Kingdomino solo variants

Variant 1: Crown of Thorns

The rules for placing tiles and scoring are the same as in the normal game.

Set-up

Choose a color and take one king and the castle for that color, as well as a starting tile. Set up the tiles as you would for two or four players, with all 48 tiles in use.

Playing the Game

Reveal the first four tiles and order them from the lowest number (1st tile) to the highest number (4th tile), as in the regular game. Choose the tile you want by placing your king on it, and then reveal and order four more tiles, as in the regular game. The rules for drafting tiles in the second round and all subsequent rounds are:

• If you take the 1st tile in any round, you are free to take any tile in the next round.
• If you take the 2nd tile in any round, you can only take one of tiles 1-3 in the next round.
• If you take the 3rd tile in any round, you can only take one of tiles 1-2 in the next round.
• If you take the 4th tile in any round, you must take the 1st tile in the next round.

Continue in this way through 12 rounds, then add up your score.

Variant 2: Dwindling Choices

The rules for placing tiles and scoring are the same as in the normal game. This variant divides the 12 rounds of tile-drafting into three phases, with each phase containing four rounds of tile drafting.

Set-up

Choose a color and take one king and the castle for that color, as well as a starting tile. Set up the tiles as you would for two or four players, with all 48 tiles in use.

Playing the Game

Reveal the first four tiles and order them from the lowest number (1st tile) to the highest number (4th tile), as in the regular game. Choose the tile you want by placing your king on it, and then reveal and order four more tiles as in the regular game. The rules for drafting tiles are: In each phase of four rounds of tile drafting, you must draft each tile position exactly one time. If, in the first round, you take the 4th tile (the highest number), you cannot take the 4th tile in any of the subsequent three rounds. Instead, you must take the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tile (in whichever order you like) in those three rounds. Once the first phase is over (after the fourth round), the second phase begins and in the first round of that phase (the fifth round overall), you are free to draft whichever tile you like. The second and third phase unfold in the same way as the first.

Tip: To keep track of which tiles you have already drafted in the current phase, and therefore which tiles are available to you in the remaining rounds of that phase, keep the undrafted tiles for that phase on the table in separate columns for each round. The ‘holes’ in those columns (where the tiles you drafted were) will show you which tile position (1-4) you drafted in each round and therefore which positions are available to you.

Continue in this way through three phases (12 rounds), then add up your score.

Variant 3: Kingdomino Islands

I enjoy Kingdomino’s chunky tiles and cheerful art. After playing many games with the Princess Dorothy 2.0 variant, I realized I wanted something simpler to manage. I also have a preference for building the bigger 7x7 kingdoms. This variant removes the tile drafting mechanic to allow the player to joyfully focus on building out their kingdom. There is no automa, but there is a win condition based on the final score. This variant was inspired by, and named for, the CarcIsland variant for Carcassonne.

Solo rules

Divide the tiles in two equal facedown stacks. You will play two games, one after the other. In each game you will build a 7x7 kingdom, following all the regular rules, except for the following changes:

• Take any 4 meeples to use as "tax collectors".
• The starting tile must remain in the center of the kingdom.
• There is no card drafting. Each turn you will draw the top tile from the stack and place it in your kingdom, if possible. Otherwise discard it.
• After placing a tile in your kingdom, you may also place a meeple of any color on one of the two squares of this tile.
• When the stack is empty, the game ends and the kingdom is scored. One at a time, remove each meeple from your kingdom, and score the region they were in. Each region can only be scored once, and regions without meeples are not scored at all. So you will at most score 4 regions. Subtract 5 points from your score for each discarded tile.

Now build a second kingdom with the other stack of tiles using the same rules. (You don't have to keep the first kingdom constructed as long as you record the score.)

Once you have completed both kingdoms, add up the total score. You win if you score at least 160 points. Good luck!

Adjusting the difficulty

If you prefer to play an easier or harder game, you can compare your score to this table instead:

150 - Easy
160 - Normal
170 - Hard
180 - Very Hard

Variant #4: Princess Dorothy 2.0: streamlined kingdom building for one (or more)

A revised and simplified approach to creating Princess Dorothy’s kingdom. In Princess Dorothy 2.0 she selects her tiles the exact same way, and scoring remains the same. The only difference is how her kingdom line is constructed.

The original Princess Dorothy was created by Aleksandar Saranac @saranac

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Background

I love the Princess Dorothy "variant". The tile selection process is simple and rather smartly adapts to varying conditions. Scoring is exactly like the regular game. She is tough for me to beat. She can even play along with two or three human players, no problem, a true “robot” player rather than a variant on the game rules.

The way her kingdom is constructed in one line of tiles is inspired. However, getting that line in the “right” order always felt inelegant and error-prone to me. The rules are not complicated, but it felt cumbersome and like a chore tacked on to the end of the game.

So I came up with a way that I think is better.

Goal

Make Dorothy’s kingdom construction easier to run and less of a separate event removed from playing the game.

Proposal

Build Dorothy’s kingdom one tile at a time as you play, with simple placement rules that never require judgment calls.

Results/Benefits

To me, this feels much simpler as I’m making 11 small determinations one at a time rather than dealing with the variability of how to handle 12 tiles all at once. The “choices” feel much more obvious and are spread out during the game.

In a batch of test runs of constructing her kingdom in this way then using the original method with the same 12 tiles the score differences ran inclusive between -3 and +1, which seems acceptable. There may be bigger swings with more samples, but so far scoring results are quite similar.

An added benefit is being able to play against Dorothy’s kingdom as you can see it during play, making it easier to see possible tile-denial drafts.

And when the game is over it is really over: proceed directly to scoring without having to fiddle with Dorothy’s kingdom at all.

Simpler feeling with better game flow. Even if I don’t win the game — which I usually don’t — I feel like I’m winning at life. The experience is improved and I want to play again!

How to do it

Each time Dorothy takes a tile, place it in her line of tiles. At game end the line will be two squares wide and 12 squares tall.

The One Tile Placement Rule

1 Place the tile such that it will add the most points to Dorothy’s current score (or, if the tile will not change the score use it to enlarge the largest territory possible).

Placement Details

2. Place the tile in any position: at the top or bottom of the line or between any of the tiles.

3. Rotate the tile 180 degrees, if needed, to maximize the benefit.

4. NEVER reorder or rotate any previously placed tiles.

5. Avoid breaking up territories, if possible, even if that territory doesn't have any crowns yet.

6. If multiple placement options would yield the same score/size results use the topmost placement (of the tied options).

Warning

7. If this is the first of her two tiles this round, do not consider how this placement may affect the next placement. That is the path to madness. Coldly apply the rules in a vacuum and keep flowing.

That’s it. After the final round of placements you’re ready to score the game and, if you’re like me, find out how much you lost by.

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