by ranapuer
Azuri, I think you might be misunderstanding this variant. It's supposed to make the game go faster, not slower, and it does that by awarding a point to the player in Tokyo at the beginning of each turn; it doesn't have to be your turn for you to get the point for starting in Tokyo (in fact, it usually won't be).I have not tried a simulation, but I tried a scenario breakdown that indicates this will make the game go faster, not slower.
Here's a comparison of how any points you get by staying in Tokyo for a specific number of turns under the old and new rules.
Scenario breakdown for 4-player game:
Leaving immediately: 1 point under both scoring systems. In the official rules, you take it as soon as you enter. In my variant, you gain it at the beginning of the turn of the player to your left. Either way, you gain one point.
Staying for one turn: 1 point under standard system, 2 points under my system. In my system, if you decide to stand strong against one opponent, you gain an additional point at the start of the next opponent's turn. There is no reward for this under the old system.
Staying in for two turns: 1 point under standard system, 3 points under my system. Making it almost all the way around the table gets you nothing under the old system, but gets you a whopping 3 points here. This can actually provide an incentive for players to stay in just to get this far, instead of yielding Tokyo on the first chance because they know they can't take hits from 3 consecutive players.
Making it around the table: 3 points under standard system, 5 points under mine. You'll get your 4th point at the beginning of your turn for starting it in Tokyo, then the 5th point at the beginning of your opponent's next turn.
Here are a few more pros/cons I've thought of too:
pro/neutral: It makes the game shorter. Since it's a lot easier to get points from Tokyo (see above scenario breakdown), scores will tick up faster even if everyone is smashing each other instead of going for points. I know people aren't usually concerned about speeding up this game, but it could be useful as a speed variation if you know you will be crunched for time.
con: To a certain extent, the player to your left can make or break you. If one player is entirely focused on gaining points and never attacks anyone, then the player to his or her right is essentially given a free pass to be in Tokyo and gain a point on his or her turn without risk of taking damage. This can be somewhat mitigated by the remaining players smashing the well-positioned one with everything they've got, but it still is a sizable advantage. However, under the old system, the player to your right could control your fate to a large extent by deciding how much they were going to make you pay for staying in Tokyo for a full turn, so I'm willing to accept this minor problem.