Number of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Humans, dwarves, fairies, gnomes, and elves have come together from all over to live peacefully in the kingdom. But things are starting to get crowded – new lands need to be found, and quickly! With skill and luck, players roll the dice to claim the best new citizens and occupy as many connected spaces on the map as possible. The player who can secure the best territory for their growing kingdom, and the most gemstones, wins. A kingly strategic dice and board game.
Albert –
Fun for kids and parents
I’m always looking for something fun to play with my kids (11 and 10) that is more complicated than Uno or Candyland, but also not-so-complicated or long that they lose interest. My kids enjoy tactile things like rolling dice, and have overall enjoyed King of the Dice.
Bradley Nelson –
Too complex for kids
This was a confusing game to figure out and it just ended up not being very fun. The rules aren’t great, but once you figure out how the game actually works, it’s okay. I guess the problem I had was that playing it felt like work. It wasn’t fun. There were too many things to remember and too many steps. My 8yo got really bored and did not want to play it. HABA does such a good job with so many games, that this was surprisingly not fun.
L –
Stick with it and it gets to be fun
Quick review:Dice rolls with specific alignments earn you cards that have different actions. All actions gain you something for collecting the cards, some more than others. At the end, scores are added up based on number of spaces occupied, how they are occupied (touching or not), and gems accrued. Instructions need to be read all the way through to help you understand the game before playing. Leaving the instructions out in the hands of someone who can decipher them well is helpful. We played with four players ages 10-80, two rounds, and the kids bested the adults in both rounds (they had a pact), but we also helped them find potential cards for their rolls. This game is for a maximum of four players. The dice are also very large, so we had to roll just a die or two or three at a time, because, outside of my 80 yo father, none of us had large enough hands! Maybe get a cup to roll from like Yahtzee?! If you like games like Yahtzee and board games where you try to conquer areas, this might be a fun game for you.Longer review:My family loves playing games, some of us more than others, but for the most part we have game players from ages 10-80. My parents live on the same property as us and we play games with them to get their opinions too. This game is for no more than four players. The instructions are frustrating as they give examples for what players could do with a roll before you even know what to do really, so please read all the way through and skip the examples until you get all the way through. We played two rounds our first time playing as the first round we did not know what we were doing and the second round we had a better idea and it went more than twice as fast. The second time we had a better idea of how to play and the kids ganged up on the adults, but we had more fun. We also played it a bit more cooperatively in terms of helping our fellow players find a potential move for their dice rolls. Basically, you roll six very large dice (too large for my small kid sized hands!) that have both colors and numbers. Each of the character cards have some combination you must obtain to get that card by rolling the dice. For instance, a run of numbers four to six dice long, or a red number higher than a blue number higher than a green, or three reds three greens, or a pattern of numbers, etc. All of these are somewhat shown as examples, enough so you get a general idea in the instructions. Each time you can roll to get a card, you get to take an action that places you on the board. You do get a chance to reroll the dice, so you can do all or just some, depending on what you think you might want to get. The cards also have dice number and colors on them so if you roll your dice but fall short, sometimes you can turn the cards you’ve already gotten in for a die number and color combination you might need to get that last die to have what you need to get a new card. This is an area in which the game could improve because this was firstly hard to remember, and second, if there was some point value to the cards it could work in some player’s favors at the end potentially. Anyway, the game was fun once we got the hang of it, the instructions were frustrating at first but eventually made sense, the dice are extremely large for small hands (as is the box, it could have been MUCH smaller and game family’s know space is a premium!), and the kids won both rounds we played with adult help steering them to potential plays. If you like games like Yahtzee and board games where you try to conquer areas, this might be a fun game for you. Thank you for reading my review and I do hope that you found it to be helpful!
Paul A. Martorano –
Gamers – don’t shy away from this awesome game just because it is classified as a “Family” Game!
Usually, I tend to stay away from games that are classified as “family” games. The reason is that games in this category tend to be geared towards people that don’t typically play games. The artwork for this game also gives off a “childish” impression and I was a little reluctant to order it – especially at the price point, which was fairly high.But, I have had experience with HABA games before, and I know that they produce quality games that can be enjoyed by all. Don’t confuse this game with its predecessor – which is just a card game. This version is labeled as a BOARD GAME and adds elements of area control as well as a Yahtzee style card acquiring mechanism. It is extremely clever and expertly crafted to provide a lot of fun.The board itself is modular and constructed differently based on the number of players. The components are high quality: The cards are beautiful. The gems truly resemble gems. The dragon fire pieces are tiny but resemble fire and are made of wood. The dice are fairly large and also crafted from wood. The castle pieces are punched out from cardboard but are very sturdy. Lastly, the player control markers are simple but effective colored wooden cubes.Three of us played this game and we play a LOT of games. We are all adults. The game took a reasonably long time to get through because we all think through our actions carefully with the intent to win. And, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Is there luck involved? Absolutely. But, there are ways to mitigate bad luck and many decisions must be carefully thought through. There are many times in which there are “take that” moments and that could be an issue for young children. For example, several cards allow the bearer to steal a gem or card from another player. And, several cards allow the recipient to exchange their area control marker with one that is already on the board. So, a game that appears to be clearly going in a positive direction for a player could potentially turn around completely.The scoring segment of the game was a nail-biter for us. In my opinion, the mark of a great game is when the scores are fairly tight – and this was certainly the case in our play through. It was an entertaining and thought provoking time that was enjoyed by all of us.As far as complexity, it was pretty easy to teach. The rules make logical sense and the game is not burdened by an excessive amount of them. I could see high functioning children being able to enjoy this but gamers will enjoy all of the subtle strategies that come into play as well.All in all, it was a pleasant surprise and I will most certainly use this game many more times.
