Fantasy Flight Games

Match Wits with Your Rivals in Kingdoms

Published 8 February 2012 | Kingdoms

Match Wits with Your Rivals in Kingdoms

An updated version of Reiner Knizia's classic board game is now on sale

The realm is full of fantastic creatures, noble knights, and unimaginable wealth, each waiting to help or hinder your fledgling kingdom. To lay claim to the richest regions, you’ll need all your strength and wits. Can you cleverly position your castles to take control of the realm’s resources, all while edging out rival lords?

Control a vast empire in Kingdoms, a board game for two to four players by Reiner Knizia. Take the role of a powerful king and build castles in order to gain wealth. This updated and comprehensive version features detailed plastic castles, streamlined rules, and other game enhancements. Get your copy of Kingdoms from your retailer or the Fantasy Flight Games webstore.

Build a kingdom of wealth

As the king, you must build castles in the richest regions possible to increase your wealth. However, the most affluent areas could be infested with dangerous monsters or hazards that may cost your kingdom dearly. Tactically place tiles to counter and block your opponents while positioning yourself to claim victory. Quick to play, yet offering a wealth of strategic challenges, Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms offers a satisfying and engaging battle of wits, all in roughly half an hour. The land is ripe for the taking, but only the cleverest ruler will spread his kingdom across its vast expanse. Can you outfox your adversaries and become the richest king, or will dragons, trolls, wizards, or other hazards thwart your plans? Get your copy of Kingdoms and find out! Purchase this updated game from your local retailer.

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The copyrightable portions of Kingdoms are © 2012 Dr. Reiner Knizia & © 2012 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Kingdoms is a trademark of Dr. Reiner Knizia. Used under license by Fantasy Flight Games. All rights reserved.

Your Empire Awaits

Published 16 January 2012 | Kingdoms

Your Empire Awaits

The rules for Kingdoms, a board game of realms and riches, are online

Your rise to power is at hand! The rules for Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms, a board game in which two to four players struggle for control of a vast medieval empire, are now available on our support page. First published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2002, Kingdoms has been updated in this comprehensive new version to feature detailed plastic castles and other welcome game enhancements.

Kingdoms rules (pdf, 2.7 MB)

Claim the land’s wealth

In Kingdoms, players assume the roles of rival kings trying to increase their wealth by establishing castles across the land. By building castles in the richest regions, you stand to reap the most rewards. But build carefully! The most sought after regions may be infested with dragons, trolls, or other hazards that seek to rob your kingdom of its riches. This engaging board game of wealth and expansion offers a rapid and strategic contest of wits in which players attempt to outthink and outmaneuver each other, all while ensuring the best positions for themselves.

Will you rise above your rivals to earn dominance over the realm? Download the rules today, and visit your local game store to place your pre-order!

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A Guide to Kingdom Building

Published 1 December 2011 | Kingdoms

A Guide to Kingdom Building

A preview of Kingdoms, the upcoming board game by Reiner Knizia

Back in September, we announced the upcoming release of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms, a board game in which two to four players struggle for control of a vast medieval empire. First published in 2002, Kingdoms is a tile-laying board game that has been updated to feature detailed plastic castles, a streamlined ruleset, and other subtle game enhancements.

Location, location, location

As the brief gameplay overview on our description page indicates, Kingdoms is essentially a game of efficiently placing tiles to create the most favorable collections of victory points, and placing your plastic castles to claim those points for yourself. The board is made up of a grid of squares, which together form intersecting rows and columns. When a round is scored, players collect points for the rows and columns in which their castles were placed.

The number of towers on each castle indicates its rank, or multiplier. The blue player will want to place his rank 3 castle on the intersection of a point-rich row and column, where it can have the most impact.

On each turn, a ruler may place one of two components onto any open space on the grid:

A castle, which claims the points in both the row and column in which it sits, or
A randomly drawn tile, which raises or lowers the total point value of its row and column.

Each castle lends its builder a certain multiplier, a number (1–4) by which that row and column’s VP score is multiplied for that player at the end of the round. So why not always use your best castles? First, your limited number of high-rank castles means they can’t be everywhere at once; you’ll want to place them judiciously to maximize the impact of their multiplier. Second, you can only place your rank 2–4 castles once per game (a total of three rounds). So is it worth grabbing an early lead, or should you save them for a more advantageous moment in the late game?

Dragons, wizards, and more

Of the random tiles you might draw for placement on the board, the vast majority will be resource and hazard tiles, which simply affect their row and column’s VP sum based on their displayed number. With these locations, you’ll jockey for position as you place resources near your own castles and hazards near those of your enemies.

But Kingdoms’ strategy deepens further with the inclusion of four powerful special tiles. From a rich gold mine to a destructive dragon, these game-changing effects present compelling options for the players who draw them.

Gold Mine: A highly coveted prize, the riches from this subterranean reservoir can be used for good or ill. The gold mine tile doubles the value of all other tiles in its row and column, regardless of whether those tiles have a positive or negative value!

Mountain Tile: These majestic peaks are virtually impassible, cutting off commerce wherever they appear. When a mountain tile is placed, it divides its row and column into two separate parts, each of which is scored separately. This can be a great advantage, cutting your castle off from negative tiles that would otherwise decimate your score... but mountains can just as easily block off much-needed wealth.

Dragon Tile: Woe to the king that faces the wrath of the dragon, for no good comes from this destructive tile. In any row and column in which the dragon appears, resource tiles (positive values) are ignored, while hazard tiles (negative values) are still counted. In short, the dragon destroys only that which is helpful to your fledgling kingdom!

Wizard Tile: Previously available only as a promotional item to lucky convention attendees, the powerful wizard is included in this new version of Kingdoms. This potent spellcaster is a valuable ally to any ruler; he increases the rank of adjacent castles by one, multiplying their scores.

The scoring example below shows the end of a game round, in which you can see the base values of each row and column (before each player’s individual castle multipliers are applied). By doing some quick math in which you factor in each player’s castles, you’ll find that the blue player has a slight lead over the yellow player, but that both have far outpaced the red player.

As you can see, Kingdoms’ medieval theme masks a deeply strategic contest of wits, in which players must cleverly block and counter each others moves to eek out every possible point. Check back for more on Kingdoms in the coming weeks, and look for it on store shelves later this quarter!

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Build Your Domain

Published 19 September 2011 | Kingdoms

Build Your Domain

Announcing Kingdoms, an upcoming board game of realms and riches

In an age of fantastic creatures and noble knights, rival lords attempt to seize power and claiming dominion over the land. The most effective tool in their defense is the castle, a fortified seat of power from which a king can rule the surrounding territories. But the world is vast, and one castle is not enough. Any lord hoping to spread his influence over the whole of the realm must judiciously build these massive fortresses where they can best oversee the populace, profiting from their fealty. Can you lead your kingdom to wealth and glory?

Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce the upcoming release of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms, a board game in which two to four players struggle for control of a vast medieval empire! First published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2002, Kingdoms has been updated in this comprehensive new version to feature detailed plastic castles, a streamlined ruleset, and other welcome game enhancements.

Your empire rises

Will you rise above your rivals to earn dominance over the realm? Visit our detailed description page for an overview of play, and look for Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms on store shelves late in the fourth quarter of 2011!

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