Game: King Me!

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siuchak — 2008-06-22T17:04:15+00:00

Busy Castle

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Emil 109 — 2008-05-28T07:58:40+00:00

Alternative box cover

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Verkisto — 2008-05-08T14:14:59+00:00

A close-up of the artwork on the game pieces.

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hrc333 — 2008-05-05T01:22:14+00:00

A nicely cropped box back.

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hrc333 — 2008-05-05T01:21:16+00:00

A nicely cropped box front.

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fabricefab — 2008-04-09T15:41:15+00:00

figures in front of box

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Magritte — 2008-03-02T19:45:13+00:00

King Clemente

Thread: Long live the King or Queen or whatever!

mcross — 2008-01-04T20:15:21+00:00

The King is about to retire and now everyone in the wants to be crowned the new monarch. This is the setting for the King Me!, a fun little game of bluffing and deduction for 3 to 6 players.

The components of the game are well done and consist of a game board depicting a castle with several levels, a wooden cube and a "Yes" vote card for each player, some "No" vote cards and candidate cards, a crown marker and 13 characters and stands. The board and characters are nicely illustrated and the cards are good quality. The only problem I have is with the characters, it's hard for all the players at the table to see the name/color of each character. Not a major problem, but still an annoyance.

At the beginning of each round, a player takes a candidate card, a wooden block (which is placed on the scoring track) and "Yes" card of their chosen color, and a number of "No" vote cards (depending on the number of players).

The candidate card lists the characters that you would like to see made king (or at least move up in the castle). Your job is to move those characters up the castle while preventing any other character from becoming king. This is harder than it sounds.

The game is played in three rounds and each round begins by the players taking turns placing a character in the castle. This is where the strategy begins. Do I place on of my preferred characters high in the castle or use my turn to place a non-preferred character further down?

After all the characters are in the castle, the start player takes a turn. During your turn you may move any one character up one level in the castle. You may not move a character down and you may not move a character up onto a level which already contains four characters. When a character reaches the top level, an election begins. Each player secretly chooses a vote card and places it face down. After all the votes are in, they are revealed.

If everyone voted yes, the round is over and the players receive points for where their preferred characters are located in the castle. If at least one person voted no, the character is eliminated from the round and the round continues. The trick is that you always get your "yes" card back, but you lose your "no" cards after you play them. So you can only vote no a limited number of times.

The strategy is subtle, but not non-existant. However, there is a lot of luck. If you happen to have a candidate card that closely matches at least one other player's card, you will have a greater chance of scoring points. The game plays quickly, so it's not that big of a deal.

If you enjoy bluffing your opponents and concealing your true intentions, this is a fun game. If you need to be in control of things, you should look elsewhere because King Me! is rather chaotic (especially with more players).

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stalkeroi — 2007-12-10T01:01:26+00:00

King Me at Pionek con, December 2007, Gliwice, Poland

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Toynan — 2007-12-01T18:54:45+00:00

BGG ! (introducing a new caracter, Gaetan, that doesn't exist in the original game !)

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Toynan — 2007-11-25T21:20:22+00:00

All the objectives cards

Thread: Three players, three kings?

MerricB — 2007-08-18T03:36:28+00:00

There is an anarchic humour to King Me! that places it as one of my all-time favourite light games. The idea of the game is simple: the King is dead. Thirteen palace servitors - from the cook to the court wizard to the princess - are manuevering to be crowned the next monarch, or otherwise being in a position of power. Unfortunately, if not everyone agrees, the next person to suggest themselves as monarch will be sent to the execution block...

That description is a little inaccurate. It's not the servitors that are manuevering, it's the players manuevering them. I've never been quite sure who the players are meant be. Some machievellian lords, no doubt. Each turn, you may move one of the servitors one level up the palace. When someone reaches the throne, the players vote: if there's even one no, then off they go to be executed. If everyone votes yes, then they're made king, and everyone scores. There's only a limited number of times you can vote "No", and there's only 6 of the servitors who will score points for you, so a lot of the game involves trying to convince (through bluffing) your opponents to vote off unimportant servitors, and leave the important ones in positions of power.

I bought this game for Sarah's birthday a few years ago, and we broke it out again as we had 30 minutes or so to kill before Adam arrived. It's quick and fun. What more can you ask for? This was a three-player game: Sarah, Rob and me.

The first round was upsetting for me - my candidates kept being sent to the executioner! Still, there was one consolation: I kept sending my friends' candidates to the executioner as well. So, our scores were within 5 points of each other by the end.

Noticing that Rob and Sarah had gained quite a few points by keeping their candidates quiet down the lower-scoring end: not as many points, but safe from elimination which could really muck them up, I resolved to follow the same course. The second round was quite similar for the first as Sarah and I kept voting to eliminate candidates that Rob wanted to keep in. Then, that'd reverse: Rob would vote candidates out and we'd want them kept! So it went, and by the end of the second scoring, Sarah was lagging a little way behind, then it was me, with Rob slightly in front.

The final round saw Rob attempting to "shoot the moon" by eliminating all of his own candidates - you score 33 points if you score nothing in the final round. The problem with this strategy is that you don't have enough "no" votes to vote off everyone, so Rob eventually ran out and found one of his candidates being crowned King. I was happy enough with this, as it was also one of my candidates.

Sarah had done enough to catch up a little, but not quite enough. She was still astray by a few points. Rob had got just enough of his candidates eliminated to cede the lead to me: by just one point! Close game, and an entertaining 30 minutes.

Thread: Re: 6 Players, 2 New Players

Xanthos — 2007-05-12T17:39:56+00:00

Yes, I played a 3 player game against my Mom and Aunt where both my Aunt and I "shot the moon" ... in other words we scored exactly zero points in the final round. I was ahead of her by one point going into the final round so I ended up winning the game by one point.

I haven't seen it since then. As I say, I've played it 15 times and seen it happen twice in the same game but not in the other 14 games.

Thread: Re: 6 Players, 2 New Players

Driver 8 — 2007-05-12T15:07:17+00:00

I agree that King Me! is a fun little game. It certainly includes a lot of double guessing and subtle yet tricky strategy. I'm glad I picked this one up.

PS: Has anyone actually ever 'shot the moon' in round three?

Thread: 6 Players, 2 New Players

Xanthos — 2007-05-12T02:11:29+00:00

This is my 15th play of "King Me!". We played with 6 players including two new players. This was a church group and included 5 teenagers and I was the adult working with this table of gamers.

In addition to the official rules our group has developed a little bit of a "culture" as to how we play this game. I often break out an Italian accent as I do my best to pronounce the characters names properly with one notable exception... Irina. I call her "Irma" because apparently I need glasses. When we first started playing this game at church I started the tradition of cheering for "Irma! Irma! Irma!" and getting several others to join in the fun. Unfortunately, this generally means that at least one person will make sure that she never becomes Queen. It's fun all the same.

