Kimgmaker

[Finarvyn]

Anyone else love this game? I've got a copy of the 1974 pre-AH flatbox version of KM, but usually play the AH version.

1. I'm hoping that AH reprints a revised Kingmaker becuase it's one of the greatest games of all time. The combination of military, political, and diplomatic play is one of the best. It's a simple game but has layers of complexity that make it tough to master. The only problem we have is that the rules are vague enough in spots that they are somewhat open to interpretation and that usually means we end the game on a rules discussion rather than a clear victory. Anyone else have this situation arise?

2. Anyone know where I can get an electronic version of the rules? My vision is fading and I would like to print out an enlarged font copy.

[boylermaker]

I 100% agree with you. I think it has the potential to be by far the best game in my collection with a little tweaking and a resolution for those pesky spaces northwest of Norwich that MAYBE are adjacent.

If you reprint this game, O Avalon Hill, I will buy it whatever you charge!

[Jocab]

Its no secret that a LOT people would like a lot of reprints of the old Avalon Hill games! What i don't understand is, that AH doesn't do anything about it. They have the name, and the rights and hundreds of thousands of gamers waiting. If they were smart - they did a reprint every year (something like the Disney Classic). On the AH frontpage they could do a simple (but secret) poll about what game to reprint! I actually think it would be worth their while! :)

/Jakob - all the way from Denmark!

[Y2UAsk]

"Hundreds of thousands of gamers waiting" is a bit of an overstatement. Most of these games never sold near 100,000 copies when they were new. Reprints aren't likely to sell as well as the originals. I doubt that a straight reprint of Kingmaker would sell even 10,000 copies. If you need to completely revamp the game in order to make reprinting it commercially viable, why not just do something new?

That, at least, is how marketers tend to think. And it's hard to refute that argument on anything but emotional grounds.

Steve

(Kingmaker is my favorite boardgame of all time, BTW. I'd love to see a new version, but I'm not holding my breath.)

[bobdelaney]

Those of us who took up wargames in the pre-computer era are now all in our 40s and 50s, perhaps some are even older. I have exchanged some e-mails with the designers of a few of our classic 1970s favourites. The truth is that there are not that many wargamers (which I'll take to include Kingmaker aficionados) that still play the games. We may not like computer games, but they do dominate the market now. I know that personally, I'd rather have a computer-assisted boardgame rather than a computerized version of Kingmaker.
Rather than wonder if old boardgame classics will ever be reprinted for sales of a few hundred or a few thousand, which is clearly uneconomic in any form of publishing, one can buy them used, often in mint condition, on eBay. Now finding players is a different matter.
If I ever chose to resurrect some of the old classics, I'd do it as part of a game zone so that Kingmaker players can find and challenge one another as bridge, chess and backgammon players do now.

[Yoper]

Go to the World Boardgaming Championships. Find your Kingmaker opponents and play.

http://www.boardgamers.org/

Enjoy!

Craig