Do you get a kick from playing strategy games ? Do you enjoy playing games that entail devising elaborate plans to win? If the answer is yes, then you must try out the Bunny Kingdom. If you’ve never played any strategy games, you have no idea what you’re missing!

Not only are such games fun, but they also improve your brain functions in many ways that you may not initially realize. Your critical thinking and response to stressful situations will significantly improve, thus making you more productive. Once you get started, you’ll be a huge fan in no time. 

What Is Bunny Kingdom All About?

Developed in 2017 by Richard Garfield, a renowned game designer, Bunny Kingdom is one of the best friends and family board games that you can play on any occasion, be it Christmas or weekend game nights. A word of caution: this game is a choking hazard for toddlers, and only children above 14 years of age should play.

Bunny Kingdom can be played by two to four players taking between 40 and 60 minutes of playtime and four rounds. In every round, players will develop fiefs, farm new resources, construct cities, and receive parchments. How you choose your cards helps you build your strategy. Every action has a consequence: each card you pass on could just as quickly help your opponents.

Based on each player’s fiefs, strength, and wealth, they will harvest golden carrots at the end of every round. Parchments are only revealed at the end of round four. The player with the highest number of golden carrots wins the game. 

Components of Bunny Kingdom

So your interest is piqued, and you’re wondering what features you will find in this board game. Here are the elements you can expect to find in your package: 

• 1 New World board measuring 21.5 by 17.5 inches (54.6 by 44.5 cm)
• 182 exploration cards
• 144 rabbit figurines (36 pieces per color)
• 12 farm tokens
• 6 camp tokens
• 6 sky tower tokens
• 27 strength 1 cities
• 9 strength 2 cities
• 3 strength 3 cities
• 4 player aid cards
• 1 rule book 

Setting up the Game

You now have your game in hand. How do you set it up? You can choose to find out at your next game night, or if you want to step ahead of everyone else, you can do a little research. The board game comes with a manual that will have the following details:  

• Set up the board in the middle of the table (or floor if you wish). Place a strength 1 city on each city space provided on the board.   
   
• Let each player, including yourself, choose their preferred rabbit figurine color. Once done, each player puts all their 36 figurines in front of them while placing one on space zero allocated on the score track.      
   
• Put the remaining cities and tokens next to the boards.     
   
• Shuffle the exploration cards and make a deck that you’ll place face-down alongside the board. 

Playing the Game

You’re all set up. It’s now time to play the game! Without revealing the card contents, issue each player 12 cards if you’re three players in the game, or ten cards if there’s two or four of you. As mentioned earlier, the game has four rounds of play, after which the parchment cards are revealed, and the winner is determined. Each round has three phases of play that each player should play simultaneously: exploration, construction, and harvest.

Bunny Kingdom is a game that entails drafting and resource control. Each square on the board is a territory. When your bunnies occupy a group of territories, they become a fief. It is crucial to note that territories can only connect horizontally or vertically, not diagonally. One way of earning points is by owning fiefs. Another way is by parchments, which are cards with point values that you can draft. 

• The Exploration Phase 

From the cards in hand, choose two that you will play. Place them face-down in front of you and the others beside you. You will eventually pass the cards that you have placed beside you to either of the players. In rounds one and three, you’ll give them to the player on your left, while in rounds two and four, you’ll pass them to the player on your right.

If you choose to play a parchment card, place it in front of you without revealing it: all players will show them at the end of the fourth round. If you choose to play a territory card, place one rabbit figurine on the territory indicated on your card. This territory becomes yours to control moving forwards. You should then place the territory card in your discard pile.

If the territory indicated on your card is already occupied, remove the rabbit and camp token before placing your rabbit. This move means that your opponent has lost the territory. However, if you’re already occupying this territory, remove the camp token, and get ready to build. If you choose to play a building card, reveal it (face-up) and put the city, camp, or sky tower token on it. Buildings allow you to make your fiefs more valuable.

Once you have played the building card, discard the previous card. If you choose to play a provisions card, you should draw and play two cards from the deck immediately. Discard the provisions card as well. After everyone has played their turn, all players can share their discarded cards. You should repeat the draft and play steps until all hand cards are over. Once completed, you can proceed to the construction phase.  

• The Construction Phase 

In this phase, you can now play your building cards by placing them on the board. So what is the benefit of building? Constructing buildings increases the size, strength, and wealth of your fiefs. Strength refers to the number of towers in a fief, while wealth refers to the number of resources that a fief produces.

The strength city (1, 2, or 3) you build increases the strength of your fief by the figures, respectively. Building farms grows your fief’s wealth. A fief can typically produce wood or carrots. With the right play, a fief can also create other luxury resources like fish, mushrooms, and gold.

As with all games, players must abide by all the rules. A player can only place buildings on territories they control. Once set, no player can move your buildings. Camps, on the other hand, can be put on empty territories. A territory should have no more than one forest and one building.  

• The Harvest Phase 

In this phase, all players can now harvest golden carrots from their fiefs. You should note that a fief can only produce golden carrots if it has at least one city and one resource. As mentioned earlier, you measure the strength of fiefs by counting the number of towers in their cities.

A strength 1 city has one tower, while its counterpart cities have two and three towers, respectively. For example, if a fief has two strength 1 cities and two strength 2 cities, its strength is four.

You measure a fief’s wealth by counting the different resources it produces, not the number of items of a particular resource. In other words, a fief that provides one carrot, one wood, one fish, and two mushrooms (4 resources) is wealthier than that which produces three carrots and three mushrooms (2 resources). You can determine a fief’s total value by multiplying its strength by its wealth. For instance, if fief A has four strength and four wealth, its total value is 16. 

The End of the Game

The game is over after all players have finished the fourth round. The players will then reveal their parchment cards (one at a time) and begin settling the final score. Every point you gain moves your rabbit up the score track. The player with the highest points wins and earns the title of “Big Ears.” Unfortunately, if there’s a tie, then the winners will have to share their victory.

Are you convinced yet? Get yourself the Bunny Kingdom game today and give it a try. The cute graphics make it fun for the whole family, and the competitive aspect is guaranteed to make your next game night an absolute blast!