The new players soon caught on to how we promote the characters. "Gavino is a good man. He is destined for great things." One player will say, "Indeed, I agree that he should be great." Someone else will respond, "No Gavino is worthless!"

The fun came when new players realized that sometimes a good strategy is to purposefully promote someone not on your list in order to get them voted out early when there are so many no votes left in the round.

Round 1: There were only two characters voted out and then we had a new Queen. Sadly, I had promoted someone that I didn't want to be Queen and didn't do very well that round.

Round 2: Lots of characters dropped with only a few times when there were two no votes given for a particular character. People were starting to get the hang of how to play ... and how to have fun in the game.

Round 3: Things were really cooking at this point. We somehow had a Swedish-Italian character. This has happened more than once as someone attempts to sound Italian and instead sounds more like the Muppet's Swedish Chef! My lack of understanding modern slang hurt me. One of the new players said something about one of the characters that somehow involved the "chicken wing" and I had no idea if he was saying he wanted that character to do well or was going to vote her out. However I read it of course ended up being completely the opposite of what he was really saying. Of course, was he joking or telling the truth there? I'll have to brush up on their "talk" but it was great to see everyone animated as we played.

Overall, I enjoy the experience generated by this game. It is light and quick. The game itself is fun but the social atmosphere it creates is even better. Sure, we can get angry with the person who just voted out our candidate for king ... but it doesn't last long. What lasts are the inside jokes and the laughs we have as we play.

Thread: Re: Well worth the very short while

Walsfeo — 2007-05-06T22:40:15+00:00

It is a fun and light game that I enjoy. It does not overstay it's welcome, and is takes exactly the right amount of time for the fun you get from it.

Thread: Well worth the very short while

citylife — 2007-05-06T05:43:24+00:00

This was our first play of King me and it was a throughly rewarding experience. The brilliance of this one is that it is a quick filler. You pick up the game in about ten minutes and then develop from there.

Of course the experience did not start well for me. I raised up the first King candidate (a character I did not have) on the very first round and thought to save my veto's. Alas all the other players had this character and he was promptly kinged. Doh, I was not going to be winning this one.

Still the second round taught us all a lesson and the round was longer with no one taking risks around veto's. At this point we discovered that apart from taking few risks with veto's we also wanted to advance our other characters for extra points.

So round three applied both these lessons but with not good fortune for me. I learnt in the third round to count the votes, because there was still one veto when I advanced my preferred character to rank five. He was promptly sent up for execution in the same round.

The net result was a pleasant and happy experience. I can see us filling a quick twenty minutes with this whenever there are a large number of players. It is not often you get a game this easy for this many players where all are involved. I don't expect the game to endure any afternoon or evening sessions on it's own, certainly not, but it is almost a party game and I will enjoy playing with mates of all gaming orientations.

Thread: Re: Misprint?

xandolino — 2007-01-07T05:05:51+00:00

Can anyone post all the cards combinations?

Thread: Re: Most Self defeating move of the night

Frog3 — 2006-12-11T21:11:29+00:00

And most cunning move of the night did not even occur on the gaming table. The Master, also known as A, buttered up our host on his excellent taste in music and got his first choice of CD on the machine. Now that is why he is the Master.
S

Thread: Most Self defeating move of the night

Ed_the_Red — 2006-12-09T16:37:11+00:00

Viva il Re! produced a candidate for 'best gaming related laugh of 2006' with a move so cunning it defied rationality.

Briefly, the game has 13 characters who occupy different levels in a castle with points values 0,1,2,3,4,5,10. Each player has a card with 6 characters named on it and the object (obviously) is for these 6 to be on the most valuable spaces when the round ends. Each turn simply consists of someone moving a character up one level of the castle. If a character is moved into the highest level there is an immediate vote on whether they become the king, with each player voting yes or no (simultaneously). If everyone votes yes then a king is elected, the round ends and the scores are totalled. If at least one person votes no, the character is removed from the game, and thus will score nothing for the people having him/her on their card. There are three rounds, each starting afresh with new character cards and placement of all the characters.

The twist is that you have one resuable 'vote yes' card and two non-reusable 'vote no' cards. So you don't want to use your no votes up too early as you will then be forced to vote in favour of candidates you don't actually want to be king. A common tactic is to march a character you have no stake in to the throne (top level) at an early stage and vote no to their kingship, this eliminating a rival to your own candidates, and also potentially weeding out some no cards from other players. It is also common not to use a no card even if you don't want the candidate to become king, assuming that someone else will do the job for you and saving your No card for another time.

In our 5 player game last night all was going well for our hero who will be identified, in keeping with the components of the game, only by the letter T (the others being A,E,M and S). T cunningly advanced a character he had no stake in to the throne room and voted Yes, confident that someone else would do the dirty work for him. Sadly, as the cards were turned over the assumption proved ill founded as everyone else had that character on their cards, and Irma (for it was she) was duly elected as the new king/queen. Great mirth was heard around the table as T desperately defended his decision on logical grounds, but the scoring showed the error of his ways as he was in a solid last place at this point.

The next round showed M shooting into a commanding lead which he almost managed to squander in the thirs, but just held on to 1st place. Where did the foolish T come? Surprisingly, not last, that honour going to your author, so T actually achieved his stated gaming aim for the evening (not placing after me).

However, in spite of not winning the game, he was awarded a special prize for 'least good decision of the evening' as well as 'biggest belly laugh of 2006'.

Verdict on the game: light, but quite entertaining if played in the right spirit in the right group (ie. a group of buffoons)

E

Thread: Movin' on Up

sorewinner — 2006-12-06T20:08:57+00:00

King Me! is a simple game of bluffing, timing, and decision making that makes a nice filler and has potential as a nice light Euro-game.

Theme and Object of the Game
The story behind King Me! is that the king is going to retire and it's up to the players to elect a new king from among the people of the court. In addition to the throne itself, there is also a hierarchy of other positions within the castle that are sought after. Each player has a list of favorite candidates and they'll be trying to promote those favorites while keeping them hidden from the other players. After each of three rounds, players score points for the candidates on their list who have odtained status within the castle. The theme seem to fit the game very well and doesn't feel pasted on even though it is.

