Kado

• Designer: Antoine Bauza  
• Publisher: Pandasaurus
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 10+
• Time: 45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

It’s the thought that counts… or not!

The players give, open, and store their gifts. Over the course of the game, each player will work toward building a grid of 12 KADO cards organized into 3 lines and 4 columns. Players score points according to the value, gift type, and ribbon color of each card. The player with the highest score wins the game.

A game consists of 12 rounds.  At the beginning of each round, each player receives a new KADO card, which they can use to build their grid. They can challenge the giver (or not) by guessing his/her card and trying to get a better one. Then they place their final card on their grid, placing it in the best way to optimize their points.

To start the game, shuffle the deck of 65 cards and place it face down on the table.  Each card shows a gift (one of five types), a colored ribbon (one of five colors) and a scoring value (between 1 and 5).  

One player is named the gifter.  That player takes the deck, looks at the top card and then gives it to a player of his choice.  This process continues until each player (including the gifter) has a single card for the round.  Then, starting with the player to the left of the gifter, each player has a chance to make a challenge. 

If a challenge is made, the challenger announces a gift type and ribbon color that they think is on the gifter’s card.  If the gifter’s card matches either criteria, the two players reveal their cards and swap them.  This phase then ends.  As a bonus, if the challenge is exactly correct – that is the gift type and ribbon color BOTH match – the challenger gets a face down card from the deck that notes a 2VP bonus at the end of the game.  If the challenge fails, nothing happens, and the next player in turn order has a chance to challenge if they wish.

Continue around the table until either a successful challenge is made or all players have had a chance to challenge or pass.  At this point, players take their cards for the round and place it in their grid.  

Eventually, after the 12 rounds of the game, each player will have built a grid that is 4 wide and 3 tall.  The first card can go anywhere, and then each subsequent card must be orthogonally adjacent to at least one previously placed card.  The round ends, and the next player clockwise takes on the role of the gifter for the next round.  Play a total of 12 rounds – at which point each player will have a full array.

Each player now scores their cards:

• For each ROW – choose one type of gift and score points equal to the sum of the cards with that gift on them
• For each COLUMN – if the three cards all have the same color ribbon, score the point value of the highest valued card.  If the ribbons do not match, you score nothing.
• For each bonus card you collected – score 2 VP

The player with the most points wins.

My thoughts on the game

I remember playing the original version of this game, Dojo, but honestly none of the details.  This version has you collecting gifts instead of recruiting martial artists.  The new name is a clever play on words on the french term for “gift”, cadeaux.  

The rules are a single sheet, and man, I’m not a fan of the organization. The scoring comes right at the very beginning, and while it is important to know how the game is scored to know how you play your turn – and this is a common tactic I use when teaching – it’s weird to see the rules “out of order”.  

That quibble aside, the rules are pretty simple.  Admittedly, the intensity of each round depends on where you are in the player order.  Obviously, the bulk of the decisions are made by the dealer for the round – not only do they distribute the cards to every player, but they are also involved in any possible challenges for the round.  

The dealer does have an interesting decision concerning where to put the card that they want the most.  Do they keep it for themselves?  If so, do they try to give a suitable card to each other player in order to reduce the risk of a challenge?  My groups have often tried to give the card to the first player to challenge (assuming they wouldn’t want it), trying to provoke a challenge which would lead to a desired swap…

For the players near the end of the turn order, there isn’t much to do.  More likely than not, those players will simply accept the card dealt to them – because someone earlier in order has already made a challenge and forced a swap.  Given the bonus for an exact guess, unless the card dealt to you is a perfect match for your tableau, it’s probably worth it to make a guess for a card.

The game is simple enough, and the rules can easily be explained with a single example round.  I have also found it easier to explain the rules by setting up an example tableaux and showing how I would score that board.  For me, the game plays out a little slower than I’d like – in part because I feel like I’m only active in about half of the rounds in the game.  But it’s a nice casual level filler 40-45 minute filler.   The little box looks like a wrapped gift, and it would be quite suitable for a stocking stuffer or other similar occasion.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it.
• Neutral. Dale Y, John P
• Not for me…