Queendomino Review - Kingdomino vs Queendomino

Some people are calling it Kingdomino 2.0 and some are calling it an expansion to Kingdomino. Let’s break down what it’s all about and our thoughts.

What’s it all about?

The base mechanics of this game are from the game Kingdomino. If you’re unfamiliar, read our review of it here.

So Queendomino adds a new element to the game: TOWNS. There are a lot of new pieces and such, but they all stem from the towns.

TOWNS are red squares that are on some of the tiles. They score just like any other territory would, but they also allow you to build buildings on top of them. We will dive into that later.

After you place your tile you can choose to TAX your kingdom (like it or not taxing is an important way to fund changes to your kingdom. *cough cough*). To tax you take a knight (we all start with one), and place it on one of your territories. You get $1 per square in that territory. Easy enough. With that money you can then choose to purchase a building, which you take from the builder’s board.

You can place the purchased building on any town in your kingdom. Once you place it you get an immediate effect, usually more knights or towers. If you get a tower you immediately place it on that building. Whoever has the most towers gets the Queen! The Royal Highness allows you to build buildings for 1 less the cost. At the end of the game you can put her on your largest territory and she DOUBLES your points for that territory. Baller. Anyway, buildings also give you cool effects that last through the whole game, crowns and other types of end game scoring.

After all that you have the option of bribing the dragon (as long as it’s not bring bribed by someone else and you don’t have the Queen. A Queen simply cannot be bothered with such foolery!). To bribe the dragon you pay a coin and it will destroy a building on the builder’s board.

And that’s it.

What did we think?

Queendomino knocked it out of the park. While it’s not a replacement for Kingdomino, it does give you a bit more strategy to chew on. The additional end game scoring makes it super fun, too. You have to be careful to keep paying attention to the tiles as all the new mechanics can be distracting (I found this out the hard way). It plays well as both a 2 player and a 4 player (we haven’t played it with 3, but there should be no difference), and it’s still so quick! The dragon adds a fun little “take that” feel to the game, which is always fun.

Kingdomino vs Queendomino?

It really depends on how much strategy you want. If you’re a new gamer, or purchasing for one, start with Kingdomino. It takes a few minutes less to teach which is really key when it comes to new gamers. If you’re already a gamer, and are looking for a quick strategy ‘appetizer’ game, grab Queendomino. You can play with new gamers and you all will have fun.

It is true that you can combine King and Queen to play a larger game of either. While we haven’t tried it, it does seem possible. Have you? Let us know if it’s fun with more players!

 

 

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