Components
King Me! comes in a nice sturdy box that features attractive artwork. In fact the artwork throughout the game is very well done in a cartoonish style. The box is functional enough to store all the pieces, but otherwise it's just a box. The game comes with a board depicting the seven floors of a castle used for game play. It also has a scoring track that runs along the outside edge of the board, typical of many Euro-games. Also included are wooden cubes to be used as scoring markers, 13 cardboard candidate markers (and plastic stands), candidate list cards, voting cards, and a cardboard crown marker for keeping track of starting player. The components are all very well made. If I had to give any criticism, it would be with the overall size of things. The board is a bit small for the 13 markers placed on them, the cards are a little small, and the scoring track is too small for two markers to be placed on the same score. But the quality and artwork on everything is great.

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Game Play
At the beginning of the game the castle board is laid out, the candidate markers are set off to the side, and each player is give several cards. The first card is a list of 6 candidates that the player will favor and score points for. They'll also recieve one YES card and a number of NO cards depends on the number of players. These cards will be used for voting when the elections occur.

The gameboard is where the action all takes place. It is divided into 7 sections depicting floors of a castle, from the servants floor on the bottom to the throne room on top. Next to each floor is a number representing the number of points a candidate there scores at the end of the round. (So, the bottom floor is marked 0, the second floor is maked 2, the fifth 5, the throne room 10, etc.) The game begins with the starting player placing on of the candidates on a floor from 1 to 4. Players go around the table placing candidates on floors 1 to 4, but no floor may contain more than 4 candidates. Left over candidates are placed on the bottom floor. A little bit of bluffing can be done here to try to hide which candidates are on a players list. After the candidates are placed, the players take turns moving one candidate up one floor, making sure that no floor contains more than 4 candidates. Eventually (or quickly), a candidate will move to the throne room which immediately prompts an election.

In an election, each played placed in front of them a face down vote card, either YES or NO. They are revealed and if all cards are YES, the round is over and the candidates are each worth a number of points according to the floor they are on (if a player has that candidate listed on their card.) If ANY of the votes are NO, that candidate and all NO votes are removed from the game. YES votes are returned to the players and play continues with the next player moving a candidate up one floor. In this way, players have a limited amount of times they can vote NO.

There is one other odd rule I should point out. If at the end of the last scoring round, a player manages to score no points at all, he recieves a bonus of 33 points. The only way this can be done is if all the candidates on a players list have been been nominated and voted off the board or if they remain on the bottom floor. This is VERY difficult to do and worth the extra points.

Strategy and Impressions

King Me! has quite a bit of strategy for a light filler game. Players may want to rush candidates not on their list to the throne in hopes that someone (if not themselves) will cast a NO vote. Likewise a player may want a candidate to be voted king before the others get a chance to climb quickly up the ladder. Knowing who to move or not to move can be tricky, as can knowing when to vote YES or NO. The first time we played King Me! it took a couple plays to really see the nuances of it, but I am pleased by the quirks of the game. And after a few plays I'd say that it's more enjoyable with more players.

And if you like Shipwrecked, I think you'll also like King Me! and vise versa.

Thread: Re: Misprint?

Moviebuffs — 2006-09-02T14:57:25+00:00

Well I never.

I hadn't spotted that one before.

The image is from the back of the box and shows a misprinted card, however all the cards are correct in the version we have.

N.

Thread: Re: Misprint?

Tarrant — 2006-09-02T14:56:30+00:00

I just checked the cards in my copy, there is no card with two A's on it.

T.

Thread: Misprint?

ekted — 2006-09-02T14:47:00+00:00

This image at Funagain shows a card with the same person on it twice. Is this a misprint in the actual game?

Thread: Re: Rules please!

juan-agustin — 2005-10-26T23:05:18+00:00

This is the link to the rules in the official site: http://www.davincigames.it/download/vir!_rules.zip

Dos españoles hablando en inglés, manda... Espero que te sirva ese archivo, quizá un día de estos me animo con la traducción al español... Por cierto, he jugado hoy mi primera partida a este juego y es bastante divertido, muy ligerito, eso sí, pero divertido.

Un saludo

Thread: Rules please!

WasQ — 2005-09-22T08:51:38+00:00

Can anybody upload the rules in english? please... or better, in spanish.

Thread: 4 players, 3 rounds

Moviebuffs — 2005-09-14T09:43:19+00:00

Another Tuesday in the pub and first to roll in were Mark, Nick, Kurt and Sue.

While waiting for anyone else to arrive, we thought we'd try a favourite opener: King Me!

Quickly explained the game to Kurt and we were off ....

In the first round, the 'no' votes were extremely well spread out. I voted 'yes' once in the hope that someone else did the 'no' thing (which they did, luckily), but only once or twice did a candidate lose with more than one 'no' against them.

The result of all that was that there were only a handful of candidates still on the board when we eventually got a king.

Mark was the only player with the king on his card and Mark, Kurt and I had two favourites elsewhere in the castle.

Sue was all pleased with herself for managing to get a total of zero, giving her the full 33 points ... IF THIS WAS THE LAST ROUND! Sadly, it was the first round and therefore Sue's little black scoring cube stood by and watched the others whizz off round the track, although not very far:

Rd. 1 scores: Mark 18, Kurt 8, Sue 0, Nick 9

In round two, we became a kingdom much faster. We found a favourite that the three guys would like to get elected and Sue went for the "I'm sure someone else will vote no" option and watched all the yes votes turn over.

Rd. 2 scores: Mark 19, Kurt 26, Sue 14, Nick 22

We were getting much quicker at this game! In the third round, the first candidate up for election was voted in, as he was a favourite of all of ours.

Rd. 3 scores: Mark 29, Kurt 22, Sue 23, Nick 30

Here are the final scores:

Mark - 18 + 19 + 29 = 66
Nick - 9 + 22 + 30 = 61
Kurt - 8 + 26 + 22 = 56
Sue - 0 + 14 + 23 = 37

A fun opener, and just long enough to allow Tim to arrive ...

Thread: Shire Gamers - Kinging Again

CharlieWonka — 2005-08-26T13:05:02+00:00

We seem to be taking over the King Me! Session Reports section of BGG. This is the 5th session report from a shire gamer. We do like this game for it's speed and simplicity. However, this was not the reason that it came out of the bag early on this Thursday.

We were waiting to see if anyone else was going to arrive as well as Nick's brother so we could determine what to play so we needed something short to play and Philippa said, shouted, screamed, demanded (one of those fits) King Me! King Me!

We headed upstairs as it fitted the bill nicely.

Five players to make a King - James, Mark, Jon, Philippa and Sue in play order.

It seemed that in a five player that tactics of placing charcters changed and everyone went for putting there charcters as high up the Royal chambers as possible. Well that was my tactic considering we only got to place two each. I ended up with 3 charcters in the zero space of the dungeons and the rest spread over the 4 and 3 spaces at the start of round 1. Somehow all my charcters make it out of the dungeon on the first run round the table. Obviously threatened by these low lifes trying to be King. Merlimo made a run for the crown being moved up to 5 by Sue followed by James taking him to the throne. The first voting of the game commenced and I had Merlimo on my card and voted yes. I figured I wasn't going to get the points and he would be ousted from Italy but I was wrong. All Hail King Merlimo!!!!!!

