King of Tokyo Expansions review

Last time I reviewed King of Tokyo; a fun Kaiju Monster battle royal style game. This week I will be talking about the two expansions for this game: King of Tokyo: Power up and King of Tokyo Halloween.

King of Tokyo: Power Up makes me very happy. In the original game each monster draws from the same power deck. So even though each monster has its own play piece and player board with cool artwork it didn’t matter. The monsters seemed too generic for the game. In the Power Up expansion this is resolved by adding special Evolution power decks for each monster. Now each monster is given its own style. These cards are gained at the end of a turn if a player has 3 or more hearts rolled even if they are in Tokyo. I like this because it’s a secondary way of building powers when you have trouble building energy. Also players who are struggling in the game tend to focus on getting hearts. This helps underdogs gain some power and possibly get back into the game with a great power.

The Power Up expansion includes another character called Pandakai: a giant panda monster. He does add some variety to the characters but he’s not my favorite as I prefer traditional Kaiju style. He can still be popular with the kids though. Adding this monster doesn’t do a lot because the maximum number of players for the game stays at 6. Still it’s nice to have variety and a new monster that could appeal to newer players.

The King of Tokyo Halloween expansion is a little smaller. It does include two new Halloween themed monsters: Pumpkin Jack and Boogey Woogey (A giant pumpkin monster and a giant blob monster respectively.) This expansion is my wife’s favorite as she seems to have fallen in love with Pumpkin Jack. Again these don’t add to the maximum number of players but they do add variety. They come with their own evolution decks as well.

The Halloween expansion does include some new elements to game play as well. It adds 12 new cards to the power deck that are costume cards. Your giant monsters will be allowed to purchase costumes that grant a variety of abilities or effects. These costumes can be stolen by another monster that rolls 3 claw swipes against you. It rips off the costume and gets to keep the outfit for itself. The expansion also includes 6 black and orange dice to fit the theme. These dice work the same as the base game but allow for a second set at the table. I like this as you can just keep a set at each end of the table.

To sum up I like both expansions. I recommend the Power Up expansion if you would like to add some style to the monsters in the game. The Pandakai monster in this expansion is okay but he’s not the reason to buy it, the evolution powers are. The Halloween expansion adds two interesting characters: Pumpkin Jack and Boogey Woogey. The costumes cards this expansion adds in are fun and a bit weird. Also, the extra dice help game play moving. Unfortunately while this expansion does include evolution power cards for the two monsters in it these won’t be playable until you buy the Power Up expansion.

Until next time, Power Up your game night by Boogey Woogey-ing down to your local game store, grabbing King of Tokyo and these two expansions.