King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo is a BLAST! King of Tokyo is a dice game with a theme near and dear to my heart. In it you play giant monsters bent on the destruction of Tokyo!

The game is a board game version of "King of the Hill." Your monsters compete to hold the position of grandeur in Tokyo proper while the other players mill about in the ocean around the island waiting for their chance to push you out. The game mechanic support this struggle very well and the whole things just comes together to equal pure brilliance.

Each player picks a monster. This choice is purely aesthetic as all the "monster cards" are the same. Your monsters will be able to gain special powers and abilities to make them unique as the game progresses so don't think you'll get bored. There are bunches of power cards. You buy powers with Energy. You gain energy by rolling it on the dice.

King of Tokyo is a dice game with cards to change certain aspects of game play. The primary aspect of play is rolling the dice and deciding which dice to keep and which to re-roll. You can roll numbers and sets of three or more numbers earns you victory points. You can also roll Energy Icons that will let you buy powers to give you the advantage in the game, Attack Icons that you can use to damage the other player's monsters, and Healing icons to recover from the damage that your monster has suffered.

Tokyo is a key position strategically as your Monster gains victory points just for being there. However, beware as all the other monsters will be attacking you, and when in Tokyo healing dice don't count! Choosing which dice to keep and which to re-roll is a big part of the game and that gives it a little bit of a Yahtzee or Farkle kind of vibe, but the power cards add a lot to the flavor and theme of the game and in the end I really enjoyed my experience with it.

Plus, since the monsters in KoT all begin with the same stats it would be a breeze to make one of my own. I can't wait to field my cardboard cutout of the Giant School-Girl Miss Borg from Karate Robo Zaborgar!

Regards,


Jeff