Corrie Benedict –
Not easy to get started
We had to watch and follow along with a family YouTube video to figure out how to play this. The instructions are weak and the game play just isn’t all that exciting. We quit halfway through a game and haven’t opened the box again yet. Not for us.
Del W. –
Easy-ish to Learn – Nice Gateway Game
I have to start off by saying just how wonderful the representatives Haba’s customer service department are… When I received the game, it was missing the deck of cards. Since that is a MAJOR part of the game, I was quite disappointed. I reached out to the manufacturer and they promptly sent replacement parts, free of charge, to my address. They were incredibly responsive, kind, and went out of their way to apologize for the inconvenience and wanted to make sure I received everything I needed. FANTASTIC!! This is very rare in today’s age… So, I wanted to make sure that was a major point up front.Now onto the game. Honestly, it is quite enjoyable. It is a nice spin on “Yahtzee” or other such set building die games. The inclusion of the board and additional game pieces gives it just enough variation and strategy building to make it easy to turn around and attempt another round. The gameplay itself is pretty straight forward for those who have played similar styles before… but definitely takes a minute or two for new-to-board game or younger players.As far as components, most of them are top notch and quite nice in the hands. However, my major gripe is the quality of the card stock used for the main deck. They are on the flimsy side and have no coating. I would highly recommend purchasing sleeves for this deck as after a few games (less than 10), the cards are already showing signs of wear.With all of that said, this is honestly a great addition to any game night. It works perfectly as a game night starter. I think it also makes a great family game and would be a perfect gateway for new players into more complex strategy games. Also, with the components and moderately simple rules, this game is easy to modify and create house rules to increase or decrease difficulty.I only dropped the rating to 4 stars due to the lower quality card stock… but would still recommend this game in a heartbeat!
Be Happy –
Keep the Rules Handy
I’d recommend keeping the rules handy and doing a practice round before playing a real game. The instructions are well written and clear, it just takes actually playing to learn.This is a fun game for the whole family, as long as the kids are not too young. Depending on the child, I’d say 6 or 7 is the youngest that can successfully play this. Of course younger children can team up with an adult to play, that’s how we always handle younger kids here with any game they can’t play alone.The cards and pieces have bright and colorful art. It makes for a good atmosphere to play a game with good visuals. Even the dice with this are quite nice. You’ll need a couple baggies for storage, or some of those miniature food storage containers that sets always come with, but are not large enough to be useful for the kitchen. They can be put to excellent use here.
TRU –
Convoluted yahtzee
We were not a huge fan of this one. There are not a lot of choices to make. You roll the dice up to 3 times and see what card you can take. Very similar to Yahtzee except fiddlier. The artwork is bright and colorful and looks fairly attractive. It caught the attention of the kids I played it with but they ended up wanting to modify the rules and not use the board. We play games together often so they are good at following rules. This one just didn’t hit the spot for them.One other thing is that the box is at least 2x bigger than it needs to be and yet provides no organization whatsoever. There is no insert and you will need to provide your own bags if you don’t want a jumbled mess in the box. At this price point that’s not really acceptable.
Simlasa –
A fun game of competitive land development
This game was a nice surprise. Based on the art I was expecting a very simple kids game that would be mostly luck-based… but it’s deeper than that and whille there is a good bit of luck involved, there choices to be made and having a strategy will help.So, despite it’s cheerful cartoony art it’s not something I’d hand to some young kids and expect them to sort it out themselves. The rules need at least one read through and probably a couple of practice games to get it all running smoothly.Basically, you’re trying to grab land, collect crystals, and chase away dragons. Each of those adds points for the final total, but not equally. The endgame is totaling up points and highest count wins.The components are of good quality, the cards are of a decent thickness. I’ll mention that the dice pips/colors are printed rather than embossed, but I don’t expect the symbols would degrade significantly with ordinary use.Also, I’d recommend getting some small ziplock bags or some other containers that will fit in the box. It will help with future setups to have everything pre-sorted.The short rulebook is dual language, with one half being flipped and in French. It’s pretty clearly written with play examples throughout.Our first play through had some mistakes, but a re-read of the rules cleared most of that up.There were a few places where we were still unsure, but within the context of play things became obvious.We’d need to play some more games for me to have a better grasp on strategies and whether or not any are significantly better than others… but I think it’s the sort of game where players of different ages and experience would be on pretty even ground. The element of luck will keep you from always making the move you’d prefer.So, I’d say this is a good family game and I’ve happily played it with my friends… and would again. There’s no direct combat, but you can steal cards/gems/lands from each other using the cards.The game plays quickly, less than an hour on our first play of two. Hardcore boardgame fans might turn up their noses at it but I thought it was an enjoyable light game with a more depth than I’d expected.
Brittany Shields –
Good quality
I got this for my 6 year old. It says ages 8 and up but she’s a pretty fast learner. It’s a Christmas gift so I haven’t played with her yet. Will update once I have.But the quality of the game is good.At first glance it looks a bit tricky to learn but I’m sure it won’t be too bad once I set it all up.Seems like a nice strategy game without too many steps per turn.