It's a Wonderful Kingdom

Setting up It's a Wonderful Kingdom involves placing the main production board in the center of the play area alongside the deck of cards. Each player receives two initial advisor cards and starts with their unique player board and two trap tokens. During round setup, seven cards are dealt to each player along with one hidden calamity card, and additional cards are placed face-up in the two offering areas on either side of the central production board.

The main objective is to build the most prosperous kingdom by strategically drafting, recycling, or constructing various cards over the course of four rounds. Players aim to generate resources efficiently, acquire helpful advisor cards, and leverage matching symbol multipliers to maximize their final score.

Each round is divided into three distinct phases: the choice phase, the planning phase, and the production phase. In the choice phase, players take turns offering card pairs to their opponent, who must choose one side to take all cards from while the other player receives the remaining cards. Players may also use trap tokens to place cards face-down. In the planning phase, players decide whether to recycle cards for immediate resources or place them into their construction area to build later. Finally, in the production phase, resources are generated in a specific sequence, and majority bonuses are awarded for each resource type.

Scoring takes place at the very end of the game after four rounds are completed. Players tally victory points printed on fully constructed cards, apply color-specific multipliers based on matching symbols in their kingdom, and add any special bonuses. Negative points from accumulated calamity cards are then deducted to determine each player's final score.

The game concludes automatically at the end of the fourth round. After resolving all final production steps and checking any remaining construction requirements, players proceed directly to the end-game scoring phase using the provided score track to calculate and compare their final totals.