by lukeam841
Here's a basic explanation of how the game works. Each turn you get three rolls of 6 dice. The rolling works a lot like Yahtzee. The results on these dice get you points, attacks, health, and "energy" which you use to buy cards that alter your character and the overall game in general. There's only one main spot on the board (Tokyo). If you're in that spot, you can rack up points and do more damage, but you also lose the ability to heal from attacks (all of which become directed toward you). Eventually you will have to leave this spot to heal up while another player takes control of it, but you can't leave him alone for too long or he'll get enough points to win. It's a back and forth battle to see who can balance their health, attacks, and points the best in reaction to other players' moves in order to come out on top.You have to be flexible and a bit daring to win this game, which is one of it's strong points as far as strategy is involved. Yes, the main mechanic is dice, so there's a lot of luck, but there's enough strategy for it to be very manageable and challenging. For example, if you don't get the health dice you were hoping for, you might have to sacrifice some energy to keep alive until next turn. Do you try to get that valuable card, or pummel the other players and force them to roll for health? It's a very smart game for it's simple design, and I think that's why so many people love it.
This is one of the very few board games that my brothers will actually beg me to play. Our family loves it. Even my parents joined in for a couple games, and found that this "weird" board game was actually a lot of fun. Whenever I've taught it to people, it's been a hit, with only a few questions to clear up after the first couple rounds of turns. After that everyone knows what to do and has a blast. It's extremely easy to teach and learn, which opens it up to a far wider audience than a lot of games. And speaking of audiences, the theme works for kids and adults alike. It's a fun beat em up kind of theme that reminds you of a superhero flick or a video game like Super Smash Bros. All the cards are beautifully illustrated and the components in general are very nice. It's a lot of fun, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome as far as play time either.
Hope this helped!
-Luke