Round 1 scores
Sue - 28
Philippa - 26
James - 26
Mark - 22
Jon - 15 - Jon voted yes even though Merlimo wasn't on his card. He was on everyone elses though.

Round 2.

I yet again see 3 of my six charcters go into the dungeons looking at a long way to get to the top. I start by moving these up and am happy again to see other players follow suit and clear my charcters out of the dungeon. Merlimo again shocked by these lower nobles after what was now his crown went for it again and nearly got crowned except this time I decided I didn't like the look of his beard and voted no. It had got a little shabby since round 1. Piero took the next run for the crown. Nobody ever stopped in the 5 zone. If they got to the 5 zone they were immediately moved up to the throne usually by James. Piero was on my card and I voted yes, two others didn't think he was capable of running a country and as fast as he had sat in the throne, he was out of it. Now I am not sure who got up to the top next but I do know it was another of my charcters - Irima I think. She faired exactly the same as Piero getting two no votes and out she went. There was a fourth to attempt the placing of crown on head until I raised my voice to vote no and rid the board of Clemente I think. Unfortunately my two closest to the top had both been eleiminated from the race and the next charcter up - Alighiero was crowned to take round 2.

Scores after Round 2
Sue - 46
James - 44
Philippa - 41
Mark - 33
Jon - 26

Final Round
I remember a lot less about this round as I know 3 of my characters were eliminated after being pushed towards the throne against there will. I struggled to move my other characters up. Mainly Beatrice as then you get support of Philippa whether Beatrice is on her card or not. I had no choice but to vote yes when Fiorello gained the popularity of the people being the 6th person to the throne.

Final Scores
Sue - 72 - How, What? Oh Well done!
Philippa - 62 - Thanks to Beatrice she assures us.
James - 59 - Not Last
Jon - 53
Mark - 50 - Oh dear what happened there. And I call myself a gamer. I should be ashamed.

Good Game.

Back to Nick in the (Paddy) Field for the next report.

Thread: Holiday Season

Moviebuffs — 2005-08-10T09:54:15+00:00

While Mark and I were trying to outwit each other in Middle Earth, Charli Jason (not the usual Jason, but another one!) and Craig had arrived.

With others expected, we didn't want to try anything too long, and so pulled out the fun little filler that three of us had played before.

I quickly went over the rules for the newbies (Craig and Jason).

Players: Charli, Craig, Jason, Mark, Nick

In the first round, I didn't really pay enough attention to who I was bringing onto the board (my theory was pick one at random then see if they're on my card!), and saw three of my favourites enter the castle in the beer cellar.

Everyone quickly adopted the strategy of "promote other people's guys and watch them get voted off", but at the same time, vote "yes" once or twice while relying on someone else to vote "no".

This worked quite well, with a couple of nerve-racking moments for some players as characters were eliminated by a single "no" vote, revealed last for added effect!

As the first round drew to a close, only Jason had "no" votes left, and so got to pick and choose the new King, someone who Mark or I wouldn't have picked - given a choice!

Scores for Rd.1: Ch 18, Cr 18, Ja 16, Ma 11, Ni 12.

Round two followed a very similar pattern. This time there were a couple fewer eliminations before the final unanimous vote, and it was Mark and Charli who didn't have the new King amongst their favourites.

Scores for Rd.2: Ch 16, Cr 19, Ja 22, Ma 12, Ni 20

Just before Rd.3, Charli morphed into Jon - a worrying moment.

In round three, I was quite happy with my initial placements, as most of my favourites were in the 3 and 4 row, with one in the 2. With the first two moves of the round, Gavino made a dash for the Throne (must have been the curry).

This was, of course, the usual pattern - Throw someone you don't want up top, get someone else to eliminate him, and keep your "no" votes for teh future.

Of course, everyone had exactly the same idea, we all voted "yes", and Gavino - despite only appearing on one card - was crowned the new King for round three.

This was a bit of a blow for Jason, who had not got his favourites into the best starting positions!

The only player with Gavino as a favourite was Mark, who was just too far back to make an impact, making it a very tense count between the others to determine the winner.

Final Scores:

Craig - 18+19+15 = 52
Nick - 12+20+19 = 51
Jason - 16+22+11 = 49
Charli/Jon - 18+16+14 = 48
Mark - 11+12+21 = 44

A good win for Craig.

Thread: Thursday Night

Moviebuffs — 2005-07-29T10:59:35+00:00

After the mayhem of the Wild West, and while the Hunters and Gatherers were still settling Carcassonne, we decided to head over to Italy (I think it's set in Italy) and try to find a new King.

This game had only seen one previous outing, in the first week with four players. I had been keen to try it again with the full complement.

Players: Philippa, Sue, James, Jon, Nick, Phil

(I've just noticed I can colour code the players, although it does take longer than just typing "red" after a name )

Rules explained and off we went.

Only placing two characters is quite limiting. I really didn't pay attention to who placed what, unless it was one of mine, and I'm assuming that everyone was so busy with their own 6 favourites that they didn't try and keep track of the other seven as well!

Having played this once before, I knew the best bet would be to promote a couple of non-favourites to the Throne Room and have them eliminated.

The first one up was moved there by James. This choice received four 'no' votes straight off! James voted yes, so we can assume he was one down!

I was quite surprised that we'd used four 'no' votes on one guy, when one 'no' would have seen him out of the game.

I promoted one of my faves from 2 to 3, trying to fly under the raddar a little, and then we were soon voting again!

The second cadidate was on my list, so I voted yes, but another four 'no' votes saw the second casualty of the round.

We only have four 'no' votes remaining between us now.

The next candidate went down as well, but the fourth candidte got the seal of approval.

Scores at Rd 1: 20, 27, 13, 26, 19, 17

James was the only player who didn;t have the King as a favourite in Rd 1.

Round two followed a similar pattern, although there was definitely a little more conservation of teh 'no' votes going on.

At one point, I played a 'yes', relying on someone else to reject the candidate, and then watched the first five people unveil 'yes' votes before James saved my skin and voted against.

Round two went a little longer than round one, as people were saving 'no' votes for later use, and there were a couple more eliminations.

Eventually, the King was crowned by default, as all 'no' votes had been cast. This created a King that only half the players wanted!

Scores after round 2: 24, 42, 30, 48, 41, 38

Round two had been a good one for Jon, taking him from second into a six-point lead.

Round three, and after placing all our candidates, James moved one of his (he always moved one of his) from 4 to 5.

