Build a coalition of subjects and become the king’s head advisor in the card drafting game King’s Coalition from newer board game publisher Play to Z,
You only have six rounds to create the best hand possible but watch out as the king’s desires change like the weather and you will only learn his current preferences as the game progresses.
Disclosure: Thanks to the big Z himself, Zev, for hooking us up with an advanced copy of Play to Z’s first game. Some links below are affiliate links. Using these links costs you nothing extra and helps us offset the cost of producing this show. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Learn about King’s Coalition the card game.
Play to Z Games is a newer board game publisher founded by Zev Shlasinger (the man behind Z-Man Games) along with a host of industry professionals. King’s Coalition was their first published game. It’s designed by Derek Croxton and features artwork from Rod Rodrigues.
This non-collectible, dedicated deck card game plays two to five players and includes two modes of play, a regular version and an advanced version. Even the advanced version plays very quickly with games taking maybe half an hour.
The goal of King’s Coalition is to end up with the best hand of cards by the end of six rounds. Each turn you will recruit a new card and dismiss a card from your hand. The trick is that the king’s wants change every game and you learn them bit by bit as the game plays out.
Physically King’s Coalition comes in a small box which includes the rules, a scoring pad, a first player marker, four bonus point tokens, and cards in two sizes.
There is a deck of standard sized cards, which are the cards you will be drafting. These feature numbered cards from eight different suits with numbers ranging from 0 to 12. The other set of cards is tarot sized and these present the ever changing scoring opportunities that come out during play.
The card quality is excellent and the iconography is very clear. Card abilities are listed right on the cards as well as being on a small reference card.
We originally reviewed King’s Coalition on Episode 252 of The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast, Game Time, and I invite you to check that episode out, or at least check out Our King’s Coalition Review Segment on YouTube.
Since that recoding, we continue to really enjoy King’s Coalition and everything said there still stands. Though I will say that in the interim we’ve discovered that where the game has shined the most is at our public play events we host here in Windsor.
Keeping the King Happy in King’s Coalition
Like many traditional card games, setting up King’s Coalition is quick. You shuffle the main deck and deal everyone seven cards, you then place six cards face down on the table. Four random scoring cards are also dealt face down and a scoring token is assigned to each of them.
Every game of King’s Coalition starts with two scoring cards in play that never change. The first awards points for sets of three or more cards from the same suit, the second awards points for straights of six or more. In addition to this, in every game, every player will score the total value of the cards they have at the end of the game.
At the start of each round of King’s Coalition, the start player flips the leftmost facedown card and adds it to the middle of the table, into what’s called the recruitment area. They also flip over the leftmost face down scoring card if there are any left. What this means is that each of the first four rounds of the game a new way to score points is revealed.
Next, in turn order, players must recruit one card and then dismiss one card. When recruiting a card you take one of the face card from the recruitment area or you can draw a card from the top of the deck. You then discard a card from your hand to the recruitment area, dismissing it.
Once everyone has recruited and dismissed a card, start player passes to the left and a new round begins. The game ends after six rounds, after the last face down card is revealed. At that point players total their points and the player with the highest total wins.
That’s the basic flow, which is easy to learn and plays very smoothing, but King’s Coalition isn’t quite that simple.
To make things interesting the card suits and values are not evenly distributed. For example there are only three seven cards in the entire deck and there are more Peasants in the deck than anything else and they are all numbered either one or two. The game includes a reference card that shows the full distribution which is super useful until you’ve played enough games to internalize it.
Next each card suit has a special ability. When playing King’s Coalition with the regular rules you only use the abilities of the Peasants and Ministers. When playing with the advanced rules all of the suit abilities are in play. I strongly suggest that you play the regular game a few times before tossing in all of the abilities.
Peasant cards can be enlisted. When you take a peasant from the recruitment area, instead of placing it in your hand you can place it in front of you. Since this means you didn’t add a card to your hand you also skip the dismissal stage, which means each peasant effectively increases your hand size by one.
The Minister cards have values ranging from zero to five and each of them can be counted as a different suit or value when scoring sets and sequences at the end of the game. If there is a choice to be made you don’t have to do it until final scoring so you can maximize your points.
Those are the only two card abilities you need to worry about in the regular game. However, when you are using the advanced rules every suit will have an ability.
Artisans can be enlisted as an apprentice, similar to peasants, but you can only do it if you are able to show another Artisan (the master) in your hand.
If you have two Gentry in your hand, instead of a normal turn you may dismiss them both recruiting two replacement cards from the recruitment area or deck.
For each Knight you have at the end of the game you may appoint a Peasant, Artisan, Gentry or Merchant as a Knight. They then count as a Knight for scoring.
Instead of a normal turn you may dismiss a Noble and any other card in your hand to recruit two cards from the recruitment area or deck.
Merchants improve your score for any sequence they are in by five.
Finally, when scoring sets of Clergy count your total as if you had one more Clergy card than you do.
As you can see, using all of the suit abilities really ups the complexity of King’s Coalition, enough so that it almost feels like a different game.
For an even more strategic experience the rulebook provides rules for tournament play where you play four games in a row and total your score. To make things really strategic, you can play four games and don’t reuse any of the scoring cards, that way all sixteen different scoring options will show up during one tournament.
King’s Coalition is the kind of game that will appeal to a wide range of gamers.
Deanna and I both got to see King’s Coalition when it was just a prototype at GAMA Expo last year. I sat and watched Zev teach a couple of gamers to play. I didn’t have the chance to play myself, but I was definitely intrigued.
Then at the Origins Game Fair both Deanna and I had a chance to sit down and play the game and we were hooked. Hooked enough that we asked Zev if we could take a copy home, and he was cool enough to oblige.
