Three official ways to change a game you already own

Kingdomino: build a larger kingdom for two

Kingdomino gives each player a castle and a kingdom to build from dominoes. Each domino has two squares of terrain, such as forest or lake. You add it beside your castle or beside matching terrain already in your kingdom. At the end, each connected area scores its number of squares multiplied by the crowns printed within it. The highest total wins.

The linked rulebook’s normal two-player game uses 24 of the 48 dominoes. Each player takes 12, fitting their 24 terrain squares and one-square castle inside a five-by-five grid. In The Mighty Duel, you use all 48 dominoes and build within seven by seven instead. Each player can place 24 dominoes: 48 terrain squares plus the castle can fill the larger 49-square kingdom.

You still use two king pieces apiece to claim dominoes from the available choices. The matching rule still applies, and a domino you cannot place must be discarded. The larger grid gives you more space and more additions to plan for. Leave room on the table, and try it when you want to keep developing a kingdom beyond the smaller game’s limits.

6 nimmt!: choose the cards in your hand

In 6 nimmt!, everyone chooses a numbered card secretly, then reveals it at the same time. The chosen cards go into four rows, from lowest to highest. Each follows the closest lower number at a row’s end. If your card would be sixth in a row, you take the five cards already there as penalties. A card lower than all four endings makes you take a row of your choice. You are trying to finish with the fewest penalty points.

Normally, each player receives ten random cards from a deck numbered 1 to 104, and four more cards start the rows. The Pro Variant changes that setup for two to six players. First keep only the lowest numbers, using ten cards per player plus four. With four players, that means cards 1 through 44.

Lay the selected cards face up. Take turns choosing one at a time until everyone has ten; the four left over start the rows. You then play using the normal placement and penalty rules.

This lets you help choose your hand and see which cards the other players take. You know the full set of numbers in the round, although you still choose cards secretly when playing. Remembering who took which cards may help you judge what could be revealed together. This is an option for a group that wants to pay closer attention to one another’s choices from the start.

Hanabi: finish every firework or lose together

In Hanabi, you hold your cards so everyone else can see their fronts while you see only the backs. The team is building five fireworks, one per color, by playing cards in order from 1 through 5. On your turn, you can spend a clue token to tell a teammate about one color or number in their hand, pointing out all their matching cards, play a card, or discard one to recover a clue token. An unsuccessful play counts as a mistake; the third mistake ends the game.

In the normal game, once the draw pile runs out everyone gets one last turn. If the team has avoided three mistakes, it scores the highest number reached in each color. You can finish with some fireworks incomplete.

Variant 4 in the linked R&R rulebook makes complete fireworks the only winning result. You keep taking turns after the draw pile runs out, with fewer cards in your hands as you play or discard. You lose if the team makes its third mistake or discards a card it still needs and cannot replace.

For example, suppose the red firework has reached 2. If both copies of the red 3 end up discarded, you cannot reach red 4 or red 5. Under this variant, losing that last red 3 ends the game immediately. If you had already played a red 3, discarding its spare would not cause that problem.

You can use this option with the normal five colors; it does not require the extra multicolor cards. Choose it when your group wants to keep working toward all five complete fireworks, with no partial score to settle for. A discard that would merely lower your possible score in the normal game can now end the attempt.

Choose the change your group wants

These options change different parts of play. The larger Kingdomino gives you more to build. The 6 nimmt! setup gives you more information about the cards in use. Hanabi’s variant keeps the team playing for a complete result. Pick the one that addresses what your group wants from another game, and keep its rulebook open while you learn the changed setup or ending.