This cadidate wasn't on my list, so I immediately moved him into the Throne Room and voted 'yes', relying on someone else to veto him.

Unfortunately, two people were keen on this candidate, and the other three who weren't that keen had all gone for the same tactic as me!

We had a King with the second move of the round!

Sue and James were the only happy ones at the end of round 3, and the final scores were as follows:

Sue - 64
Jon - 61
Nick - 59
James - 51
Philippa - 39
Phil - 38

A good win for Sue, and a fun filler that everyone enjoyed.

Thread: First Time Played with 4 Players

CharlieWonka — 2005-06-24T12:22:43+00:00

First time I have ever played this and the same was true of all the players. We had 30 minutes left before I was to leave for a meal with the girlfriend. A tiny bit of persuasion required to make it a 4 player game involving my girlfriend Charli along with me, Nick and Sue.

Nick goes through the rules which is nice to let someone else do it for once. You play three rounds and most points wins simple enough.

Round 1 - I decide that I will have a placing strategy of putting anyone not on my card at the bottom of the board at Level 1 and hope that someone else puts my charcters higher up the board in the empty spaces. It paid off as not one of my charcters were down at level 1 once the placing had been completed - With my movement up the ladder - I move up one of my characters that is lower down on the board but Charli with the fourth play of the game puts Beatrice onto the throne. Everybody has Beatrice on their card and everyone comes to the conclusion that 10 points is a good start. So 4 yes votes and we have a new King(Queen) Beatrice. I end up leading by 3pts as everyone scores well.

Round 2 - I don't think anybody though what happened in round 1 would happen again and we would see some no votes appearing. My placing strategy stayed the same and so did my first go moving one of my characters from level 1 to level 2. Charli decides that she will put forward a King again on her first turn and the round's fourth turn. Who'd have thought we would again all vote yes and as quickly as Beatrice had become Queen she was replaced by Aligiero(or something like that I think - I remember the picture not the name). I come out with my 3pt lead still intact as everyone scores about the same. Charli has made two rulers at this point but is a few points behind.

Round 3 - Placing strategy stayed the same but I played differently this time. Any time a character that wasn't mine got to level five I moved it to the throne so I could vote them out of the round. At one point there were four of my characters all in the 5 point section and 1 by 1 they got voted out of the round until I was left with 1 man on the board who I think scored me four but Sue had the most charcters left on the board as well as the new King I think. Giving her a final push to overtake my slim lead.

Thoroughly enjoyed playing this and due to it being a very short, fast and furious game I think it could be popular with many people I know that get distracted quickly.

Thread: Session Report

Moviebuffs — 2005-06-24T09:49:53+00:00

Charli (Mark's missus) joined us for the last game of the evening, and we had a go at Viva Il Re! (or King Me!), which none of us had played before.

Participants: Charli, Mark, Nick, Sue

Even though this was mine and everybody's first game of this, I'm guessing it was a little unusual.

In the first two rounds, after all the characters were in the castle, Charli moved somebody into the throne room on her first turn, and they were immediately crowned King (although King Beatrice is a slightly worrying name).

In both cases it turned out that that was the only character that all four players had on their cards, and therefore was the only one likely to have been voted in so early.

In round three the opposite happened, and by the time we had a king there were only four characters (and not a single 'no' vote card)left; at this point we remembered that you could 'sweep' up 33 points by getting nil, although it turned out none of us had been smart enough to go for that strategy. In fact, after we'd all received points in the 20's for the first two rounds, only Sue managed to have more than one character in tha castle.

Approximate final scores:

Sue 66
Mark 63
Nick 62
Charli 58

In the end, a really fun evening despite the low numbers, but it was our first week, it was a beautiful evening out, and I'm sure the numbers will grow.

Thanks to all who came.

Thread: Re: Strategy

glookose — 2005-06-13T17:12:35+00:00

In our game group, we tend to move opponent's candidate in every turn in order to eliminate oppoenent's characters. The game becomes silly due to this aspect. However, we find out this is the best strategy in this game.

I agree with Ben ..when my group played they moved the opponents candidate at every opportunity to avoid getting their own candidates whacked. You have no control over what happens as the votes can go either way pretty much randomly. Because there is almost no strategy and no control, this was just a time killer. You might as well play flux and call it a good filler game as to play this. Ugh.

Thread: Re:Strategy

asmiles — 2005-02-28T21:21:26+00:00

benwang (#91059),

If everyone is moving characters that don't belong to them, then how do you know that the characters you are moving actually belong to your opponent? With only limited execution cards, how do you ensure that the characters you promote actually get knocked off and don't slip through?

It sounds like your group's "group think" is reinforcing a poor play. The game is about bluffing. You want to get your characters as high as possible without getting killed. If everyone is moving other people characters up the line, then you have a random game of how did the board look when this charcter slipped through the execution chamber alive.

The game's not terribly deep, but there's plenty of room for different strategies when you don't lock into group think.

Thread: Strategy

benwang — 2005-02-28T19:52:27+00:00

Thread: Session Report

Andrew York — 2005-01-26T17:50:22+00:00

When we read the blurb about this we immediately thought it would never work within our group. We are very stubborn when it comes to sacrificing oneself for the good of the group. A few different game in the past have finished early as no-one was prepared to sacrifice their own standing to prevent a certain winner. And the pre game blurb made it sound as if this was going to be a 5 minute lottery.

There are various levels on the board and a number of tokens are distributed amongst these levels. No level may ever contain more than 4 tokens. On a players turn they promote 1 token up a level, if this moves a token to the top level a vote ensues. Everyone has 2 no votes for the round, otherwise the vote yes. If anyone votes no the token is removed from the board and doesn’t score this round. If everyone votes yes the round ends. At the start of the round each player is dealt a card that contains 6 of the tokens, at the end of each round they score for the position of each of these 6 tokens. The game is played over 3 rounds with the board repopulated, and the players getting their no cards back between rounds. In the 3rd round there are bonus points awarded if anyone gets all six of their tokens removed from the board.

Surprisingly we all got into the spirit of the game finding that most of us had used both our no votes for the first 2 rounds to remove a good many tokens. Of course we could not allow anyone to even think about getting all their tokens off the board in the final round, so the second vote got through much to Andys dismay, being the only player to have backed the eliminated token. However this did not affect him too much, being the only player to score consistently well in each of the 3 rounds and taking a comfortable victory. The rest of us were involved in a much tighter finish, with just 1 point dividing all 4 of us. Oggie was the unlucky loser finish the 1 point behind Steve, Paul and Tel.

This game is a great little filler enjoyed by all and just goes to show that you should not prejudice against games without at least 1 playing.

