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.