One of the best things about King’s Coalition is that the game isn’t hard to learn or play. The basic mechanic is almost Rack-O like, you are taking a card and then discarding a card while trying to make sets.
The problem is that there is a lot of text on each card and that reference card is very intimidating when you first see it. Most of this info isn’t used at all in the regular game and is only there for the advanced version of play, but we have seen players shy away from this game because it looks more complicated than it is.
We’ve learned to keep the reference cards in the box and tell people to ignore all of the card text except for the Peasants and Ministers (and even then I make sure to pull out some Peasants and Ministers to show them off and explain how their rules work).
Once you have a group that has the regular game down, adding the advanced rules is surprisingly easy. All of those abilities make much more sense once you know how the game flows. I would actually say the advanced game isn’t all that advanced, but it is a step up from the regular game.
I also don’t want you thinking the game is too simple. The uneven card distribution, the various card abilities and the ever changing bonus scoring opportunities are what makes King’s Coalition so fascinating to play through every time. The game features a good mix of strategy, by providing three set scoring systems, and tactics, by the way the bonus scoring opportunities reveal slowly, one card a turn, as the game goes on.
It’s always interesting, the way you often start off with one plan and often end up going a totally different way by the end of the game.
To me King’s Coalition feels very polished. It feels expertly balanced and well playtested. There is a rewarding feeling of progression through the game’s six rounds, and the decisions just keep getting harder as the game goes on. You often have to decide which bonus points to go for and which to ignore, and whether or not you should break up a set or a run, and if you want to push your luck by playing the odds.
The included reference card is very useful for this as it lists the distribution of each of the eight different card types in King’s Coalition. The game rewards system mastery and card counting. Knowing the card distribution can be the difference between playing the odds or in sitting there hoping to get a card that doesn’t even exist (trust me I’ve been there).
One of the most fun mechanics in King’s Coalition is the recruitment area. Knowing that every card you dismiss goes into a pool that makes them available to your opponents really makes for some interesting decision points. I always enjoy games where you want to do things to help yourself but also have to watch out that you aren’t helping your competitors even more.
We’ve now had King’s Coalition for well over a year and I’ve yet to see this game fail. We’ve played it with the kids, with seniors, with non-gamer family members and with gamers at local public play events. No one I’ve shown this game to didn’t enjoy it, and most groups ask to play again as soon as they finish their first game.
I have found that some groups prefer to stick with the regular rules, which is totally fine, but most really start to enjoy themselves once they have moved up to the advanced rules. This game has worked particularly well with groups who are new to hobby board games but who have played traditional card games.
Overall King’s Coalition has been a big hit for us. I think Zev did a great job in picking this particular game to help launch a new company. This is the kind of game that appeals to a large range of gamers. It’s got a nice short playtime but doesn’t feel like a small game. Every game of King’s Coalition I’ve played has been interesting and tense and I never know until all the cards are on the table if I’ve got a chance of winning or not.
If you dig traditional card games, especially set collection games, you really should pick up King’s Coalition. If you like modern dedicated deck card games, you should also check this out. Set collection board game fans will also dig this, as will anyone looking for a thinky filler as it’s a short game with plenty of depth.
If you don’t like card games because of the luck of the draw element, you can probably skip King’s Coalition. Though I’d say if you happen to have a chance to do a demo or play a round at a local event, give it a shot, you may just enjoy it.
FAQs
How does King’s Coalition compare to Fantasy Realms?
While the basic mechanics are the same between Fantasy Realms and King’s Coalition, each round you draw a card and then discard a card and the discards can be taken by any player, the feel of the two games is quite different.
Fantasy Realms is all about powerful card abilities and creating combos whereas King’s Coalition is about building sets based on requirements that you learn as the game goes on.
Who is Play to Z Games? I’ve never heard of them.
Play to Z is a newer game company founded by Zev Shlasinger who is not at all new to the industry, having originally made his mark back in 1999 when he founded Z-Man Games.
Play to Z is his latest board game publishing company, which e founded alongside board game luminaries like Nicole Brady, Stephen Buonocore, Geoff Engelstein, Timm Metivier, and Marcus Ross.
King’s Coalition is their first published game, which was followed by Lynx and Ascending Empires Zenith Edition. They are also the company behind the 40th Anniversary Edition of Tales of the Arabian Knights, and more.
Is King’s Coalition a stand alone game, are there expansions?
King’s Coalition is a completely stand alone game.
Everything you need to play comes in the box and there are no expansions planned. There aren’t even any promo cards available for this one. You pick it up and get it all.
There are some features of King’s Coalition that I really love. Like the fact that it’s a small boxed card game, at a very reasonable price, that is fully contained. You get it, you bring it home, you read the rules, you play, and you love it. Done. There’s nothing more to buy, no expansions to get, everything you need is there and it just works. There’s just something satisfying about that with a new game acquisition.
What’s been your most recent, super satisfying board game experience? What did you pick up recently that just felt good? Let me know in the comments below, or post something over on The Tabletop Bellhop Discord.
- Strategic Royal Court Building – Assemble coalitions of subjects and navigate court politics in this competitive card game, aiming to score the most points with your carefully crafted hand.
- Dynamic Hand Management – Form powerful alliances across different classes or unite an entire class to gain the upper hand as the king’s new advisor and bring peace to the kingdom.
- Bonus Opportunities – Seize the chance to unlock globally available bonuses as more subjects join the court, adding layers of strategy and unexpected twists to the game.
- Exciting Set Collection & Sequence Building – Earn points by collecting sets or forming sequences within your hand, with each card bringing new tactical opportunities.