Scores : Andy 75, Paul 64, Steve 64, Tel 64, Oggie 63
Ratings: Andy 7, Paul 7, Steve 7, Tel 7, Oggie 7
Winner(s): Andy

Thread: User Review

msaari — 2004-06-13T17:41:43+00:00

I'm not going to much detail on the game mechanics here. Tom Vasel and Chris Brua have already written very good reviews explaining how the game works.

However, I'd like to chime in and tell you the game is actually pretty good (well, that's what they'll say, too). Despite the obvious shortcomings (pretty, but awkward pieces and non-exclusivity of goals leading to short rounds) it's a fun little filler or a good game for the whole family. It's certainly easy enough to learn without extensive boardgaming experience.

If your group has standard fillers you like to play over and over again, there's little need for Viva il Re! However, if you're looking for something new to fill the spaces between heavier games (Viva il Re! certainly doesn't burden your brains) and don't mind a bit of a bluffing, here's a game for you. It's not that deep a bluffing game, but the bluffing element is there.

My rating has come down from initial nine, but I'll still play the game with pleasure. Therefore I'll give it eight and expect that to hold quite well.

Thread: Session Report

Norbert Chan — 2004-05-06T02:30:18+00:00

Craig brought out King Me! for the last game of the day. It's designed by Stefano Luperto, released in 2003 by Mayfair Games/daVinci Games. It's for 3-6 players. Board shows 7 levels of a castle. Top level is worth 10 pts, second level is 5 points, third levels is 4 pts, and so on to the last level worth 0 pts. Every level, except the first level can hold a maximum of 4 characters. There are 13 characters in the game. Game is played in three rounds. Each round, a player is dealt a card, showing which 6 characters they want to support. Players then go around in clockwise order either putting in a character on one of the bottom 5 levels, or moving a character up a level (once all characters are on the castle), if space is available. Each player also initially has 3 cards in their hand: a 'yes' card and two 'no' cards. These cards are used when a character reaches the top level. Everyone must vote to see if they desire that character to be king. If everyone votes yes, scoring takes place immediately and a new round begins. If any player votes 'no', that character is discarded for the round, and that player's 'no' card is also discarded for the round.

In our game, there was a lot of posturing in the first two rounds, until the early third round when Don brought a character to the top, and everyone voted yes. It turns out that character was not on anyone's list, but we were all fearful of wasting a 'no' card. Game ended in Craig's favour, as he had many of his characters on the second level.

Round by round scores
1. Craig 27, Trevor 18, Gary 23, Norbert 23, Don 20
2. Craig 49, Trevor 41, Gary 46, Norbert 48, Don 40
3. Craig 61, Trevor 58, Gary 58, Norbert 53, Don 44

So it's a game of bluffing and double think. You'll enjoy this game if you like Adel Verplicht. I'm not a huge fan of these games, but I will be willing to play this game again

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2003-12-09T12:19:27+00:00

On a geek list at www.boardgamegeek.com, I was reading some comments, and one gamer stated that “Italy was simply not known for its vast quantity of hard-core board gamers.” I seriously think that this will soon change, due to the immense amount of excellent games coming out of that country. Viva il Re! (Da Vinci Games, 2003 – Stefano Luperto) is yet another example of such a game. (Mayfair also produces a version called King Me!)

And while I have yet to see anyone claim that this is their favorite game, many folk (myself included) have lauded this game as an excellent filler, a short fun game, one that can easily be added to any gaming session! It’s from the same company that gave us the fascinating game Bang!, another fun multiplayer game (although King Me! doesn’t polarize the gaming community like Bang! did). The game is setup and played in ease, one of the things that ensures its likeability.

A small board is set up in the middle of the table, showing the king’s castle, with its seven floors. Shockingly, there is a scoring track around the outside of the board, where each player places a scoring cube of their color. Each player also receives some voting cards, one “yes” card of their color, and then a certain amount of “no” cards (from two to four, depends on amount of players.) Each player then draws a secret goal card from a stack of twenty-six cards, keeping it hidden from the other players. The goal card shows which six of the thirteen characters in the game that player favors. One player is chosen to go first, and the first round begins.

The first part of a round consists of putting the characters in the castle. Starting with the first player and continuing around the table, each player places any of the thirteen characters onto any of the first four floors of the castle. Each player puts out an equal amount of characters, (only four are allowed per floor), with the leftover characters going into the servants floor, below the first floor. After this, the ascension to the throne occurs. Since the king so kindly is giving up the throne, players are trying to maneuver one of their six favorites to become the next king. On their turn, a player can move any one character up one floor, as long as there is room on the floor above him. If any character is moved into the top floor – the throne – an election immediately takes place.

In an election, each player chooses one of their vote cards and places it face down on the table, after which all votes are revealed simultaneously. If all votes are “yes”, that character becomes king, and the round ends. If ANY vote is “no”, then that character is killed and all “no” votes are discarded for the remainder of that round. The game then continues, until eventually a character becomes king.

Once a character becomes king, the round ends, and scoring takes place. Each player reveals their card, and gets points for the characters they favor who are still on the board. Each character earns the players who favored it points equal to the floor the character is on, except for servants – who score no points, and the king – who scores 10 points. All players then get their “no” cards back, and the next round begins. In the third round, if a player scores no points, they get 33 points (kind of like shooting the moon). After the third round, the player with the most points is the winner!

Some comments on the game:

1.) Components: The artwork is very cartoonish, but fits the theme of the game well, and certainly fits the lightheartedness of the game mechanics. Each character is a fairly large sized cardboard rounded tile stuck in a plastic stand. The characters all have a different name, each starting with a different letter. On one side of the character, this letter is huge, allowing easy visibility to see which character is which, while on the other side, a picture of the character graces the token – each one a different color. All this makes the characters very easy to distinguish. The board is bright and colorful, again matching the theme. A large crown token is provided to show when an election is taking place – but I really don’t see the point of using it. All these cards and other components fit well in a nice, sturdy box.

2.) Rules: Unlike many Italian games, I really haven’t found any problems with the translation of this game – it’s very well written. The rules come in a medium-sized booklet, with five languages, each with three pages. Color illustrations and examples round out the extremely simple rules, which certainly don’t need to be consulted after the game is played once. I found that people pick up on the subtleties of the game (such that are) almost right away, and folk of all ages understand it quickly.

3.) Voting: The voting process is as fun as it’s fast, and the results are often unexpected. Sometimes you’ll move a candidate up to the throne for the sole purpose of kicking him out of the game, but you don’t want to waste one of your own “no” votes (or don’t have any more). Then you hope that someone else uses their “no” vote. Of course, if everybody thinks this, the candidate can win, disappointing all those who should have voted “no”. So there is an aspect of bluffing in the game, as the players must determine exactly when to vote “no”, and when to save these few votes they have. It’s annoying when you vote “no”, and so does two or more other players – as you feel you wasted a card.

