Game summary
đź‘Ą A game for 2 to 4 players
⏳ Play time is around 40 – 60 minutes
🏢 Publisher is IELLO
Introduction
Forget cozy burrows and carrot-munching naps, this is the dawn of a fluffy empire.
In Bunny Kingdom, battalions of ambitious Rabbit Lords hop into a freshly discovered world, eager to stake their claim, expand their fiefs, and impress a monarch whose ears are almost as long as his list of demands.
Forests tremble, mountains echo, and even the fish look nervous as rabbits erect towering cities and farm luxury mushrooms like fluffy warlords of agriculture.
Secret parchments whisper of glory, betrayal, and very questionable royal errands.
Only one leader will rise above the chaos, crowned not by steel or fire… but by the shimmering honour of Golden Carrots. Prepare your paws. Destiny hops for no one.
Let’s get it on the table
Place the main board at the center of the table. On every printed City space, put a Strength 1 City figurine so the landscape begins the game already dotted with budding settlements.
Next, shuffle all Exploration cards together into one large deck and lay it face-down beside the board.
Each player then chooses a color, gathers all thirty-six Rabbit meeples of that color, and places one Rabbit on the “0” space of the Score Track to mark their starting score. Keep the remaining figurines close at hand.
All other components, additional Cities, Farm tokens, Sky Towers, and Camps should be placed near the board where everyone can reach them easily during play.
Once the table is prepared, deal starting hands to the players: ten cards each in a four-player game, or twelve in a three-player game.
These cards remain secret, as they will immediately be drafted during the first round.
When a two-player game is prepared, deal twenty cards to each player.
Each player then takes ten of those cards into their hand, while the other ten are placed face-down in a personal Reserve pile, which they do not look at yet.
This reserve becomes part of the drafting process: at the start of each draft step, before choosing which cards to play or pass, a player draws one additional card from their own Reserve to add to their hand. Only then do they choose one card to play and one card to discard and pass the remaining cards to the opponent.
With the main board set, the card deck ready, and each player equipped with their loyal Rabbit forces, you are fully prepared to leap into the first Exploration Phase and begin your conquest of the New World.
Let’s play
The game unfolds over four rounds, each consisting of three phases: Exploration, Construction, and Harvest.
Exploration Phase; every player begins by drafting cards. In games with three or four players, each player looks at their hand, secretly chooses two cards to keep, places them face-down in front of them, and passes the rest to the next player, left in rounds one and three, and right in rounds two and four. Once everyone has chosen their cards, they reveal them and carry out the effects: Territory cards place Rabbits on the matching spaces of the board, Building cards grant Cities or tokens to be placed later, Parchment cards remain secret for end-game scoring, and Provisions cards allow a player to immediately draw and play two additional cards from the deck. This cycle of drafting and playing continues until all cards from the round have been used.
In a two-player game, the rhythm of drafting changes dramatically. Instead of choosing two cards to play each turn, every player begins the round with a personal Reserve: ten face-down cards set aside at the start. At the beginning of each drafting step, a player draws one card from their Reserve to add to their hand. They then choose one card to play and one card to discard face-down, passing the remaining cards to their opponent. This structure keeps the spirit of drafting alive even with only two players, but the flow becomes more tactical and controlled.
After all cards have been selected and revealed, players move into the Construction Phase.
Construction Phase; each player may place any Buildings they acquired during the round onto the Territories they control. A Building can never be moved once placed and must respect the requirements shown on its card: luxury Farms and Strength 3 Cities, for example, can only be built on specific terrain types. Camps are the exception, as they may be placed on any empty Territory, though their priority system determines whose Camp is played first if several players wish to act simultaneously. Once placed, Buildings immediately affect the Strength, Wealth, or connectivity of the player’s Fiefs.
Harvest Phase; Fief, a group of connected Territories under one player’s control, produces Golden Carrots, the game’s victory points.
A Fief generates points only if it contains at least one City and at least one Resource. Its production is calculated by multiplying its Strength, which is the total number of City towers within the Fief, by its Wealth, which counts the number of different Resources the Fief produces. Players move their scoring Rabbits forward on the Score Track accordingly, and once all Fiefs have been scored, a new round begins.
At the end of the fourth round, players reveal all their hidden Parchments. These cards grant additional Golden Carrots, some immediately as Treasures, others conditionally as Missions requiring specific achievements such as controlling certain Resources, Cities, or Fiefs.
After resolving all Parchment rewards, the player with the highest total score earns the title of “Big Ears,” becoming the victor of Bunny Kingdom.
Final Conclusion & rating
Weight: 2.30/ 5
Replayability: 8
Our rating: 7 out of 10 dices
Bunny Kingdom is a wonderfully colorful and lively game that immediately draws you in with its charming artwork and cheerful presentation.
The components support that first impression well: the Rabbit meeples feel sturdy and pleasant to handle, and the cards are of good quality and hold up nicely after repeated shuffling.
The only real drawback to the production is the game board itself, which is slightly thinner than ideal and tends to warp or bend more easily than you would hope for in a game of this caliber.
Once the game begins, though, Bunny Kingdom shines with fast, engaging rounds that flow smoothly from draft to construction to scoring. It’s remarkably easy to teach and just as quick to set up, making it an inviting choice for both families and seasoned gamers looking for something lighter but still strategic.
Luck certainly plays a noticeable role, especially in card draws, but this chaotic charm is part of what gives the game its energy. In a two-player session, the additional Reserve cards genuinely elevate the experience, keeping the drafting meaningful and ensuring the gameplay stays balanced and dynamic.
With four players the game reaches its most exciting, and occasionally most frustrating form, as competition over key territories becomes fierce and the draft more unpredictable. While that tension can be thrilling, some players may find the experience slightly more pleasant with fewer opponents, where the chaos eases and planning becomes a bit more manageable.
Overall, Bunny Kingdom is a vibrant, clever, and highly enjoyable drafting game that rewards flexibility, invites laughter, and brings just enough bite beneath its fluffy exterior. It’s easy to love, easy to teach, and delightful to return to, whether you’re conquering the New World with two, three, or a full table of four.
We want to thank IELLO for this review copy and the opportunity to write about this game.
