The Seven Bridges of Königsberg is a math problem from the 18th century, which mathematician Leonhard Euler proved was impossible to solve. Kingdom Crossing is based on this problem, and we are playing anthropomorphic beavers on a board with 4 areas, connected by 7 bridges. Every turn we move to another area to get a card on display there, but in the 4 turns that make one round we can cross every bridge only once. A hot air balloon helps in solving this otherwise impossible task.

You don't have to do any math to play Kingdom Crossing, but I found the mathematical background interesting. Ultimately, Kingdom Crossing is a game of set collection, where you try to maximize your victory points over 4 rounds of 4 turns by collecting cards. The movement restriction, and the bonus points you get if you cross all 7 bridges, make this a lot more interesting. Every card comes in one of 5 colors, and you want to collect sets of all colors to build houses. But you also get points for the number of cards of each of the first 4 colors, but only if you also gathered the corresponding resources, and decorated that row of resources with flowers and beaver statues. And each card also gives you an immediate bonus. You can also collect building cards, which provide an income each round, but don't add to your color sets.

The rules of Kingdom Crossing are quickly explained. But making the most of your move isn't easy, so the game took us 2.5 hours with 4 players, mostly due to people having to think about their moves. Of course, if you play with people less prone to analysis paralysis, or people who played the game before, the game becomes quicker. What was interesting in our two games was that the different sources of points seem to be rather well balanced, so there isn't a huge difference in final player scores. Which had the advantage that nobody felt that he wasn't in the competition anymore.

The game components are of good quality, with lots of painted wooden meeples. Only the resource counters on the player boards are a bit small. Other than the rulebook, there is no text, so the game is language independent. Artwork is nice, and there is even art in the inside of the box and box lid. Excellent value for money at 40 Euros.