King of Tokyo
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Number of Players
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2 - 6
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Play Time
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30 Minutes
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Ages
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8 Years and up
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This week I go back to the lighter side of things and take a
look at King of Tokyo.
King of Tokyo is a game where the players take the roles of
various different giant monsters that are all trying to be the one who ends up
in control of Tokyo and destroy the other player’s monsters in the process.
King of Tokyo has elements of dice rolling and card drafting
in it. The players take turns rolling
six dice taking the results that they want rerolling the ones that they do not
want twice after the first roll. After
the second reroll the effects from the roll take place.
The dice have the following symbols: 1, 2, or 3 points of destruction which are
given to the player if they get a set of three or more in their turn, Energy
which give one energy point for each one rolled and can be used to buy
mutations, Healing which heals one point of damage to a monster for each one
rolled, and Whack which causes one point of damage to the monster in Tokyo if
the player is outside Tokyo or one point of damage to all the other players if
the player is inside Tokyo for each one rolled.
The players are divided into two groups the player or
players inside Tokyo and the players outside Tokyo. If a player is inside Tokyo their attacks affect
everyone outside Tokyo and they get 2 points of destruction per turn they
remain in Tokyo, but they cannot heal any damage they take. They may retreat from Tokyo when they take
damage from another player and the player that damaged them then takes their
place inside Tokyo.
The players outside Tokyo on the other hand only damage the
player inside Tokyo. The big thing that
they can do that the player inside Tokyo cannot do is heal with the Healing
rolls, which is important to their survival.
One of the important and in some cases unbalancing parts of
the game are the mutation cards. There
are always three face up mutation cards the cost between 2 – 7 Energy to
purchase. The mutations have a variety
of different effects on them that allow the player to do special things like
reroll dice, cause extra damage to the other monsters, and give them extra
destruction points. A player my purchase
one of these cards with their stored Energy during their turn. Some of the effects of the mutations are
obnoxious and in many cases are guaranteed game winners.
The game ends when one of the players scores 20 Destruction
points or all but one player has been eliminated.
I cannot say that this is one of my favorite games. I can see why it is popular as a light game
and can be fun because of the press your luck element that many gamers
enjoy. Part of my bias has to do with my
not having figured out a decent strategy to follow.
I have tried the hold back and bide my time trying to build
up my power method without success. I
have also tried the aggressive all out attack method with no success as well. There is a definite luck element involved in
the game as the players’ actions revolve around dice rolling and the drawing of
cards from a deck to determine what mutations are available at any given time. Even with that high element of luck I feel
that there is an underling strategy that is eluding me. This is mostly because the same players seem
to keep winning the game.
If you are looking for a light game with a high luck element
or a press your luck game then you should definitely take a look at King of
Tokyo and its expansions. If you like
your games less luck driven then this is not the game for you and you should
look at a game like Bazaar as an alternative.
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