by hpbruin
After waiting and waiting to play King of Tokyo, I finally got the chance to bring it to the table a few weeks ago when I was visiting my family. I originally got the game because of the great reviews it was receiving but also because it was a dice rolling game. My niece (the youngest of the gamers at age 6) likes rolling dice so I thought this would be right up her alley. Unfortunately, she fell asleep before we got to it so she never got a chance to play but I was able to play with my nephew (10) and my parents. We played four games in a row and I found some interesting things that came out of it.After I explained the rules and everyone knew what was going on we got into the first game. We all took turns rolling the dice and we actually made it through two rounds before someone finally jumped into Tokyo. At first I was getting a little worried because not much was happening in the game but once someone finally entered Tokyo then things started to get exciting. Everyone took turns entering and leaving Tokyo and causing whatever damage they could as we tried to figure out some strategies. We got through the game in about 20 minutes with my stepdad winning by scoring 20 VP.
After the first game everyone had a good handle on it so we played another game. This time things picked up pretty quickly as someone got into Tokyo during the first round. Normal game play ensued and everyone was going back and forth. Suddenly, before we knew it, my stepdad won again by scoring 20 VP. We all laughed and said "ok, one more time."
So the third time I noticed that there were four very distinctive strategies being played. My nephew was really focusing on trying to buy the cards to help him out (and he really loved the one where you can reroll one of someone else's dice once per their turn). I was just trying to be ruthless and cause any damage I could to take someone out. My mom tried to stay out of Tokyo as much as possible and kept her focus on hearts to keep her levels up. My stepdad focused solely on rolling VP. Even when he was in Tokyo, he would purposely reroll claws to try and get some numbers. My nephew kept looking at him confused and finally asked "why aren't you attacking (the monster in Tokyo)" to which he replied "because I'm not interested in that". Before we knew it, he won again by scoring 20 VP.
After the third game my nephew says "Ok, one more time because I want to beat you!". So we set up and have another go. This time, we all knew what he was doing so we tried to gang up on him and attack him any way we could but wouldn't you know it, he won again by scoring 20 VP (although to be fair, it was a lot closer this time. I had 19 VP and he had 1 heart left).
Overall, everyone had a lot of fun with the game (although my stepdad thought it was too easy and didn't involve strategy at all). But I have to wonder if the game is broken a little when you can win every single game just by focusing on one thing (rolling numbers). I guess it's just a strategy that works, but I think it takes a little away from the game when you know someone can just "play from the sidelines" and then suddenly win. Also, I don't think the cards really help that much. Most of the time I'm ignoring the energy cubes because I would much rather be rolling for something else. And, when I did actually purchase some cards, I kept forgetting to use them. Maybe I just need to play a little more, but I think the game is still without them. I would still recommend this game to people because it's so easy to play and it doesn't provide a lot of laughs and fun. I'm very anxious to see how the powerups will change the game so someone doesn't just sit on the side and roll numbers all night long.