Do you like adventure games but your kids are a bit too young to be fighting dragons that poisons them and hinders their movement by 5 feet? The Quest Kids is a dungeon-crawling board game aimed squarely at that no-quite-yet reading level or above. Players search a dungeon, discarding the appropriate cards if they need to “scare off” a monster and collect its loot. Once the dungeon is cleared, the player with the most stars (from treasure and defeated monsters) wins the game. The Quest Kids is a pretty cool achievement for its age range, managing to bring in much of that dungeon-crawl fun without a heavy rules overhead. I happen to bring it up now as there is a Kickstarter for an expansion ending very soon.

The Quest Kids
Designer: Dustin McMillian
Publisher: Treasure Falls Games
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Time: 20-45 min
(review copy provided by publisher)

The Quest Kids is played on a large board representing the building and laboratory of a wizard who has gone missing. Players freely move around the board to flip up a tile. If it is a treasure, it is simply earned but if it is a monster, a player needs to play out the correct number and types (power, magic, or wisdom) of cards to scare it away and earn stars and/or other rewards. Rinse and repeat until the entire board is revealed, count up each players’ stars and the most stars wins.

To start the game, players pick a hero, take its game board, and then fill up the board with face-down tile cards. These tiles come in one of three colors – green, grey, and red. Green tiles are always good, grey tiles sometimes have monsters to fight, and red tiles are quite dangerous but then also have the greatest rewards.

The active player begins by moving their extra-large 3D plastic figure to any open, unflipped tile on the board. Tiles blocked by doors, other unflipped tiles, or on the diagonal cannot be accessed. Then flip the tile over and resolve it. If it is some sort of treasure or benefit, take it immediately. Treasures are a specific benefit where you get to pluck a coin out of a nifty cloth bag. These coins might have in-game uses but also can award points. Some of them are worth more points if they are picked up by that specific player. If the flipped tile is not a reward but a monster, it is time to try to scare it away.

Every monster needs specific numbers and types of cards to be played (maybe 2 power and 1 wisdom, for example) in order to scare it away. If the active player has those cards to discard, they do so and gain any benefits for defeating it. However, if they cannot defeat it on their own, they are allowed to ask for help from the other players. They can donate the needed cards to the active player so that the monster is defeated. Players want to donate if asked because anyone who donates a card gets a special Kind Kid card in return that is typically much better than the donated card. If a player, even with any help offered (if any), cannot defeat a monster they just lose health and stay at that location until their next turn. If you run out of health you simply gain one back on your next turn. Another player is allowed to come along and defeat an undefeated monster on their own turn.

While all this is going on, players can also be trying to satisfy a personal goal for more star points. Players will have a personal goal like “have two wisdom cards and two power cards at the same time.” If they ever satisfy their goal, they claim it immediately. They don’t have to actually discard any cards. They also draw a new goal to replace the completed one.

When the last tile is turned face up – not the last tile is defeated – everyone gets two more turns to resolve whatever things they want to do, including defeating any undefeated monsters. Then players add up their stars on all their “stuff” – most stars wins.

EXPANSIONS!

There are a few expansions to the base game but the newest one is up on Kickstarter right now with only a day or two left to go. The Quest Kids – Realms of the Kingdom expansion adds in a new hero, a dwarf. The game is also set up differently. Rather than covering the board with tile cards, they are laid out into specific areas. The starting area, the Treehouse, has tiles that are almost all helpful. However, the other three areas sport dragons, pirates, or magical creatures. A player can go through portals (like doors) to any one of these areas and discover much greater dangers and greater riches. Each of the three realms also has an affinity to one of the three skills (power, wisdom, magic) so that can influence a player’s choice. Hidden in the four areas are special tiles that, when completed, will grant a single special gem. Once players collect all four gems, the final area is unlocked. It holds the strongest opponents and the richest riches. It looks to be a nice way to change up the flow of the game without really introducing much, if any, complexity.

Verdict:

With some great kid-friendly art, oversized player pieces and mats, The Quest Kids looks great on the board. This is backed up with some nice gameplay. Granted, there is not much complexity here. Slowly collect up your cards and then go into the more dangerous areas and spend them defeating monsters for stars and/or more prizes. The game offers excellent freedom of choice – players can play as safe or as risky as they wish. Encounter a hard monster? You can just (hopefully) ask for a little help. It will benefit you, and also be a benefit for them. While the game does feel like a cooperative dungeon exploration (and you could probably make rules to play it that way) it is a competitive game in the end. This is great as long as there are no hard feelings as a result.

Kid Factor:

I think the 5+ age range is spot-on. I don’t think you want to go much lower than that. There’s no reading involved so that shouldn’t stop anyone. Everything is explained via icons and pictures. With experience, kids approaching 9 or 10 will probably want to be looking for something a little more involved and this serves as a great launching pad for more complex dungeon-crawl games. However, there is still enough going on here that older siblings (and parents) shouldn’t mind playing the occasional game with their younger counterparts.

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc, Unplugged