The thoughtful design of King of Tokyo’s ins and outs enables the players to quickly understand how to navigate its inner workings. Thus allowing each player to quickly develop their own style of play and strategy for victory. All the inner workings of Tokyo are simple to follow; roll the dice 3 times, tally the results (score points, deal damage, heal), choose what cards to purchase, and enter or leave Tokyo after an attack. Most importantly the King Of Tokyo is the first to reach 20 stars or be the last monster standing.
Game Play
It’s your turn, Gigazaur, and so far it has been a battle amongst the others, those that still stand that is. Poor Alienoid was struck down at the hands of Meka Dragon, who has severe anger management problems. Even facing his wrath a couple of times you happily retreated from Tokyo to heal a number of rounds. The King has been beating his chest most of the game but doesn’t have much to show for it, turns out he’s just trying to impress a lady. Kraken on the other hand has been standing his ground against Meka Dragon keeping him from making Tokyo his new home. Then there is your arch rival Cyber Bunny who has been cleverly forcing the other monsters to fight, while being nothing but a pink pain to you because you know his strategy. He is just a hop, skip, and a jump to becoming the true king of Tokyo. As you stand ready in Tokyo and eye the other monsters in the vicinity you know that they are all battle weary and you can keep them at bay for another round or maybe two. But it’s the stars you’re worried about, you are behind Cyber Bunny and you need at least another round to be within reach. If Cyber Bunny lives he will most certainly reach 20 stars, but can you penetrate his defenses, because if you can’t then you are sure retaliation will be sought while risking losing the game. Meka Dragon is poised to attack you once you make a move, and his nova breath is intense that it hurts monsters on either side of him. Wait you think, perhaps even if you don’t take Cyber Bunny down, he may fall to Meka Dragon’s breath. Enough with the possibilities it’s time to act.
With your smart play, tactical yielding of Tokyo, good card purchases, and great dice rolls you have maintained half your health while scoring stars and doing your fair share of attacking. You’re in Tokyo and if you stay there’s an equal chance of survival and death for you but an even greater chance of winning by stars. But you are busy defending so there’s no time to recover, while you know your opponents have had time to heal. They know you are weak and will surely retaliate if you defend your turf. No guts no glory you think to yourself, roll the dice hoping for claws while proclaiming “Tokyo is mine!”
The dice are rolled once and it appears you’re luck might have run out. With the pressure building you pick up the dice and roll them again. You get a claw, an energy and 4 hearts calmly you set aside the claw pick up the rest. “Last time..” thinking to yourself as you roll the 5 dice, 1 claw, a 1, an energy, and a 2. Cyber Bunny lives! As you stand defending Tokyo against Meka Dragon only taking minimal damage including his nova breath, you yield Tokyo to heal for the time being. As you do you see that Cyber Bunny still standing, but then Meka Dragon exerts the rest of his energy to pick up a tanker and hurls it at Cyber Bunny. Turning around quickly you see the tanker hit the bunny and explode causing him to collapse to the ground. You smirk to yourself, as you know your plan just worked and after healing Tokyo is yours to rule.
The Basics
Players get to roll 6 dice 3 times. The first 2 times they can choose what they want to reserve. On the third roll the results of the dice rolled stand. Each die features a claw for attack and damage, a heart for healing, a lightning bolt for energy, and numbers 1 to 3. The number of claws, hearts, and lightning bolts rolled indicates how much damage, health, and energy a player will deal or collect. Getting 3 of the same number will result in 1, 2, or 3 stars. Each additional number beyond 3 will grant an additional star. So 4 dice with 3’s will grant 4 stars.
Cards are purchased with the energy the player collects at the end of their turn. Energy cost varies depending on the card. There are 2 types of cards; Keep cards and Discard cards. Keep cards that are purchased can be used repeatedly throughout the game by the player. Discard cards are 1 time use and effects happen immediately once bought. If players don’t like the cards available they can spend 2 energy to sweep cards, which discards the current 3 cards and brings out 3 new cards. Multiple purchases and sweeps can be made as long as the player has the energy to do so.
Entering or leaving Tokyo requires a player to roll at least one claw. When a claw is rolled and Tokyo is unoccupied the player must enter. If Tokyo is occupied then the player in Tokyo must choose to yield for the attacking player to enter Tokyo. Upon entering Tokyo players earn 1 star. For each full round a player is in Tokyo they score 2 stars. While in Tokyo players cannot heal, because it is hard work keeping everyone else out. Only those outside Tokyo can heal. Lastly players in Tokyo only attack the players outside Tokyo and vice versa.
