King of Tokyo board game review

I’m a bit of a Kaiju junkie. I was introduced to Godzilla a.k.a. “the King of Monsters” quite young, it was at a sleepover at a friends house early in my elementary years. The giant monster stomped into my imagination and his atomic breath seared away preconceived notions of what a monster could be. The actual memory of the party is fuzzy, I forget who the other kids where at that party, but I vividly remember the movie and my own atomic/technicolour breath from overeating candy.

When a game called King of Tokyo showed up on my suggested board game list I was more than interested. It took me a while to convince my wife to play it. The wife just doesn’t have the same love for city stomping killer Kaiju that I do. She finally played at this year’s GameALot and we both loved it.

In King of Tokyo each player selects a knock-off style Kaiju monster: Then they compete to become the King of Tokyo. A player wins when they reach a total of 20 points or if they knock out all other monsters.

Each player rolls 6 dice to determine their actions for a turn. They can keep as many as they want and re-roll the rest up to two more times. Claws deal damage, either to the monster in Tokyo or to all other players if you are in Tokyo. Hearts regenerate health but only if you are not in control of Tokyo. Lightning bolts build energy which can be used to build up powers. Or there are three point value numbers of 1, 2 or 3. Any roll of 3 or more of a single number can give you that victory point number, plus an additional point for each of that number above the triplet.

The rules are very simple so new players can pick up the game quickly. I find it is a great entry level game that can still be fun for more advanced gamers. There are several elements of strategy that make the game interesting. Staying longer in Tokyo allows you to build victory points faster and allows you to damage all players outside Tokyo, but staying out of Tokyo allows you the option to heal damage and makes you less of a target for other players. Knowing when to take over the city or when to leave is very important. The purchasing of powers will allow a player to customize their monster and make each game variable and dynamic. Finally there is a strategy in selecting which dice to keep and which to re-roll; do you want to build points, build energy, heal or attack?

Of course there are a couple of drawbacks. In the base game while the monsters are varied in creative artwork and look really cool, they don’t actually vary in play style. Each monster plays identically and only gains powers available to all players for purchase. Nothing is really monster specific. Also the dice rolling creates a very random game that sometimes makes it difficult to really get the strategy element you want going. The upside of that is it negates a little of the veteran player advantage.

The game is for 2 to 6 players but it loses a lot with fewer players. It just feels better with all 6 players to get the real dynamic Kaiju brawl going. It is still fun but the wild unpredictable nature of the game really comes out with more players. The play time is about 30 minutes. I find that the game moves quickly and keeps players involved nicely as each player’s choices can drastically change what is going on in the game.

To sum up I think King of Tokyo is an ideal game for any group. The rules are easy to learn allowing players to jump into play and get to fun quickly. The theme is fairly universally known so even players who aren’t as into the genre (like my wife) will still understand it and can still have an enjoyable game. King of Tokyo is great for kids and adults so I really think it should be on your shelf. There are expansions that I will get into next week.

Until next time, I recommend you roar into your local gameshop, smash some cash onto the counter and stomp on out with King of Tokyo in hand.