by Ryodu
My family, friends, and I have recently been getting into tabletop gaming and so, some of my reviews may be "late to the game." Regardless, another opinion never hurts. I hope you enjoy the review.****This is my first review of a Board Game so please, any suggestions/criticisms are welcome****
King of Tokyo is a nice quick family game, and in a sense party game as well, that plays 2-6 players. Following a simple, yahtzee-esque mechanic where players re-roll a number of dice to achieve a certain result, King of Tokyo is a quick goofy beat-em-up Godzilla movie type game with a king of the hill element that adds some level of strategy.
Players each select a monster (in the base set all monsters are the same except visually), set their victory point dial to zero, their health to 10, and start wailing away at each other. Each player in turn will roll a series of dice, usually six, and depending on the outcome may earn straight victory points, deal damage to opposing monsters, heal themselves, or earn energy cubes which players can use to power up their monster. The game's only board, a small cardboard square depicting Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay acts as a territory that players can contest control over. Being in the city means you can net more points and hit all other monsters outside Tokyo but with the caveat that it's near impossible to heal yourself and all other monsters hit you. Being outside Tokyo means you can heal and deal damage to monsters within Tokyo with the catch being that the Tokyo Monsters can easily hit you, and you might have a harder time earning victory points.
It's a very simple game, and like many tabletop games I've played (even though I'm fairly new to the hobby), the game is only as fun as you make it. When players get into their monster, make noises when the dice show claws, and get excited as they roll the right result, the game is in its stride. With a quiet group, the game may feel stale a little, but I personally find it fun regardless. I have yet to pick up the expansions but I can see myself doing so in the near future.
If you need a quick family game that is simple but can give you some form of strategy, then give King of Tokyo a shot.
Score: 8/10