by Rule32
Hello all! This is my first session report on BGG so any constructive feedback is welcome!My family gathers to play a game every Sunday after family dinner. Tonight's game was King of Tokyo. It's easily game that they request the most. The first few games we ever played, my little brother (12) won. He's since decided to retire and go out on top, but every game since has been won by my little sister (13). Leading up to the game, she had been talking a ton of trash and was borderline cocky. After dinner, I wrangled up everyone that wanted to play. I was only able to gather myself, wife, mother, and sister but on the bright side wouldn't have to explain the Tokyo Bay yielding rules a dozen times like I always seemingly have to do. I explained how the evolution cards worked for the Power Up! expansion and we were off!
Game 1:
Myself - The King
Wife - Pandakai
Mom - Gigazaur
Sister - Cyber Bunny
The game started off as most do for us. Everyone tries to do everything they can not to go into Tokyo and just build up energy and grab special powers before the action starts going down. My sister started by rolling five 3's on her first turn to jump out to an early points lead. Feeling behind the 8 ball early, I jumped into Tokyo to try and do some damage so she couldn't fly under the radar and win on points as she usually does. Spiked tail was sitting with my name on it, however my wife knowing I usually play aggressively, grabbed it before I could. On the flip came Parasitic Tentacles which I bought with the intent of stealing the tail, but on the subsequent flip came Stretchy which allows you to spend two energy to change one of your dice to any result. Given that it takes three hearts to get an evolution card, buying it was a no brainer.
The game continued on with mom trying and failing to roll hearts so she could experiment with evolution cards. My wife dabbled between going for points and attacking. I was still focused on doing as much damage as possible, but the dice just weren't feeling it. My sister was approaching a points victory and had to egg on my mom and wife to attack her. We were only able to get her down to three health needing four points to win. She took her two points for starting her turn in Tokyo and her first roll, came up with three 1's. Her subsequent rolls produced no additional points. She burned through her energy wiping the deck of cards trying to find something for quick points but by the time Nuclear Power Plant came up, didn't have enough energy left to buy it. Mom proceeded to immediately eliminate her which meant there would be a new champion! Everyone mockingly cheered while my sister sat there, visibly upset at what had just transpired. My wife then immediately proceeded to eliminate mom. My wife had a good lead on me in points, so my only choice was to try to be last monster standing. I managed to get her down to two hearts but she had 17 points. She took two at the start of her turn for being in Tokyo to bring her to 19 but didn't score anything, or so it seemed. She played the Yin & Yang evolution card that she'd been sitting on all game which allows her to flip all the dice over to their other side. This turned three hearts she rolled into three 2's, giving her a points victory. I was happy for my wife that she won. She's never won a game we've played before. Before we started the next game, I made sure to snap a picture of a nearly victorious, but very dead, Cyber Bunny.
Game 2
Myself - The King
Wife - Alienoid
Mom - Gigazaur
Sister - Cyber Bunny
For some reason, my wife decided to switch from Pandakai to Alienoid. Why mess with success? Game 2 was much shorter of a game, and is a great example of what the expansion adds. The cards on the initial flip were all discards that didn't do any of us any immediate good. Again, the first few turns were just people building up points and energy. I rolled three hearts on my first roll which netted me the Twas Beauty Killed The Beast evolution which gives me one point at the end of every players turn while I'm in Tokyo. I proceeded immediately use it which was a mistake, as everyone started swinging for me and they were swinging hard. I burned it which caused me to lose all my points. Lesson learned for next time to play it closer to end game. My main focus was then to heal back up and in doing so, got a few additional evolution cards. One of which was Simian Scamper, which lets me yield Tokyo once without taking damage. I decided that once I got back up to full health, I'd take over Tokyo and instead of trying to roll claws, roll for points and to stay in Tokyo as long as possible and rack up points and use the evolution card at the last possible moment.
After getting up to full health, my time came and looked to take over Tokyo which was occupied by my nemesis, Cyber Bunny (sister). I got lucky and rolled 5 claws which caused her to flee. My sister became occupied trying to heal. My mom and wife were both under the assumption I was going to be aggressive and focused on obtaining energy and keeping damage enhancing cards away from me. I was content staying in Tokyo, quietly getting points and trying to roll for more. Eventually, when I got to 17 points, my sister caught onto me and encouraged everyone to swing for me. Mom played an evolution card that made everyone lose two points, but after one time around the table, were only able to get me down to 3 health. I got back up to 17 for starting in Tokyo, but was unable to get any points. My little sister got me down to 1 health, and my mom delivered the would be knock out shoot. I played the evolution card and yielded. On my turn, my first roll consisted of two hearts and one 3. I knew if the turn got to my sister, she'd try to knock me out. Trying to get a few more hearts seemed wise, and would hold onto the 3 just incase. Second roll, was nothing. Third and final roll, one heart and.... TWO 3s!
My little sister stormed out of the room, laughing and shaking her head in disbelief as my mom and wife just sat there laughing. I made sure to snap a celebratory picture to commemorate my first ever victory in King of Tokyo.
As I packed up the game. My sister demanded a rematch next week. I was thinking about introducing them to Takenoko next week, but feel obligated to defend my championship! We'll see how things go.