4.) Shooting the Moon: Although it’s not called this, it has the same feeling. Sure, you can try to get all of your favorite characters knocked off in the last round, but if one survives, you are going to be in a world of hurt. However, if you manage to do it – oh the glory and the satisfaction! This rule makes the last round a lot of fun.

5.) Time and players: The game plays fairly well with three players, but I prefer more, since any voting game seems to work better with more players. The time goes quickly, as long as nobody takes a long time to vote. Most games last twenty to thirty minutes (as stated on the box), and you’re involved the whole time. This game is one of my favorite fillers, as it’s easy to teach and pick up right away, and everybody has a good chance of winning. (Unless you’re a moron when you vote).

6.) Theme and Fun Factor: The theme fits the game rather well, in my opinion, and really helps the game a little. All the artwork contributes to it, and even that stupid crown piece. There is strategy in the initial layout, and when to move what character. But the real meat of the game, the “funnest” thing of all – is the voting, and it’s what makes King Me! stand out from the crowd.

So I highly recommend King Me! I don’t think that there are many people who will dislike the game, as it’s quick, fun, and players have some control over what happens. Even though there is nothing in the game to distinguish it as the Ultimate Game Ever Made, it’s a fantastic filler and well worth the price. Whether playing with young or old, or mixed groups – Viva il Re! is a worthy game to add to your collection!

Tom Vasel

Thread: Session Report

garrylloyd — 2003-12-04T02:11:52+00:00

Players: John, Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry

While waiting to see if Nige was going to arrive (which he did as soon as I’d finished), I explained the rules to this new release from Da Vinci / Mayfair Games. The king is trying to find a successor and 13 candidates are hoping to get the job. Each player has an interest in 6 of the characters and aim to move these characters towards the throne room. The closer a character is to the King, the more points it scores. When a character reaches the throne room, the players all vote on whether the character should become King. If all vote Yes, the round ends and players score points for each of their characters. If anyone votes No, the character is eliminated from the round and play continues. As players have a limited number of No votes at their disposal (2 with five players), eventually a King must be chosen. After three rounds, the player with the most points wins.

This is a very simple game and quite enjoyable in trying to work out who is going to vote which way. You don’t want to waste your No votes if someone else could be voting No anyway, but you then run the risk of everyone else thinking the same way, resulting in a unanimous Yes. The first round saw several characters eliminated before a successful vote took place, meaning the scores were pretty low for most. The second round was a lot quicker with the second candidate getting the thumbs up and netting Mark G a good score. The final round was also quick and Mark K and John emerged tied for the win.

Result: John=Mark K 69, Garry 67, Mark G 63, Nige 57

Ratings: John 7, Mark K 7, Garry 6, Mark G 7, Nige 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2003-11-17T14:36:31+00:00

We used the Leftcoast Gamers voting method to choose our next game, with this new Mayfair release edging out Medici. Our group enjoyed the game last week and it received a similar good reaction this time.

Jim, Keith, Darren, Elizabeth, Steve and I vied to maneuver our favorite nobles to the throne. I held a narrow 2 point lead over Steve entering the third and final round, only to have four of my six candidates hammered and removed from the castle. Steve scored big to capture the victory.

Finals: Steve 84, Darren 76, Greg 67, Jim 58, Keith 57, Elizabeth 48

Ratings: Steve 7.5, Jim 7.5, Elizabeth 7, Keith 7, Darren 6.5, Greg 6

Thread: Preview

gschloesser — 2003-10-13T16:12:38+00:00

Mayfair’s latest release, King Me, is from a relatively unknown designer: Stefano Luperto. As opposed to many of Mayfair’s releases, this one is much lighter and falls squarely in the ‘family’ game category.

The theme is rather familiar: the reigning king is seeking his successor from amongst his subjects. Players each have secret favorites and try to manipulate them to the throne and the top positions in his circle of advisors.

Thirteen different characters vie for the crown and are moved up the seven floors of the king’s castle. Each player is dealt a card listing six of the characters and the object for each player is to move these characters to the highest levels of the castle. Each player also receives three vote cards (more with fewer players), one “yes” and two “no” cards.

After an initial sequence wherein players each move several characters into the castle (no higher than the fourth floor), players then take turns moving one character up one floor. The only restriction is that a floor cannot hold more than four characters, which creates situations wherein players are sometimes forced to move characters they would rather not move.

If a character ascends to the 7th floor – the throne room – an election is held to determine if he becomes king. Each player lays one of their vote cards face-down and simultaneously reveals them. If all of the vote cards are “yes”, a new king is elected and players score based upon the level that the six characters they favor occupy.

If, however, at least one player votes “no”, the pretender to the throne is deposed and removed from the game. That character will not score any points. The big factor to consider, however, is that any “no” cards played are discarded. Thus, as the round progresses, fewer players will possess “no” cards, making the eventual election of a king inevitable.

In spite of its simplicity, the game is forces some important decisions on the players. Deciding which character to move can be important, particularly when faced with the choice of moving a character to the throne for the “yes” or “no” vote. The temptation is to move one of the characters you secretly support, but if that character receives a “no” vote, the character is removed from the game and will earn the player zero points. However, moving a character you don’t support to the throne carries the risk of him being elected, earning an abundance of points for the opponents who support him. However, sometimes this is a wise tactic, as that character may be ousted. Further, even if he is not ousted, your other characters may all be in high positions in the castle, which means you will earn an abundance of points in spite of not supporting the character who becomes king.

There is also a strong element of “group think” involved, as you try to get inside the heads of your opponents and guess which way they will vote. Players will usually try to conserve their “no” cards, so you cannot count on someone else casting a “no” vote. This makes each vote tense and deciding when to play your “no” cards can cause pangs of angst. It is also quite possible to have a king named very early, which is what occurred in the second round of our game.

Once a king is elected, characters remaining in the castle earn points dependent upon the floor they occupy. The king earns his supporters 10 points, with floors 2 – 6 earning 1 – 5 points. After points are tallied, the board is re-set and a new round held. After three rounds, the player with the greatest cumulative points is victorious.

Thus, the game is one of bluff, maneuvering, guesswork, timing and decisions. Quite a bit involved for a fast, easy, light game that plays in about 30 – 40 minutes. After reading the rules, I can honestly say that I didn’t think I would enjoy it. My assumption was incorrect. No, it is not the pinnacle of game design or the height of the strategic mountain, but it is fun and filled with interesting choices. I can see it being a good “in-betweener” as well as a game that will prove popular with my casual gaming friends.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2003-10-13T16:09:47+00:00

Thread: Re:User Review

cbrua — 2003-10-01T11:57:36+00:00

roberto (#20217),

Aha! Now I get it!

