Reigns App Heading to Tabletop

The Reigns series has been one of the most popular apps in recent years. It's a game around choices using a 'dating app' format. You are presented with a situation in the form of a 'card' on screen. If you swipe left you will give one answer, right will give you another answer. These answers will increase or decrease your standings with the church, the people, the military and the bankers. Let one of these become too strong or too weak and it is game over for you. You see, balance is key!

All three versions of the Reigns app, including Her Majesty and Game of Thrones, all follow the same formula. However, they all provide a great sense of exploration and discovery, as well as a surprising amount of gameplay. They are quick and satisfying to play often electing that 'just one more go' feeling trying to find more secrets and reign for longer. We know that app to board game conversions don't always work out, but this one has Bruno Faidutti and Hervé Marly teaming up.

The Tabletop Version of Reigns

The card-based game mimics the app by casting one of the 3-6 players as the monarch and the rest as the advisers who provide the scenarios for the monarch player to respond to. The game is due to hit Kickstarter this summer.

I'm a big fan of both Reigns and both designers, so I'm hugely excited for this. It will be interesting to see the gameplay. I can see it being a co-op where the advisers are attempting to help the monarch balance their stats, or where they are actively working for the faction, they are most strongly linked to. I'd imagine the information of how the standings are affected will be hidden from the monarch to some degree.

In the app you know if the change will be big or small but not in which direction, although you can deduce it. The key will be how the monarch works, as there could be a real danger of 'monarch making'!

We'll have more on Reigns: The Council as we get closer to the Kickstarter launch.