Review | Ku-Ka-King board game review

A new card game comes from Kendi-Games.

“Rock-paper-scissors” as a game of cards? Almost, but with high entertainment value.

Bjorn Schwarzmüller

Game description

Depending on the number of players, we have 6 to 8 rows containing three cards at the beginning of each round. These cards show, for example, kings, knights, farmers' wives or various animals. We want to show these cards in two scoring rounds so they can lead us to win there by a lot of points. The more identical kings, knights or animals we display in our display, the more victory points will fall.

We acquire cards, round after round, in collaboration with our fellow players Ko ka king Call and at the end show with your fingers the row whose cards we want to get. If I'm alone, I get all three cards. If someone else wants that row, one card disappears in the discard pile and we can call Ku-Ka-King again and set the row. The scores are tallied twice, then the scores are settled and the new king is determined…ahhh…the winner is determined.

Author: Reinhard Staub Illustrations: Sandra and Oliver Freudenreich
Publisher: KENDi Games ■ Release year: 2023

2-4 players

From 8 years

About 20 minutes

Rules of the game (link redirected to)

Gaming feeling

By reputation alone Ko ka king With reference to “rock-paper-scissors”, the most important rule is quickly explained and the rulebook presents the game nicely in brief and with very good examples. When everyone is shouting together, shaking their fists and showing numbers, the mood is usually already high.

When the fight for the popular ranks begins, you can even act tactically and a little mean if you want. Because betting on the same row with the opponent takes the cards out of the game and this means that a number of victory points in our games have already been lost.

What makes the game so good is the aforementioned active part while deciding out loud on a row. As a simple family game for beginners, it still fits into a busy gamer's evening. Always welcome as a way to lighten things up and the last match took place while standing. “Sports activities” on match night.

There are also the wonderful graphics of Oliver and Sandra Freudenreich, which make the game look almost childish, but are so adorable that they capture and inspire everyone.

Kendi Games has certainly brought their strongest games to their collection and author Reinhard Staupe has created a fantastic game with great and funny gameplay moments.

summary

This interactive card game is quickly explained and played that will keep you entertained every round. The reviewer would like to be mentioned in our Game of the Year recommendations list.

• Great activity at the table
• Great graphics
• Suitable for beginners to experts

• Very high number of card rows with two players (little interaction)
• Space requirements are unexpectedly high for a small set of cards

From my point of view as a player: The fact that this game is being well received as a nightcap, starter or as a way to relax even for frequent players like me can definitely be seen from the previous text and it is actually one of my favorite games of 2023. I like to put it between two fairly complex games, so You can relax again after being stiff at the table. In this sense “mud-stones-shards” aaah KU-KA-KING!