Hopping Into a Solo Variant for Bunny Kingdom
Bring rabbits to a new land of possibilities where cities rise up and golden carrots flow from the fields in Bunny Kingdom.
Long, long ago I played Bunny Kingdom multiplayer a couple of times. I liked it, although I didn’t feel like I could properly appreciate all of the adorable rabbits at the time! Nowadays, it rarely gets played even though I adore the theme and the idea of area control without any fighting. I did some searching… And to the solo table I gladly hopped!
Game Overview
Game Name: Bunny Kingdom
Publication Year: 2017
Designer: Richard Garfield
Artist: Paul Mafayon
Publisher: IELLO
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
Such a lovely map! Each space corresponds to a specific coordinate and can be controlled over the course of play. Cities are built, special resources appear, and fiefs generate golden carrots. Card drafting provides plenty of options with a giant deck, and playing solo is possible!
First Play
September 5, 2021
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 5, 2021
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
45 Minutes
High Score
211
Game Area
30" x 24"
Low Score
115
Proper Miniatures
Don’t think the map is the last place to look, though! The excellent components include simply adorable bunny miniatures in each player color. Look at those ears!
The base game includes red, yellow, pink, and black colors. Suffice to say that my husband purchased the expansion and I hope to incorporate the purple bunnies!
In general, the goal is to accumulate the most golden carrots, also known as the more mundane victory points.
This is accomplished in a variety of ways, all centered on these bunnies. Yet there’s even more to explore…
Rabbits from All Over
A glance at the box artwork showcases the charming illustrations within. Remember that this is a card drafting game with just a “hare”ful of cards… 182 to be exact!
Granted, not all are unique, although there are a fair number of bunny characters to utilize. Like these. Wait!
Those are some more new Calico Critters! Since I was playing as yellow against a red solo opponent, I had them picked out right from the start. Love this little expression.
Actually, I should look at my collection further. I believe I have a veritable bunny kingdom… So many rabbits!
Taking Over the Land
I’ll go into the details of how to play with this unofficial solo variant in a moment. Suffice to say that the end game always leads to such a busy and pleasant sort of map.
Each city is represented by a miniature that indicates its strength in carrot towers, from 1 to 3. And the bunnies fit!
It’s hard to explain the joy of having miniatures that work well. I’m sure we all know the horrors of elements that don’t quite fit together and are just overly fiddly. Not here.
Or should that be not “hare?” A terrible joke! But I’ll circle back to explain why I chose to use this solo variant to try.
The Process of Finding a Solo Variant
A quick search will turn up several available solo variants for this game. How to choose?! My choice actually came from a rather hidden GeekList item with rules that aren’t listed anywhere beyond a single entry. Talk about a needle in a haystack! Or… A carrot in a bunch of vegetables? Ha! I chose this one based on its simple design and similar rules.
Other options required me to make decisions for the solo opponent, follow a lengthy priority chart for choosing cards, or manage 4 players with a memory element. The best solo variant can vary player by player, so what I decided to use might very well seem like the worst option to some. That’s OK: If you want to play, find what works for you!
To make things simpler, I’ve rewritten the rules for myself here. I take absolutely no credit for anything: These rules were written by Board Game Geek user weyrbrat. Here’s a description of how to play with this solo variant:
- At the start of the card drafting phase, deal 10 cards to yourself and 25 cards to the solo opponent.
- You always start the round and play 2 cards from your hand.
- Shuffle the unused cards from your hand into the solo opponent’s deck.
- Draw and play 3 cards for the solo opponent, 1 at a time, with the following additional rules:
- Building: Place it on the most recently claimed eligible territory. If unplayable, discard and draw another card.
- Camp: Discard and draw another card.
- Parchment: Give 5 victory points to the solo opponent. (Difficulty may be scaled by giving more victory points.)
- Discard the solo opponent’s played cards in the order they were played (last card on top of the discard pile).
- Draw 8 cards from the solo opponent’s deck as your hand for the next turn.
- Repeat steps 2-5.
- Continue but draw 6 cards, then 4 cards, and finally 2 cards for a total of 5 turns for the solo opponent and you.
- At the end of the card drafting phase, discard all remaining cards in the solo opponent’s deck.
- You may play buildings after the card drafting phase is over.
- Score all fiefs for the solo opponent and you at the end of each round.
- Play through 4 total rounds, following the steps above.
- During final scoring, also add any victory points from your collected parchments.
