingdomino Review – A Gateway Drug for Future City Planners

What would you do in this situation? It’s hours away from friends arriving at your board game night and you haven’t read the rules for any games in the last month. Time is ticking and it’s too late to open a rulebook now.

So what would you do?

Well, as a professional procrastinator, I frequently find myself in this situation. This is why I have several simple go-to board games. I know the rules inside and out and can bring them out on any occasion.

Kingdomino is one of these games. It is a simple, family-friendly drafting game that stimulates the brain without overloading it. Perfect for when you want to have a fun, relaxing night of games.

How to play

Building a kingdom has never been so easy. Over several rounds, join tiles together to create a colourful five-by-five grid of wheat fields, forests, lakes, grasslands, swamps and mines.

Do it well enough and you might just earn enough points to win the game.

However, before your hopeful coronation, you start the first round by drawing four territory tiles, sorting them by their value (on the back of their tile) from lowest to highest.

Then, in random order, take turns claiming the tile you want by placing one of your tokens on top. Claimed Tiles cannot be claimed again, as trespassing is generally frowned upon and not befitting of your noble status.

Now, although I’ve been calling them territory tiles, the rulebook calls them Dominoes.

Hence the name: Kingdomino.

This is a great descriptor for these tiles as most are halved (like a domino) into two squares of differing terrain types. When building your kingdom, you want to draft Dominoes with the same terrain types you already have. You also want to draft Dominoes with Crowns on them, as they’ll be important later when scoring.

Once everyone’s placed a token on the current tiles on offer, draw another four. Again, putting them in order from lowest to highest.

The player who picked the lowest-value Domino then places their selected tile into their kingdom. They now place their newly freed token on a Domino in the next row. Then the next lowest-value player takes their turn and so forth. Drawing a new row of four tiles once everyone has had a turn.

You keep playing this way until you run out of tiles. At that point, the proof of you being an expert city planner is a pristine five-by-five grid of Dominos. Or if you’re not so forward-thinking (like me), a kingdom with no more legal placements and more holes than a miniature golf course.

Either way, it’s time to score.

To figure out how well you did, simply count your terrain groupings and multiply them by the amount Crowns within the same group (I told you they’d be important).

For instance, if I had two mine-type squares connected and shared three Crowns between them, then that would give me six points (2×3). Likewise, if I had five lake squares with only one crown amongst them, that would give five points (5×1).

After everyone’s counted their points, announce them loud and proud so you can crown your champion.

An impossible challenge

Kingdomino is one of the rare games I’ve bought twice. Originally, I bought it on release and enjoyed its fast and fun terrain-matching gameplay. But I didn’t have the audience to play it with.

It’s definitely on the lighter, more family-friendly end of the board game spectrum and my group tends towards more complex titles. So, unfortunately, it was relegated to the shelf and after not playing it for several months, it found a new home.

As the years passed though, I found Kingdomino didn’t stray too far from my thoughts.

Especially as I watched my son crawl, walk, and then play an unhealthy amount of Roblox.

After some initial success introducing him to board games through Go Away Monster and later Blue Lagoon, it was inevitable that Kingdomino would find its way back to my table. I’m so glad it did. Not only does he enjoy it, but it’s worked as a great warm-up in my regular gaming group. Or when we only have a couple of minutes between games.

With its simple ruleset and colourful components, you’re going to get this game to the table more than you know. Because, despite lauding its uncomplicated gameplay, Kingdomino’s hook will grab you by your collar, look you in the eyes, and challenge you NOT to have fun.

An impossible challenge.

Create patterns and kingdoms

By itself, organising dominos to create patterns and kingdoms is wholly satisfying. Looking back during scoring and seeing the perfection, or the chaos, you’ve created is its own kind of thrill. But more so is the choice you make round after round. Between the tile you want now and the position you want for the next round.

Through the magic of board game design, it happens more often than you’d think. The moment when you freeze before picking up a tile and start to umm and ahh about whether it’s the right choice.

Especially as the game goes on. At the start, you’ll have heaps of locations to place your claimed tiles. Those options fill up quickly. Soon, you don’t have a good spot to match terrain types and must start breaking up your groupings.

Getting a bad draft only accelerates this process.

As a result, you have a couple of competing priorities that you must reevaluate every time you go to claim a tile. Is it better to get Crowns, the right terrain type, or drafting priority in the next round?

This isn’t going to stump most people who play Kingdomino but it will make you think. This is exactly what you want from a 15 to 25-minute family board game.

So, the next time you’re looking for a quick filler or a new game for family game night. Take a second look at Kingdomino. I did, and haven’t regretted it!