Review: The Counting Kingdom

Having two children now really gives me a different perspective on games as a whole. Will I still play Warhammer: Space Marine? Yes I will. I would like to play games around my kids as well and then I’d also like them to play with me at times. If at all possible, maybe they could even learn something. The Counting Kingdom does this well. With numbers as your spells to cast on the appropriate number of bad guys, you should be well equipped for this challenge.

Let’s break down one of the most important things for me lately: difficulty. The Counting Kingdom is as difficult as you want to make it. In its basic form, it’s not that bad. Granted, the equations get a bit more complicated later on by making you count a bit higher. You can overlap your spells to get higher totals to help clear the whole map and get bonuses, but you don’t need to…. but you can. There are potions for you to use to raise or lower the numbers on the monsters attacking your castle to help match your spells. There are also potions to move monsters about the board to help connect and clear the board.

So what’s the point to this whole exercise? Well, to keep a sharp mind and save a kingdom! Both of which are worthy goals. Like I said before, you don’t have to race though this game. The game seems to punish you more for bad tactical errors than it does math mistakes. Take your time and try to clear the board for a bonus if you can. Don’t freak, this isn’t a game with a hard grading curve. Getting three stars doesn’t take much effort and that’s fine for building up confidence in my kids when they old enough to know that I’m not just killing monsters, but saving a kingdom using mathematics as well.