King Of Tokyo Board Game

The King of Tokyo Board Game brought back a lot of memories for me. When I was a kid I loved the dubbed Kaiju movies from Japan. The huge monster would rise from the sea and go stomping through the cardboard city…. RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW. Destruction everywhere!! Godzilla would show up, then Mothra, Rodan, and my weird favorite…Gamera the flying turtle!

Wreck, stomp…. And in the end… back to the ocean!

King of Tokyo has a lot of punching, and some other nasty attacks (no actual destruction though, maybe in the second edition of the game they could work that in).

King of Tokyo the Game

Each person gets to choose a monster (they are designed to look creepy scary, but not actually infringe on the copyrights of existing monsters…) (thanks Wil Wheaton for that line). The ultimate goal of the game is to get to 20 points before losing your 12 life points.

Ultimately, King of Tokyo is a dice game. You roll the dice to see if you can ;

Punch
Gain Energy Cubes
Heal
Gain Points

Punching is fun… for every die with a Paw Print (really, I think it’s meant to be a claw…) you get to smack at the guy in Tokyo. He takes a hit to his health points with every punch.

Energy Cubes are currency… save up enough of them, and you can buy cards that have extra ordinary powers. The first time we played, we sort of ignored the cards, because we thought they weren’t important. Turns out… they really are. The cards will propel you towards victory (or at least destroy your opponent) faster than mere rolls.

Heal… when you roll a heart (or more hearts) you heal that many life points. NOTE! If you are in Tokyo, you don’t get to take advantage of the healing! (This is why monsters come and go from the city, sometimes you just need to lick your wounds).

Gain Points… The way to win is to get to 20 points. Points are earned in a few different ways. Roll 3 (or more) of a number… and you get points. Start your turn in Tokyo …. and you get points. Go into Tokyo … get points. Some cards give you special bonus points.

Dice can be re-rolled a few times during a turn to improve the roll!

This roll is worth 2 points for rolling three 2’s… It’s also good for 1 punch and 1 life (no energy cubes, and the 3 is worthless)

Take turns rolling, moving in and out of Tokyo, gaining points, hitting fellow players…. all until someone has 20 points, or everyone else dies from getting hit too often.

Keep track of your points and your life with the Monster Board- I love that the wheels spin…

What I like About King of Tokyo the Game

King of Tokyo is not an overly complicated game. My 12 year old picked it up pretty quick… then turned around and taught it to a newbie gamer (who absolutely loves it). So it’s a game you can play just a few minutes after getting it out of the box and reviewing the rules.

Also, the construction of the components is pretty good. While it might have been fun to have 3 dimensional monsters, the cardboard stand up monsters have nice artwork (and the cardboard reminds me of those movies…). The counters for each player are well constructed, and will hold up to some use.

Who Can Play King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo is a fun, somewhat addictive game for the whole family…It can be played by new and experienced gamers. The newbies and younger players (oh, and me) will love ROARING and punching. Experienced gamers will find strategy in using cards both offensively and defensively. Also, there are Advanced Rules for playing with 5 or 6 people. More Chaos!!!

One thing we did notice…. while you CAN play with two players, it’s not as much fun as playing with three or more, simply because you are only punching one person, and that gets to be a drag. (Unless you have serious issues with that person, then, I say “go for it!”)

King of Tokyo is available on Amazon

There are a few different versions of King of Tokyo…
We have the standard King of Tokyo game, and it’s very good… the newer version has a few different monsters.
The King of New York introduces a bigger game board, and some slightly different rules, but with the same basic game play… because in New York, it’s FAME that counts!
Power-Up is an expansion set that allows your standard King of Tokyo Game to grow (but you can’t use it alone!)

King of Tokyo: New Edition Board Game King of Tokyo Board Game King of New York Board Game King of Tokyo Halloween Expansion Board Game King of New York Power Up Board Game