Before the dragons came… Before the great duel took place… Before the age of giants began… Before her imperial majesty took her reign… And before the kingdom itself came: The Origin.

In Kingdomino Origins, from Blue Orange Games, players are prehistoric tribal leaders advancing their civilizations and creating the most powerful kingdom in the land. They do this by adding terrain dominos to their kingdom to earn them the most points.

Since the namesake is Kingdomino, players familiar with the original Kingdomino game will find a lot of similarities. Yet in Kingdomino Origins, there are 3 different modes of play!

Players of all skill levels can enjoy and discover the magic that is Kingdomino.

 

How to play Kingdomino Origins

Discovery Mode

The Discovery mode of Kingdomino Origins is almost exactly like the original Kingdomino with one slight difference.

Setup:

Players each take a starting tile, Hut and Tribe Chief meeple in the color of their choice, then place the hut on the tile in front of them and the Tribe Chief near their playing area.

Next players shuffle all of the dominoes, creating 2 equal draw piles. From the left draw pile, players reveal the top 4 dominos and order them from the smallest number to the largest number.

A player then takes all the Tribe Chief meeples into their hand and randomly drops them one at a time out onto the table to establish starting order. The player whose meeple hit the table first will choose one of the face-up dominos and place their meeple on it. The next player will then choose and so on until all players have chosen a domino.

Players will now draw the next 4 dominos from the other draw pile, placing them in order, smallest to largest just like before.

Game Play:

The player whose tribal chief is closest to the box/stack is the first player.

On their turn, the current player takes the domino their meeple is on and places it into their kingdom. Then the player chooses a new domino from the other row of dominos by placing their meeple on it.

To place a domino in their kingdom, a player must match the terrain of one side with a side of an already played domino in their kingdom (desert, grassland, forest, lake, quarry or volcano). The player’s starting tile is considered a wild terrain, so any domino can be placed next to it.

The other tile placement rule is that a player’s kingdom can not be wider than 5 spaces or taller than 5 spaces. Note: dominos are 2 spaces by 1 space and the starting tile is 1 by 1. If a domino cannot be placed per the rules above, the domino is discarded and the player does not place a domino this turn.

Once a player has placed their domino into their kingdom and has chosen a new domino, the next player closest to the box/stack will go and so on.

Once all players have taken their turn, the players create a new row of dominos from the other draw pile. In a 3 player game, the one domino that was not taken is removed from the game.

Players continue taking turns until all dominos have been taken.

NEW RULE: When a player plays a tile with a volcano on it, they place a corresponding fire token. If the volcano is a single cone, then a single fire token is placed. If it’s a double cone, a double fire token is placed, etc. The fire tokens can be placed 1, 2, or 3 spaces away depending on if it is a triple, double, or single fire token respectively. These tokens act as fire symbols for end of game scoring.

Final Scoring:

Each region, of a certain terrain type, is worth as many points as the number of spaces it is made up of multiplied by the number of fire symbols in the region. The fire symbols include those printed on the tiles and those from the fire tokens. Regions without a fire symbol score nothing. Also the volcano regions themselves do not score.

Players add up the scores from each region and the player with the highest score wins. If there’s a tie, the player with the biggest region wins. If there’s still a tie, the player with the most fire symbols wins. See example below.

Totem Mode

Setup:

Setup for Totem mode is done the same way as in Discovery mode. In addition, once the tiles are flipped over, players add the wooden resource tokens to their corresponding tiles that have symbols on them. For example mammoths are placed on the grasslands, fish on the lakes, mushrooms in the forest and flint in the quarries. This will be repeated every time a new line of dominoes is created.

The remaining resource tokens and 4 Totem tiles are placed near the play area.

Game Play:

Game play is also the same as in Discover mode. The only exception is that after a player has placed their domino into their kingdom, they check for the majority of each resource type. If they hold that majority, they get the corresponding Totem tile.

Note: when a player places a fire token and it lands on a resource token, the resource token is discarded (burned up).

