Let the Pieces Fall Into Place in Kingdomino

It's been said that you can't reinvent the wheel. If humanity weren't so fond of idioms we might be riding around in triangle-shaped cars with pentagonal wheels. Suspension engineering would be a nightmare. Funnily enough, this principle also applies to board games. A classic mechanic twisted and pulped into a Frankenstein's monster will turn off players every time. However, a special few games have instead taken the wheel in stride and improved the formula. These have granted new life to old classics by creating a fun, simple, engaging game. One of these games is Kingdomino.

Winner of 2017's Spiel de Jahres award (Game of the Year), Kingdomino is a competitive, 2-4 player tile laying game. You a royal (congratulations on the promotion) seeking out new lands to expand your kingdom. As the name suggests, each tile follows the classic, instantly-recognisable principles of dominos. But instead of two different numbers on opposing sides, each piece has two opposing terrain types. There are five kinds of terrain in the game: woodland, swamps, mines, wheat fields, lakes and grasslands. Some land types will also have crowns on them – these will be important for scoring points later!

To begin a game shuffle the 48 numbered tiles, terrain side down, and place them aside to draw on later. Draw the first four, arrange them in numerical order and flip them to the terrain side. Do the same for another stack of four. Turn order in Kingdomino goes from lowest numbered tile to highest, and will constantly change. When you choose a tile from the first column you also immediately choose your tile for the next round by placing your meeple on a tile from the second column. This means you won't always be first, or last, and you can use this mechanic to play to your strengths.

In Kingdomino you're aiming to create a 5 x 5 kingdom of terrain tiles. The first tile you take has to be placed next to your castle. Each tile after that has to follow our wheel; like dominos, at least one of the two terrain types on a tile has to match a tile in your kingdom. Each side of the castle tile is wild so you can always start a new branch of your kingdom if needed. The other hard rule is that you can't go beyond a 5 x 5 grid. Real-estate is in high demand, after all. If you're not careful you can cheat yourself out of placing your last tile. The game ends when all the tiles have gone to a good home.

The scoring is extraordinarily simple. Count up the number of tiles for each terrain type on your board and then multiply it by the amount of crowns in that territory. Using the picture to the right as an example, this player has eleven woodland tiles with three crowns to make thirty-three points. They have five tiles and one crown in their wheat fields to make five points, three mines tiles and five crowns to make fifteen points, and two grassland tiles with one crown to make two points. Their singular lake tile in the bottom left corner is worth one point, while the lake on the right has no crowns so it's worth nothing at all. All up; milord has scored themselves fifty-six points. Not bad!

Kingdomino is perfect for many audiences. It makes a great family game for kids as young as seven to sink their teeth into. Not only is it great to pull out at game nights, but you can also use Kingdomino as an introduction to new board gamers who may be hesitant learning something new. You may even find you can convert older family members who remain betrothed to their decades-old scrabble board.

At its core, Kingdomino is a game that is easy to teach and quick to learn. It understood there was no point trying to reinvent the wheel and instead took a solid core concept and created an exciting, new experience instead. Its accessibility and familiar concepts show why it's worthy of the title of Game of the Year. So go forth, your majesty, and pick up a copy of Kingdomino from Mind Games to start crafting your own kingdom.