Board Games in Review – King of Tokyo – Monster Game

December 28, 2015

Happy Monday Board Game enthusiasts. Today I bring you another board game and this one is all about monsters battling it out for control of Tokyo to prove who is the superior monster.

King of Tokyo is a monster game or a game of kaiju attacking the city. It is pretty strait forward be either the last monster standing or the first one to 20 victory points. The great part of the game is it is designed for 2-6 players though I highly recommend 4 or more or it is over too quickly. What is great about this is the more more players currently in the game the more city targets can be attacked.

How Will You Rank in King of Tokyo?

As players get eliminated the extra target options can leave the game. This can not only change the dynamic of play but your strategy as well. The dice are similar to Yahtzee, which I hopefully do not have to explain here(6 dice with 2 rerolls). Each die has 6 sides and three of them are numbers 1,2 and 3. The other sides are a heart, claw and a lightning bolt.

The way I see it is there are three ways to victory. You can go for lightning bolts (on the dice) which is the currency for evolving or growing in power. There are always three power cards that can be bought with this currency and each card offers everything from a minor advantage to spectacular abilities. If you are not watching the powers being bought you could be in for a world of hurt especially of your opponent is lucky enough to have powers that get synergy. I should note that buying these powers only helps you get the other paths easier and does not by itself get you the win.

The second path to victory is the bloody path. You can focus on rolling claws. The claws do damage to other players. If you are outside of the city you damage anyone inside the city(or cities if there are enough player) and if you are in a city you damage anyone not in a city. Being in a city can hurt if the other players are out for blood but if you hold the city and keep beating them down it is an easy way of knocking players out quickly. Be warned that rolling hearts heals you but only when you are not in a city.

The last and sure fire way to victory is through victory points. All you need is 20 and it is game over for your opponents. If you are a dice master, or incredibly lucky you can do this in 5 turns or less. Three of a given number gets you that many VPs. I.e. three 3s earns you three points, three 2s gets you two points and same for 1s. If you manage to roll a 4th of the same number it gets you an extra point. Holding a city until the start of your next turn actually gets you 2VP as well.

However you decide to try and rule Tokyo make sure you have a strategy as I am sure your opponent will. I thought this was a very fun game and I have been holding off on it as I was holding out for a possible limited edition that instead of cardboard standees it would have plastic miniatures. But I still see nothing telling me this is going to happen anytime soon if at all. But that is my only gripe about this one.

So grab your copy here. As always thanks for reading and Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!