Review
Overall King Of Tokyo is a great game that can fit well into any board game library because it is fun, easy to learn, quick to play, and can appeal to a wide audience even if they don’t like the theme. The simple rules make it easy to pick up within 1-2 turns for both new and experienced gamers of any age. With the average game being around 30 minutes you can play multiple games in a short time.
At first glance King Of Tokyo may seem kinda boring because the players simply roll dice on their turn. However, it is far from boring and the replay value is high. Mainly due to the deliberate and careful design to give the player more control over how they play instead of total reliance on chance. Giving the player 3 times to roll the dice and choose what dice results one keeps allows for some strategy. In addition providing cards that can be purchased which bestow different abilities further reduces chance because players can then use card combinations to help their path to victory. King Of Tokyo also comes with more cards than you will see in a typical game, so in order to see how each card plays multiple games should be played.
King Of Tokyo plays quick and has very little downtime for players between turns. During the player’s turn the choices that one needs to make are not complex nor require much forward thought like some games. This results in a much faster turn per player. Even with the max number of players you find yourself rolling the dice about every 1 minute, which means 30 times during the game.
As a whole the game may appear a simple and straightforward game, but players new and experienced alike will quickly notice the depth of choices a player can make. For starters players can try different styles of play like being peaceful rolling for stars, aggressive rolling for claws, or somewhere in between. In addition to play style by managing your collected energy you can gain advantages over others through purchasing cards to aid your play style, rolls, or extend your life in the game. On top of that you have some very limited control of what cards your opponents can purchase through a sweep, because it is a common occurrence where more than one person may eye the same card. Lastly, the player when in Tokyo has to decide whether it’s best to stay in Tokyo to score 2 stars or come out and force someone in.
There are a few downsides to the game though. The biggest problem is that the monsters are no different from each other in the base game. So the only thing the monster is used for is to identify the player. Also King Of Tokyo really isn’t a good 2 player game. Really playing with fewer than 4 players, the game begins to suffer a bit.
With 2 players you end up just rolling claws most of the time because you are either in Tokyo or not. The instant you try to roll anything but claws in a 2 player game can severely hurt your chances of winning. Either due to your opponent rolling more claws, or gaining more stars for staying in Tokyo. It is this downside that card purchases are few because the energy collected is minimal compared to a 4 player game. Also there is no fun final duel to watch.
A 3 player game has similar drawbacks like a 2 player game. Sometimes in a 3 player game it can turn into a 2 on 1 game where one person is picked on more than another. Which can lead to the one less picked on having time to build up energy and maintain a high heart count, thus gaining an advantage in the end. With 3 players you can have a fun end because someone has to be knocked out before the battle for victor can begin.
Intimidation Factor
King Of Tokyo I think has a low intimidation factor which makes it a great game for new gamers of any age. For one, the game has very few pieces to it which reduces the chances of scaring off new gamers. Two, the rules are easy to understand and most of the time people have a firm grasp after one or two rounds. Three, the game becomes social pretty quick because there isn’t much need to plan ahead. Lastly, the game plays quick so there isn’t much down time and 2 or 3 games can be played under 2 hours. The theme may not be for everyone, but if you get them to sit down and play I’m sure they will enjoy themselves.
Components
The game components to King Of Tokyo are well made for the price. All the monsters and their tiles are a made of a thick compressed cardboard, and won’t bend under normal wear and tear. The dice are larger than normal playing dice, but aren’t too heavy or hard to roll. Also the size and stark contrast between the painted symbols and black plastic make it easy to see across the table. The energy is made of solid green clear plastic cubes, it is a softer plastic than the dice but they aren’t handled as much. The cards are a bit smaller than the standard playing cards, and a touch thinner but still sturdy enough to last the life of the game. During play the cards are just picked up and placed in front of the player, not held in hand. The game board itself is a small 6in square board, made with standard game board cardboard and has a very nice mat finish. If you’re a gamer like me, and like to see a good game with quality components, then King Of Tokyo will meet your expectations.
Mechanics
There are 3 main game mechanics used in King of Tokyo. First is dice rolling, this is what provides the random chance that the players have to work around. Then there is the card drafting, which is used to give your monster abilities and quick gains. Lastly is simple combat, the players duel to be King Of Tokyo. That is accomplished through the claw result on a die. A claw is rolled you hit the monster in Tokyo or those outside of it. King of Tokyo does have a light economic system where the player collects energy in order to buy cards. Some cards can even generate additional energy, and other cards provide ways to spend energy for specific actions.
