Kingdom Run

About this board game

Kingdom Run is a 25-minute race game for 2–4 players, in which rival clans compete to win the throne of Ewala and rule the kingdom for a century.

Every hundred years, the King organizes a contest between the clans. Each clan sends four athletes into the race, but speed alone will not secure victory. The central challenge is that moving your own athletes forward can also move your opponents ahead.

On your turn, roll four dice to determine the actions available to you. Some dice can be rerolled once, giving you an opportunity to adjust your choices. You can use your actions to advance your own athletes, or deliberately move opposing athletes so that your clan can travel farther.

• Race with four athletes representing your clan.
• Roll four action dice on each turn.
• Use clever movement choices to manipulate the pace of the race.
• Take advantage of full cells and the lake to disrupt opposing athletes.

Movement is governed by a distinctive gap-based rule: each step forward that you take means two steps forward for an opponent, unless the distance between you is too great. This creates a constantly shifting contest in which helping another clan may be the best way to improve your own position.

Cells also affect how athletes finish their movement. When a cell contains four people, it is full, and athletes who should have ended there continue one cell farther. This can be used tactically, including as a way to avoid the lake by filling a space with opposing athletes.

With its unusual movement system, dice-driven decisions, and opportunities to interfere with rival clans, Kingdom Run asks players to think carefully about every step on the path to becoming the next king of Ewala.