It may look long, yet the downtime is only noticeable when shuffling. Other than that, the solo opponent takes very little to manage and can act in unexpectedly random ways! Almost like those human players out there. Ha ha!
Delightful Artwork
The deck consists of a myriad of cards, some of which use the same artwork, but there are many illustrations to admire! Some even show unique bunnies in the world.
Generally speaking, choosing a card with coordinates is equivalent to claiming that space with a bunny miniature.
Creating connected areas, or fiefs, can lead to lots of golden carrots during the harvest. Sometimes, taking a risk with a camp can connect up large swaths of land.
Building cities or adding special resources can also help a lot. The best part? No fighting nor conflict to be seen!
A Very Busy Bunny Land
Such a lovely bird’s eye view from afar at the very end. My yellow bunnies dominated the southeast and a little further to the north, while red had a pretty great fief!
The interesting part is that only about 75% of the cards are used each play, and not all of those are chosen.
This means that some areas can’t be connected, while good opportunities must be given up for even better ones. It’s a… Carrot-nundrum? Nope. My jokes are gone!
As random as the solo opponent was, it still managed to foil some of my plans and do rather well.
Collected Parchments
End-game scoring cards, known as parchments, also add to the available options. This is where the artwork really shines for me with so many different bunnies!
It’s important to control large areas of the map and build cities, but choosing parchments is a key strategy.
There was a moment when I thought I might win with the help of the opportunist. If I ended up in second place after final scoring, I would pick up 10 more golden carrots.
Alas, this play resulted in a loss as I tried to get my bearings and figure out a general strategy.
Mastering the Fief
I wasn’t out of it, though! Through a string of very good luck, I connected mountains with special resources, along with what I could only assume was carrot spice? Mmm!
This area was worth about 60-80 golden carrots in the final harvest rounds! Carrotastic… I’m getting better.
Did this come down to excellent strategy? Not entirely. I think this is a luck-based game, yet it works as intended.
I was also happy with it because this was a rather relaxing experience. Area control games rarely work for me due to conflicts. Here, it’s just bunnies calmly claiming areas!
The Prince of Bun-Air
“In West Philadelphia, born and raised…” Well, yes, I simply had to toss together all of my favorite things!
This little prince won and presided over the kingdom on his own little throne. Excuse me? You’re telling me that this is obviously a high chair and not a throne? Nonsense.
Just look at the attention all the other bunnies gave him! Definitely the equivalent of Will Smith, only in a parallel world of Bun-Air instead of Bel-Air. Uncanny. Ha ha!
I didn’t think that area control and card drafting could work well solo, but I had a great time with this variant!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
Outcome: 115-141 and 211-117 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
My second play was an absolute victory, mostly owing to my single fief that was probably worth at least 170 victory points on its own. This isn’t necessarily a game designed to be fully strategic: Even in multiplayer, I’ve seen it swing wildly… And that’s part of the charm! Having that unexpected experience on the shelf is a huge positive for me, particularly with adorable bunnies and a lack of fighting. I had a rather surprisingly amazing time!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
6
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is charming and adorable, from the individual bunny cards to the cheery open countryside.
- Despite area control being a major element, there are no battles, fighting, nor conflicts to contend with.
- With so many cards, there are always interesting choices to make when only 2 cards may be chosen per turn.
- This solo variant may not be optimized for a challenging solo opponent, yet it works quite well and is easy to run.
- Most of the rules are simple to learn and memorize since most of the game comes from strategic control.
- Every play starts out small in the first round, then slowly builds as fiefs grow or become connected later on.
– Cons (Negatives)
- A large part of gameplay comes down to the luck of the draw with the cards, which can feel unbalanced at times.
- It can be easy to lose track of the round or turn number unless an external counter is introduced to help.
- Finding the resource icons can be a bit tricky with large city miniatures and a lot of bunnies in a small area.
- The box insert is partially useful but doesn’t provide a great storage solution for all of the components.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 200 points.
Win at least 1 game.
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever played Bunny Kingdom? It’s not a game that shows up in the solo community that often, yet I really enjoyed this solo variant! Are there other multiplayer games you like that have unofficial solo variants? There’s a lot to enjoy here and although this won’t make my list of top games, I hope to play it from time to time for all the bunny fun!
A coney-undrum?
Sorry…
Ha ha! The perfect pun here, as I forgot that coney is sometimes used for wild rabbits. Just looking back at this after checking the comments makes me want to play again… This was a great time!