Save the King in Sleeping Queens 2: The Rescue

The queens are awake and heading home. But the kings have fallen into a spot of trouble and need some rescuing by the queens and the right companions.

Published by Gamewright Games, and designed for 2-5 players, this sequel to their popular children’s card game Sleeping Queens is a mix of math, set collection, and a little bit of luck.

Gameplay

There are ten face-down companion cards on the table. Each player is also dealt a random knight. Each of these knights has different abilities.

On your turn, you roll the die. Based on its result, you will either draw one, two, or three cards. Or you might roll the dragon, in which case each player passes his knight to the player on his left, wakes up one of his sleeping queens if he has one, and then rolls the die again. Some cards you draw have instant effects, such as the switch witch, which allows you to swap one of your cards with another player’s, or the sleeping willow that puts all your queens to sleep.

After resolving any instant effect cards, any other cards that you drew go face-up in front of you into your realm. These cards will either be number cards, queens, or spell books. You may then take one or more of the following actions. You may play a spell book to take any one number card out of the discard pile and add it to your realm. You may play two matching number cards to wake up all your sleeping queens. You may use your number cards to make a correct math equation such as ‘3 +7 = 10’ or ‘2 x 1 = 2’ to take one of the face-down companion cards and add it to your realm. Or you may rescue a king if you have a queen and a companion with matching suits, in which case you take one of the king cards and add it to your realm.

If you have six or more cards in your realm, not counting kings and companions, you must discard down to five, and it is the next player's turn. The game ends once a player has rescued a certain number of kings.

Review

Sleeping Queens 2: The Rescue is definitely a game designed for kids. It’s not likely to be something you pick up for an adult game group. That being said, it is still an enjoyable, light time, and what it does, it does well.

The math element of the game is simple enough never to be frustrating, while still leaving players room to have fun coming up with the different equations. There’s also a nice little mix of luck added to the game, from the dice roll to the cards and companions you draw. This keeps the game unpredictable.

Knights also add a little variety, with their abilities adding a small, fun touch to the gameplay. The fact that rolling the dragon also causes each player to pass their knight onto someone else, also means that even if someone has a stronger knight when the game starts, that’s not going to last and everyone will likely have a chance at that knight at some point.

All of the artwork has a lovely storybook quality to it, with the characters looking like they’ve just stepped right out of a children’s book. They are bright, colorful, and creative. All of the components are high quality and attractive. The rulebook could use a little clarification, however — the way it is written, it is a little unclear if you have to take at least one action if possible, or if you can take the same action more than once.

Light, fun, and colorful, Sleeping Queens 2: The Rescue is an enjoyable kids' game, that is certainly pleasant to play with them.

Pros: Artwork is amazing, simple and fast gameplay, making the equations is pretty satisfying

Cons: Unlikely to appeal to an adult game group, a bit of vagueness in the rules

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.