Final Scoring:

Final scoring is the same in this mode with the addition of Totem bonus points. Each Totem tile at the end of the game is worth 1 point per resource that matches that tile plus the points listed on the Totem tile itself. See example below.

Tribe Mode

Setup:

Setup for Tribe mode is also done the same way as in Discovery mode. In addition, players place the Cave board near the line of dominoes and shuffle the Cavemen tiles, placing them face-down in the spot to the far left. Then turn over the first 4 Cavemen tiles and place them next to the face down draw pile in the indicated spots.

Game Play:

Game play is the same as in the Discover mode except players will place resources on the dominoes as they come out, similar to Totem mode. Note: the Totem tiles are not be used in this version. Players will also have a new action that they may perform on their turn–Recruit a Caveman.

To recruit a Caveman, players pay 2 different resources from their kingdom to take one of the face-up cavemen. Alternately, players can spend 4 different resources from their kingdom to search the face-down pile to recruit a caveman of their choice. The caveman is then placed on an empty square (no fire symbol, token, caveman or wooden resource) in their kingdom.

Cavemen will add bonus points to territories at the end of the game.

Final Scoring:

The final scores are also calculated the same in this mode as in Discovery mode with the exception that players will also add points earned through Cavemen. See example below.

The Breakdown

Theme and Mechanics:

Like its predecessors, Kingdomino Origins is a domino laying game where players choose a terrain domino and place it into their kingdom matching one side with a side of a domino that’s already in play. The new twists here are the resource set collection in Totem mode and the resource collection and purchasing options in Tribe mode.

The domino mechanic marries so well with the theme of kingdom construction that this series has fast become one of the more popular games. The original Kingdomino also won the game of the year award–Spiel des Jahres!

Flow and accessibility:

I absolutely love how this game flows. It’s so smooth and polished. From set up, to the way players choose dominos, to the placement of those dominos and down to the end game trigger, there’s little disruption.

This game can be easily taught to a wide range of gamers, from beginners to hardened vets. And it plays quickly–even for the most indecisive players. Once you get the gist of the Discovery mode, you’ll be raring to try the other modes.

Simple yet strategic Kingdomino Origins appeals to everyone.

Production Value:

I truly love the artwork of the Kingdomino series. It’s colorful, playful, and full of Easter eggs. And Kingdomino Origins is no exception. Cyril Bouquet has done an amazing job bringing out the prehistoric feel of this game.

As with all Blue Orange games, the production value is great. The tiles are thick, the tokens are all wood, and the insert is fantastic. Everything I love about their games.

 

 

 

 

 

How does Kingdomino Origins score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Kingdomino Origins scores medium-high on my “Let’s Play Again” meter.

Anyone that follows my reviews know that the Kingdomino series of games are some of my favorites. This owing to the fact that my whole family likes to play them, they are easy to get to the table, quick to play and are so visually appealing.

Origins is a great addition to the series and is easily picked up without having to play the others. The Discovery mode is basically Kingdomino with the added rule for Volcanoes. Fires are the same as crowns and the terrain types are primarily the same in both games.

Totem mode adds resources and with it a little more to think about. But the real star here is the Tribe mode. For players familiar with this series, this mode is the one they’ll play the most. It adds more scoring options very similar to the buildings in Queendomino and still uses the concept of resources from the Totem mode.

The reason why Origins doesn’t score higher on the “Let’s play again” meter is because I already own all the games from the series, minus Dragonomino. And for my money, Queendomino with the end of game scoring tiles from Age of Giants is the way to go. This absolutely doesn’t take anything away from Origins as I’m sure I’ll be pulling it out to play the Tribe mode as often as I can.

 

About the Author

Dane is an Advertising and Layout Manager for a national magazine by day and a husband, father of four, and board gamer by night (and mornings). He has a passion for board games and believes board games help bring families closer together while providing kids a unique way to learn many diverse skills. And he thinks they’re downright fun!!!

The Board Game Family would like to thank Blue Orange Games for a review copy of Kingdomino Origins.