Kingdom Builder unbalanced

[Coleofr2019]

Dear friend,
Here a suggestion concerning Kingdom Builder: this game appears to be often unbalanced as field cards to be played are randomly given: one will get suite of cards that fit his perfectly choosen strategy, board pattern etc... while you will get uninteresting, unfitting cards, sometimes many in a raw, stucking you in a corner, completely out of your strategy, with frustrating feeling that the game is already lost, even after 2-3 cards, without anything to do.
An option could be to give at each round the choice between 2 different cards, that will decrease the luck-factor, and refocus the game on strategy and fight between oponents
An option to be choosen before starting the game.
Was that option already tested?
Best,

[MoiMagnus]

I'd note that the creator of the game specifically addressed this issue (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/72 ... 12#7830412):

I like the amount of luck in Kingdom Builder. I would have changed it otherwise. I knew that some people would choose to play with a hand or some such, and I am fine with that; play whatever variants you want. I preferred just one card though.

Luck management is a significant hunk of the game. You can replace the luck with something else, like bidding, but then the game is much longer. And if you just take out the luck, you lose a lot.

It's true that if you both play poorly and have bad luck, you have less fun. Ideally it would be more fun there. Obv. if you play poorly and have bad luck you will lose, but you know, it should be fun to lose, and I think it usually is, but not so much if you are trapped somewhere bad from the start. I warn new players about this, explaining how being trapped in one area will turn out badly for them and how they can avoid it, and that usually does the trick.

In fact, I'd suggest you take a look at BGG forums (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/107 ... /forums/69) if you want to read more about the various variants peoples have tried.

Here on BGA, this was discussed on the forum too (https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 80&t=17270) where multiple peoples argued that it would denature the game, and suggested to the devs directly (https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=24740), and the suggestion was rejected, as BGA only ever implement variants if the publisher of the game give their explicit approval.