Describing itself as “the cuddliest game of conquest”, Button Kingdoms is a deckbuilding board game that’s currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Players take on the role of children who are using their imaginations, and their collections of plushies, to wage war against each other in order to control the playground.
In Button Kingdoms, play is split into several phases. The core of the game revolves around auctions that occur in the Button Kingdoms Bazaar. Players place ‘intention stones’ face down, representing how many buttons (the currency of the game) they’ll be putting in, or enabling them to attempt to boycott cards that they would rather nobody got their hands on. Once the bidding ends, players add these cards to their discard piles to inevitably get shuffled into their decks later, in true deck building fashion.
Cards in Button Kingdoms can be played at different points during the turn to produce different effects. Cards played during the day (which occurs prior to bidding in the bazaar) provide a variety of beneficial effects, while cards played during the night (which occurs after bidding has resolved) can be used to harm the opposition, by launching attacks, and activating a variety of other effects.
By bludgeoning through an opponent’s defenses, you’re able to steal the throne of their kingdom, which will grant a large influx of victory points. Once more than half of these thrones have been seized, the game ends, and whoever has the most victory points becomes the uncontested ruler of the Button Kingdoms.
The base game is available for $55 (£41). A deluxe edition, with higher quality components, can be purchased for $79 ($58), and you can also grab the Shadow Ports expansion, alongside a deluxe copy of the base game, for $90 ($67). There are also additional tiers available, which include plushies stylized like the ones in the game.
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Source: Wargamer