Thank you!

--Chris

Thread: Re:User Review

roberto — 2003-10-01T06:46:03+00:00

cbrua (#20212),
Why 33 points? Well, the rules state that is the highest score possible in a round, but I think that is in error: the highest possible score is 10+5+5+5+5+4 = 34 points.

In order to have a pawn promoted to King, it must have previously occupied the 5th floor, leaving a "vacant" space. So the correct highest score is:
10+5+5+5+4+4 = 33.

Ciao
Roberto

Thread: User Review

cbrua — 2003-10-01T04:26:59+00:00

King Me! is the second game to come from the partnership of daVinci Games and Mayfair Games (their first was the second edition of daVinci’s card game Bang!). It is a charming and clever bluffing game in which players try to manipulate a common set of pawns so that they (hopefully) score more points at the end of the round than their opponents. While that goal is similar to games like Heimlich & Co., King Me! incorporates a few elements that make it different and, to me, more enjoyable. Its short playing time (20 minutes) and low-complexity rules make it a good “warm up” or “filler” game as well as a good family game. I recommend it.

Game Play Summary
The theme of the game is that the enlightened monarch Vladimiro Miritiro, tired of reigning, has decided to choose his successor from among his subjects. 13 candidates vie for position within the castle, each hoping to be crowned as the new king.

At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt one of the 26 different secret goal cards. The card lists 6 of the 13 candidates. These are the 6 candidates that the player “favors” and they will score points for the player at the end of the round. Players are also given a set of voting cards: one “yes” and several “no” cards (the number varies with the number of players).

The game board depicts a castle with 7 different floors: from the lowly Servant’s Quarters at the bottom, to the majestic King’s Throne Room at the top. At the beginning of the game the players take turns placing the 13 candidate pawns onto the board. A player may place a candidate on floors marked 1, 2, 3 or 4. No more than four candidates can be placed on any single floor. All players place an equal number of candidates; any pawns left over are placed in the servant’s quarters (floor 0).

Now players take turns moving the candidates. On their turn a player chooses one of the candidates and moves it up exactly one floor. Candidates can never be moved downwards. At no time can more than four candidates occupy a single floor, so some of candidates will not be eligible to move until one of the candidates on the floor above them is moved.

When a player moves a candidate from the 5th floor into the throne room an election is held. All players now secretly choose a voting card and simultaneously reveal them. If any player votes “no”, the candidate pawn is removed from the board and the game continues. All “yes” votes are returned to the respective players and all “no” votes are discarded. Each player is given a limited number of “no” cards at the beginning of the game, so when they run out that player has no choice but to vote “yes” for all of the remaining elections.

When all of the players vote “yes” during an election, the round is over and players score their positions. The candidate that was moved into the throne room to trigger the election is crowned as the new king and anyone having that candidate listed on their secret goal card scores 10 points. Any candidates remaining on the board are worth points equal to the floor number on which they reside for any player that has those candidates listed on their goal card. So while having one of your favored candidates crowned king is worth 10 points to you, having 2 of your favored candidates on the 5th floor at the end of the round is also worth 10 points.

Players indicate their scores by moving their scoring markers along the point track on the edge of the board. The candidate pawns are then removed from the board, a new goal card is dealt out to each player, and a new round begins (with placing the pawns on the board). A total of three rounds are played. The player with the highest score at the end of the third round wins the game. There is one special scoring opportunity: in the third round (and only the third round), if a player scores exactly zero points they are instead awarded 33 points – kind of like “shooting the moon” in Hearts. Why 33 points? Well, the rules state that is the highest score possible in a round, but I think that is in error: the highest possible score is 10+5+5+5+5+4 = 34 points. So use 34 points if you want, I don’t think it matters. Managing to get all six of your candidates either voted out or left in the Servant’s Quarters (remember, you can't move downwards!) is quite a feat!

Opinions
The components are simple, but typical high German quality: thick cardboard tiles, sturdy plastic stands, nicely painted wooden cubes, and good quality half-sized cards. The artwork consists of simple illustrations but they are nicely done and their cartoon-like appearance adds to the joviality and light-hearted nature of the game.

I’ve played the game several times with anywhere from 3 players (the minimum) to 6 players (the maximum). As you might expect, the game is a little more chaotic with more people because there are more moves that take place between your turns and because there are a greater number of different goal cards in play (which affects how people vote). The game has a fairly high random nature anyway, so I find that I enjoy it more with a greater number of players. It plays fine with any number, but with 5 or 6 there is less chance for everyone to have common candidates so the voting is more exciting.

What I like about King Me! over similar “everyone moves all the pawns but each secretly has one that they score on” games is the quick pace and the interesting decisions that you make involving the voting rounds. Do you advance one of your own favored candidates up for a vote and risk having him eliminated, or do you wait for somebody else to do it and instead concentrate on moving your other favored candidates up to higher scoring floors? When is it worth advancing up for election one of the candidates that you do not favor simply in order to eliminate him? When a non-favored candidate is up for election, do you use one of your own limited “no” votes or instead vote “yes” and take the risk that somebody else will use one of their “no” votes? These are not agonizing decisions, but they are fun, and in the case of sloughing-off on the vote for a non-favored candidate, the five points that you could end up giving your opponents could cost you the game!

To be fair, the one aspect of King Me! that I enjoy less than similar games is that the player goals are not mutually exclusive. It is entirely possible for all of the players to have one or more candidates in common on their goal cards. If a common candidate is advanced for voting early in the round, the round can end quite suddenly, making the initial placement of the pawns the most important decision that you made that round. This isn't a problem, but it isn't as satisfying as when there are several voting rounds and you have more time to jockey your candidates around on the board. This also means there really is not much of a deduction aspect to the game because there is no "given" information: some candidates may be favored by everyone, others by no-one, so there really is no way to deduce which candidates your opponents favor...not all of them, anyway. Again, this isn't a problem with game, in fact it keeps the game quick and light which is good. But it does mean that there is a little less strategy and control than similar games and so it may not be as appealing to some players.

King Me! is a light game – no doubt about it. You will not spend minutes agonizing over your next move or spend the very short down-time between your turns trying to figure out which candidates the other players favor. It is a quick game of bluffing and second-guessing and that quickness is its strength: players stay engaged throughout the game and it is over before it gets boring. Nobody takes it personally when one of their favored candidates gets tossed out of the castle!

King Me! is a good game for what it is meant to be: light, quick and entertaining. I am happy to add it to my collection and even more happy to have another game to compete with Alles im Eimer and Coloretto for my extended family's gaming attention!