{"id":3531,"date":"2005-10-20T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2005\/10\/20\/bigkini\/"},"modified":"2005-10-20T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-10-20T10:00:00","slug":"bigkini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2005\/10\/20\/bigkini\/","title":{"rendered":"Big\nKini"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big
\nKini<\/a><\/h2>\n

reviewed by Moritz Eggert<\/i><\/p>\n

Big Kini is the first published game by gaming veteran Guido Eckhof. Guido’s game
\nshop “Guido’s Spieleck” used to be me one of my favourite haunts during my
\nformative years as a gamer, so of course there is a hint of nostalgic sympathy from me in
\nthis review. Nevertheless I wouldn’t call myself an independent reviewer if I
\nwasn’t able to judge a game on its own merits, so here we go\u2026<\/p>\n

Big Kini (the title hints at “bikini’s”, the “bikini islands”
\nbut can also mean “The Big King”, if you understand “Kini” in its
\nBavarian meaning – although Bavarians would stress that only Koenig Ludwig – the fairy
\ntale king – was actually called “kini”, but I digress\u2026) plays on a yet
\nuncharted island territory. The players try to conquer posts, milk the islands of their
\nresources and to gain fame through discovery of new islands. The game ends when either
\nall islands are explored or 12 rounds have passed. Most VP’s win, as usual.<\/p>\n

In typical Settler’s style a modular board is built, consisting of hexes with
\nthree islands each.<\/p>\n

These islands come in 4 different sorts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. producing new pawns, or farmers,<\/li>\n
  2. producing money,<\/li>\n
  3. producing three different kinds of goods to be harvested or<\/li>\n
  4. producing ships (or movement ability, the number of ships equalling movement
    \npoints).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Each player selects one of these hexes as starting space and places two pawns (or
    \ncubes in this case). All the hexes are different, and pay different starting money. On
    \neach hex are empty spaces which denote “posts”.<\/p>\n

    There are three types of posts:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. “Island Steward” (controls one island only, the lowliest post, worth 1 VP
      \nat the end of the game if occupied by your cube,<\/li>\n
    2. “Reef Minister” (controls two islands, worth 2 VP) and finally<\/li>\n
    3. “Bay Baron” (controls all islands on a hex, worth a whopping 5 VP).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In (changing) order from wandering start player each player now has two actions, which
      \nare marked on a separate action board. These actions are:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • multiply (players in your group will most certainly find
        \nmore…eh…”basic” words to describe what’s exactly happening here = place
        \na new cube on a free farmer space,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
      • move = move a cube to a free position or “post” – either on the same hex or
        \nto another hex, paying 1 money per hex moved. If you don’t control an island with
        \nmovement ability on the starting hex you won’t be able to move to another hex from
        \nthere,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
      • produce money = get the money from a factory you own (varies),\n<\/li>\n
      • harvest one of three goods,\n<\/li>\n
      • election = if there are at least two cubes with posts on a hex they can vote to move
        \none of those up to the position of Bay Baron (which can not be occupied without an
        \nelection),<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
      • discovery = move a cube with the movement ability and pay 5 money extra to reveal an
        \nundiscovered hex (2 VP for each hex that is such discovered).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        The “hitch” of the action board is as follows: if you are the FIRST player
        \nto use an action, you will be able to do it DOUBLE. This is extremely powerful, as you
        \ncan create TWO new cubes, or have TWO factories produce money, etc.<\/p>\n

        \"board\"\/<\/p>\n

        The second player to place the same action can only do it “normally”,
        \nwhereas the third player already has to pay two money to actually do a singular action.
        \nThis means that your turn order will be extremely important for your tactical decisions
        \nthis round. Sometimes you have to consider doing something that you rather wouldn’t
        \nhave done, or you will do a double action simply to deprive another player of doing the
        \nsame!<\/p>\n

        Voting the Bay Baron is a special process: You need the simple majority to vote one of
        \nyour cubes into the post, but if you actually incite the action yourself you can win a
        \ntie. Some Bay Barons can also be bribed into their posts by paying resources of a certain
        \ntype (which you have to spend). But triplets of three different resources also give 3
        \nVP’s at the end of the game, so you will consider if you want to actually spend them
        \nfor political battles.<\/p>\n

        How does it play? Big Kini belongs into the category of multi-player-solitaire games,
        \nas most of the time you will be content expanding your own empire. But the other players
        \nwill constantly foil your plans by placing actions before you on the action board, so
        \nthere is a constant influence in what players can do through the actions of the others.
        \nThe conquest of new tiles at your doorstep or sending your cubes on the hexes of other
        \nplayers can seriously disrupt plans and further the development of others, so if you play
        \nwith a more aggressive group this can even be a kind of wargame, with ministers and
        \nstewards battling it out for the coveted Bay Baron posts. Therefore one of the most
        \nimportant tips you have to give new players is: multiply, multiply, multiply, as having
        \nmore cubes in play will give you more options.<\/p>\n

        But luckily Big Kini never falls into the trap of similar empire building games, by
        \nmaking the proceedings too cumbersome and the game drag through constant
        \nmicro-management. In fact Big Kini plays astonishingly quick with a good boardgame feel
        \n(expect it to last 60-90 minutes). As each player action is clearly defined, the game
        \nmoves on at a good pace, as there are no fiddly things to do and the number of cubes is
        \nalways in a range that can be easily handled. Of course there might always be the
        \npondering types among your group\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
        Characteristics<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
        Playing time:<\/td>\n60-90 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        Explaining the rules:<\/td>\n10-15 minutes, no real difficulties here, as everything is very logical and easy to
        \ngrasp<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        Players:<\/td>\n1-4 basic game, expansion gives “action” cards, making the game more
        \ncompetitive, and the possibility to expand the board for 5 or 6 players<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        Game material\/graphics:<\/td>\ncute, game material efficient without being lush<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        Rules:<\/td>\nin English and German, no understanding of card or board text necessary, which makes
        \nthe game perfectly easy to play for non-Germans. All symbols are very clear and don’t
        \nneed constant referring to the rule book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

        The lightly handled theme creates a fun atmosphere – the island setting is artificial
        \n(originally this was supposed to be a SF game, but these never sell well in the German
        \nmarket) but somehow fresh, and the humoristic drawings are actually quite cute and funny.
        \nI personally really like this game – it plays quickly, and can be taught quickly as well.
        \nIt is certainly not above Settlers in its level of complexity, and so could be a good
        \ngame to introduce new gamers to the finer arts of boardgaming while giving seasoned
        \nplayers a lot of food for thought without them feeling undernourished. If you don’t
        \ntrust my judgment alone: this was also the general feeling of gamers playing Big Kini at
        \nthe Essen fair, as it was – together with the already much-talked-about Caylus – the
        \n“Best of Show” – game at the Fairplay booth. As there is momentarily a
        \nprofusion of light “filler” games or heavier “gamer’s games”
        \n(like Caylus) it is good to have a game of the “medium” category, which is so
        \nrarely present right now.<\/p>\n

        PlayMe (originally a mail-order store for games) can be congratulated on giving Guido
        \nEckhof a chance to develop this great new game and risking publishing it in an already
        \ncrowded market. It certainly has made a good splash at Essen, and I’m sure it will
        \ncontinue so in the future.<\/p>\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Big Kini reviewed by Moritz Eggert Big Kini is the first published game by gaming veteran Guido Eckhof. Guido’s game shop “Guido’s Spieleck” used to be me one of my favourite haunts during my formative years as a gamer, so of course there is a hint of nostalgic sympathy from me in this review. Nevertheless … Big
        \nKini<\/span> weiterlesen →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spieleabende"],"views":6,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}