In Kingdomino, you are a Lord seeking new lands in which to expand your kingdom. You must explore all the lands, wheat fields, lakes, and mountains in order to spot the best plots. But be careful as some other Lords also covet these lands…
In Queendomino, You are a royal, seeking new lands to expand your ever-growing kingdom. Explore and conquer the different terrains, and develop the best and richest territories for your people. Scour lands full of wheat fields, forests, grasslands, swamps, mines, and towns, diversifying your kingdom’s riches along the way. Tax the lands wisely to fund the construction of your towns, pick the buildings you erect carefully, and try to win the Queen’s favor — all while making sure your plans aren’t foiled by the Dragon’s flame. Make sure to strategize and acquire carefully, as others are also competing for the same lands, a stake in the riches, and the heart of the Queen!.
BoardGameGeek Rating: 7.5
MSRP: $ 24.72
Players: 2–4
Ages: 8+
Playtime: 25 Min
Publishers: Blue Orange Games
Designers: Bruno Cathala
Year: 2018
Concept
In Kingdomino, players take turns drafting dominoes to set around their castle, connecting the new domino to their existing kingdom, making sure that at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The game mechanics for obtaining the tiles is clever, the order of who picks first depends on which tile was previously chosen. Make sure to secure tiles with crowns. These royal treasures help to multiply the worth of your kingdom at the end of the game. The game ends when each player has completed a 5x5 grid, and then points are counted based on number of connecting tiles and crowns.
In Queendomino, core of the gameplay being the same as Kingdomino but Queendomino adds new tiles that let you build buildings to help multiply your final score. You also have knights that will bring you riches in the form of coins which helps you purchase even more buildings. You may even win the Queen’s favors … but always be aware of the dragon!
Queendomino is a standalone expansion, but when combined with Kingdomino you can have bigger grids or more players.
Quality
Fantastic! The dominoes have a high gloss print on strong perfectly cut cardboard dominoes. Wooden meeples for the the kings, knights, castles, dragon, and the Queen.
Artwork
Both games have the same bright, happy, whimsical feel that on the may come off felling a bit kiddish at first but becomes the stark contrasts of colors makes adding the points a breeze. Other designers should take notes. A+
Difficulty
Kingdomino is very easy with great directions. Queendomino only adds a small amount of additional complexity over Kingdomino, which might be slightly confusing if you haven’t played Kingdomino first, but it’s still an easy game any way you spin it.
Replayability
— High, Queendomino might even be Very High
Our Reviews
My rating: 9.5
by Aaron KlaserThese two games are hands down my favorite games I have purchased in the last year. They are easy, fun, quick games, that anyone can be good at over and over and not get bored.
I’ve seen Kingdomino for awhile at the local game store and always over looked it thinking it was on the kids side. But, it’s totally not, it’s fun for everyone!
I almost just picked up Queendomino, but I’m glad I got both. The two games can be combined to form 7x7 grids for 3 and 4 players or even do 5 to 8 players on a 5x5 grid.
Definitely worth adding to any game collection.
My rating: 9
by Beth KlaserI’ve seen others rant and rave about how great Kingdomino is and was. I usually don’t fall for the hype — usually. But, Aaron really wanted Kingdomino and Queendomino the last visit to our local game store. (Shout out to The Fantasy Shop — St Charles for stocking great games). The art work is fun and the tiles are well made.
Both games are easy to learn and can be taught in about ten minutes each. I like that turn order changes as you take stronger/weaker tiles. I also like that you have to arrange your kingdom as to maximize points. Kingdomino and Queendomino are easy enough for kids, but decision making is plentiful enough for more serious gamers too.
But what does it all mean? Find out how we review the games we play!
