Hey Variants,
Liz here again, with the next entry in my Child’s Play series! The next board game I would like to tell you about is called Kingdomino. Honestly, this was a Prime Day deal that I decided to get for my 7 year old at the holidays but it turned out to be a great game for the 4 year old as well.
Good for the 4 year old?
YES! While my little guy did not understand all aspects of the game, the primary action of gameplay is matching the different types of squares and identifying numbers on the back of the cards. He often needed help selecting where to place his tile but he was able to match the sides and find applicable spots for the tile every time.
Good for the 7 year old?
YES! The matching and number identification make this simple enough for my 7 year old to follow the rules of the game but the scoring is where he shined. The scoring for the game involves counting the number of same-colored tiles in each grouping and multiplying that by the number of crowns that appear in the group. It is excellent practice for multiplication, addition and multi-step mathematical problems.
Basic overview of gameplay
There are 48 tiles total and each tile gets added for scoring at the end of the game. Each tile has two blocks of a terrain type on it. You start with your little castle and use your “king” to claim your next tile. The order of play is determined by the numbers on the tiles; smallest to largest. That is a bit of the strategy; positioning yourself so that you can get the higher numbered items. Your castle has 4 slides which are “wild” but otherwise you need to have 2 matching terrain blocks touching in order to place one. You also need to stay within a 5×5 shape so you are limited to how many matches you can make. The player with the most points at the end of the game (when the tiles have run out) wins!
The scoring aspect of this game is what I liked the most. My 4 year old liked to help with the scoring because he could count for me all the tiles of the same terrain type that were grouped together. My 7 year old would then multiply that number by the number of crowns within that group as well. It was a lot of teamwork and we played this game in about 25 minutes.
Ages recommended
I think this game could be played with a child 3 and up. If the child likes to match and/or count, this could be a good game for them. It is also an easy game to have an adult “team up” with a younger player for. The game is not very long so you would not need to have a child able to pay attention for long periods of time, which can be helpful. I also cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate the math practice for my 7 year old with the scoring. If you have a child just learning to multiply, this is great practice!
Have you played Kingdomino before? What did you think?
*Photo Credit: Variant Liz
