Another board game that has come across the pond from Europe and taken our gaming group by storm is King Me. This simple little game can be played in 30-45 minutes and is fun for all sorts of gamers from the serious strategist to the most casual, even girls.

The game consists of 13 characters (each with a colorful Italian name) that are vying for the throne. Each of the 3-6 players take a card that lists out 6 of the 13 characters. These 6 characters are the ones that will give you points at the end of the game. Each player takes turns placing the 13 characters on various levels of the board. After they’re all placed, everyone takes turns moving the characters up the levels and towards the throne. You can move any of the characters that you want, not just the ones that are on your card. When a character is moved onto the throne, everyone votes whether that character becomes king. When someone gets a unanimous vote for king, the round is over and points are totaled.

The goal of the game is to have your characters in high point levels on the board when a king is elected. If any player votes against a character being king, the candidate is killed and gives no points to anyone. Each player only gets a certain number of no votes, so they must be used strategically. Eventually they’ll run out and someone will get elected.

The player with the most points at the end of three rounds is the winner.

There is even a special rule for the last round that will give you the maximum number of points if you can manage to get zero points with your six characters. Sort of like shooting the moon in hearts.