by Trewinter
There are many factors that can push a game from an enjoyable pastime into the realms of greatness. Sometimes it’s a matter of meticulously tested mechanics; of mathematically perfect balance. Sometimes it’s a question of depth; some games are so intricate that you are almost guaranteed to play them wrong first time, but with this complexity often comes a wealth of possibility and an endless replayability.Sometimes, though, a game just oozes theme to such an extent that I can’t resist. King of Tokyo is one of those games.
Created by Richard Garfield (the man behind the endlessly successful Magic: The Gathering), King of Tokyo puts players in control of giant monsters fighting the only way giant monsters know how – by using an ever increasing selection of inexplicable powers to level Tokyo Bay.
The art for every card and creature is absolutely beautiful and there are so many different powers to play around with that you want to play again as soon as you are finished just to see what else could come up. The monsters are a great mixture of old classics and new creations - Cyber Bunny, Anyone?. The dice are big and chunky with claws and lightning all over them. The energy tokens and little translucent green cubes that have become affectionately known as EnerJellies in our games.
Then you have the board. The board has, for all intents and purposes, one space – Tokyo. You are either in Tokyo or you are not. That is all. There’s something about that that makes me happy.
The whole thing just screams of people who really love the subject matter. People who’ve watched far too many hours of tacky old Japanese monster movies and loved every second of it.
I don’t mean all this talk of components and theme to belittle the game itself however. It’s simple and a bit silly and it’s all the better for it. What King of Tokyo delivers is good, honest fun and, in the end, isn’t that the whole point?
The core of the game is a fairly simple dice game. The custom dice have a mixture of numbers and various symbols – Claws to attack, hearts to heal and lightning bolts to gain energy. Each turn players roll the dice, and may re-roll any dice twice to get what they’d like.
The game really revolves around holding Tokyo in a King-Of-The-Hill type fashion. Every turn you begin in Tokyo will gain you victory points. The trouble is that being in Tokyo makes you the recipient of all other monster’s attacks, and while you’re in Tokyo, you can’t use the dice to heal. After receiving a wound you may choose to vacate Tokyo, but this makes all of your actions in vain.
This is why you'll probably want some super-awesome monster powers. Three powers are face up at any one time and can be purchased using energy. These range from armour, wings and parasitic tentacles to lasers, smoke screens and jetpacks via psychic rays, extra heads and fast healing, all of which could be just the thing to give you an edge as you fight over Tokyo.
It’s these powers that really bring King of Tokyo into its element and make every game a new experience. The whole game is a careful balancing act of dealing damage, amassing energy and scoring victory points with the dice or by holding Tokyo. Play too carefully and you’ll wind up with no points – Play too recklessly and you’ll end up a giant, smoldering monster corpse.
That’s right. There’s player elimination which, in anything but a two player game, is a risky business. It doesn’t take long for a player who’s out of a game to get miserable at the table. Luckily, King of Tokyo sidesteps this problem with ease as it takes very little time to play, with most games winding up at around 20-25 minutes.
I’m sure it is apparent by now that I love this game. It’s incredible simplicity coupled with the bombastic art and terrifically original theme put it high on my list of favourite gateway games. It’s nice to have a game that’s this accessible while also having an exciting idea behind it. I mean what do you want to play more – A game about trading wheat and sheep or a game about SMASHING UP A GIANT MONSTER WITH ANOTHER GIANT MONSTER?
It’s the second one.
King of Tokyo should be in every game collection. Seriously, get involved.
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