Gaming
1972
Kingdom
Hamurabi
Commodore PET version from 1977
★★★★★★★★★★
Kingdom is an enhanced version of Hamurabi. The gameplay is largely the same, but there's an actual goal now in the form of reaching one million combined units of bushels and acres of land instead of simply playing for up to ten turns. In addition, there are a lot more events, including positive ones like rains, grain shipments and land expansions, as well as negative ones like attacks by Huns, droughts, earthquakes, thefts, and plagues of course.
I played a few games and liked the variety of events. However, more often than not the overall results weren't in my favor. Once I fell behind, it turned into a slow downward spiral. Like the game it's based on, Kingdom seems to require a great deal of luck to be successful. While randomness has its place, the outcome of a game should depend on my actions more so than chance. Suffice it to say, I didn't have much fun with this one either.
Title Screen
Instructions
Instructions
Notes
Pong is among the 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, but I didn't find a version with a computer opponent. It's not something I'm interested in playing nowadays anyway, so I didn't look too hard. Just because it was important doesn't mean it's good.
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