As a designer, I'm disinclined to write reviews. I mean what can you say? If you go at a game and give it what for, you might be painted as a miscreant spewing sour grapes. Which of course could very well be true because some times you just don't want to like a game that is popular. Anyone else feel that way? Yes, probably sourced from the deep recesses of envy - even if you aren't mindful of it.
In any event, I felt this way about Kingdom Builder. I knew I would hate it.
I'm probably not completely alone in this because the game has received a fairly balanced number of ratings and reviews. It isn't soaring into the Top 100 certainly. The general complains that I've read have centered around how there are really not good decisions. You draw a single card after all and that certainly determines a great deal what you can do. Sometimes the turn plays itself - or it feels that way. All of this was rattling around in my mind while standing in the middle of the vendor hall at Origins.
There were stacks of Kingdom Builder - I mean towering up to the sky stacks. There were lengthy flowing banners announcing its place in the prestigious rank of being nominated (not yet winning) the Spiel des Jahres - or transliterated as the Talk of Jars (Germans bestow honor differently than the rest of the planet). The Queen game booth was crammed with copies - along with the newly released (as if they had won the Jar award already) of the expansion Nomads. This of course furthered my steaming displeasure of the game - an expansion already? Didn't this thing just come out? The demo guy was exuberant and smiling customers were plucking a copy off the dangerous leaning stack while handing over a fist full of dollars. Admittedly, the deal was pretty good.
How did I make all these careful observations? I was dwelling on a single thought: I wanted the game. More precisely: I didn't want *that* game, I wanted a game *like* that game. I wanted a game that my family would play. I wanted a game that my extended family would play. Something easy and fun and quick and easy. And fun. But not one that would bore me to tears. And I was standing in the Origins vendor hall for 20 minutes (I timed it) right before closing. I kept walking over to the Queen booth. The Germans couldn't be that wrong. The game *must* be better than I think.
I had read of course every review on BGG. 304
I'm like that (you likely are too) when researching the game to get. I also had to gather every negative nugget if I was going to properly hate the game too. I can't hate without evidence. I like to hate for good reason - well thought out and stacked up high - just like that tower of games. It probably has lovely wooden bits, produced by <PERSON> who just produces good stuff. Nice looking stuff. But <PERSON> was there too - and <PERSON> had pushed that through Kickstarter as a pre-order system - they were obviously going to print that game anyhow - right? BGG Knows That. Queen is ruining Kickstarter.
But I really wanted a game for my family.
I left Origins without it.
Fast forward a few weeks to my family vacation. Now as a tradition, whenever we travel to a new city on vacation, I like to find and stop in to a local game store. This time we were back in Dallas which I have visited probably a dozen times. The game store of choice in that city was Game Chest. It was located in a smallish mall and was a nice store. Nice shelves of a pretty good selection. Game Chest had closed. This is sad note because I genuinely like local game stores. I really do - they are full of things I enjoy. Game stores are happy places! But Game Chest had closed which prompted me to surface BGG for a new store. Boy howdy did I find a new store! Madness Games and Comics in Plano, Texas.
Honestly, I have *never* seen a store like this one. It was amazing - the selection, the smell of games, the selection! It had nearly every game every made. Friendly help - they must have been friendly because the store was awesome! At least it felt that way. It had *both* of my games on the shelf. Amazing! I've never been in a game store like this one. Loved it. Truly.
And they had Kingdom Builder.
And I bought it because I was full of joy for the store.
After vacation (not during - I buy games on vacation, but I don't often *play* games on vacation - is that odd?), I played Kingdom Builder.
I didn't hate it. I kinda liked it.
I *wanted* to hate it of course. 504