Acoustic Gaming: King of Tokyo
by Chris
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Box Contains: 1 set of rules, 1 Tokyo board, 66 cards, 28 counters, 8 dice, 6 monster boards, 6 cardboard figures + 6 plastic stands and a large amount of energy cubes.
Anyone who has read previous articles about board games and thought; “Chris, old bean, this card jazz is all well and good but I long for a game that involves dice and perhaps some of the more traditional elements of board games that I’ve come to love while playing Mouse Trap with my nan.” Well, I’ve got just the game for you, and not only does it have some more traditional board game elements such as dice, a board and pieces to move around, touch and sniff, it’s also got a delightful aesthetic that people of all ages can enjoy. Not only is this an excellent game for both children and adults but if you want a board game with some depth past pissing people off (a la Skull & Roses) to act as a way to break into tabletop games, then this is perhaps the one for you.
King of Tokyo revolves around an interesting balance between two different methods of beating everyone else and winning the game as you vie for control over the remains of that great Japanese capital, Tokyo. Inside the box you’ll find the rules, as always, along with an actual playing board. Unlike Skull & Roses this game uses a board that acts as a representation of Tokyo, with two spaces for monsters to exist in: Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay (the number of monsters ‘in’ Tokyo varies depending on the number of players). You’ve then got six monster boards and cardboard figures with plastic stands, and at the start of the game you’ll be required to pick your character from one of these six. Your characters of choice are Alienoid, Cyber Bunny, Giga Zaur, Kraken, Meka Dragon, and The King. Their differences are purely aesthetic and don’t add or take away anything from the game overall, but they do look very awesome and you’ll likely get attached to a couple of favourites pretty early on (my personal choices being Kraken and Cyber Bunny).
The monster boards inside the box represent how you will track your health and victory points during play, and I personally enjoyed the inclusion of a wheel system for changing the values of your health and victory points. Again, the aesthetics on the monster boards are awesome – a cross between the comic artwork for the television show Heroes and the Marvel comics of old. It is a shame the pictures are interrupted by the holes for the wheel system, although it’s a sacrifice you’ll happily pay for increased durability against heavy-handed kids.
I’ve already mentioned that this game is great for all ages, and one of two main reasons for this is also something else I have mentioned: the aesthetic. This is a lovely looking game and will immediately strike a chord with just about anyone who has ever seen something colourful before. Young children will want to touch the pink bunny rabbit and attempt to eat the green energy cubes (that look remarkably like little sweets), just as teenagers and young adults will appreciate the comic book vibe from the sixty-six power cards. Finally, adults (like myself) will take one look at this game and have a cheeky throwback to their own childhoods due to the comparisons you can make with the 1986 arcade classic Rampage (at least until you buy the board game version, which is amazingly daft fun, but anyway I digress).
King of Tokyo throws players into an arena crowded with monsters and abominations of nature who all have one goal in mind – to become the King of Tokyo by any means necessary. This is done in one of two ways: either by being the first player to score twenty victory points or by being the last monster standing. So you can see that, very quickly, two schools of thought emerge in terms of how to win the game, either with some tactical capture of victory points or by building some raw punching power to out-muscle the opposition.
At the start of the game all players will be outside of Tokyo, essentially leaving the city unoccupied, and the first player rolls the six dice (two extra dice are unlocked via different powerups) The six dice come with different symbols on, namely 1, 2, and a 3, followed by a claw, a heart and a little lightning bolt. Players have the option of re-rolling dice twice should they not get their desired results, although doing so can always land you in more hot water if you use up all your re-rolls.
Now, if you’re going for victory points these can be achieved through a couple of different means, such as by rolling triple figures of either 1, 2 or 3 on the dice. This will give you 1, 2 or 3 victory points depending on which set of triples you rolled, and although that sounds easy, when you factor in the other things you can roll it becomes an issue of strategy rather than luck. Failing that, the only other way to get victory points is through buying power cards that may give you some points (expensive and risky) or by entering Tokyo for a fight (dangerous and risky).
So if you enter Tokyo, you’re automatically awarded one victory point – hurrah – but now, you’re in all kinds of trouble because you’re the target of everyone else in the game. Let’s assume you’re playing with four people in total and you’ve just entered Tokyo during your first turn. You can get another two victory points if you manage to stay in there until your next go, which means negotiating the dangers of three other turns first, and the biggest problem is that if anyone outside Tokyo rolls any claws on their dice they’ll count for one damage to you. This sounds pretty harmless owing to the fact that you have ten health but these fuckers have six dice, meaning in one go you can be knocked down to four health. Of course, the opposition may focus on trying to roll triple numbers or winning energy cubes but they could equally rip up the nearest block of flats and smash you round the chops with it.
The beauty of this whole game comes next: if you take any damage while in Tokyo you can choose to exit the city, essentially fleeing like a coward and forcing the other player into your now empty space. So, if you’ve noticed that in two turns time someone has a damage modifier, you could perhaps look at the situation from a tactical angle and get a stronger enemy forced into Tokyo, just in time to get a good pounding from the guy sat next to you. The worst part of being in Tokyo is that you can’t heal any damage while inside, meaning that if you do lose a chunk of your health you have to exit in order to heal. Another good strategy is if someone accidentally rolls a claw against you but has low health, you can vacate the city and allow them to run the risk of getting killed off next turn by someone else.
Choosing when to enter and when to leave Tokyo is key to this game, because if you do manage to stay in until your next go and claim those vital victory points, any claws you roll while inside Tokyo will attack every other person outside. So rolling six claws deals every other player six damage, making you the least favourite person at the table and possibly seeing you through another round, because no-one will want to risk entering the city.
Then you’ve got the power up cards and energy cubes. When you’re not rolling numbers, hearts or claws you might be rolling little lightning bolts, which gives you energy cubes that can be used to buy cards. The cards can give you various power ups such as increasing damage, adding a victory point per turn or even giving you another dice. Some of these cards are powerful game changers, meaning that you’ll likely have to consider swapping out some claw rolls for lightning bolt ones.
Where’s the downside in all this I hear you cry? Well, for any slightly more dedicated tabletop gamers this is a game that is partially based on luck, and therefore you can be sitting pretty, as the would-be king, only to find that a couple of gut-punching dice rolls go against you and all of a sudden your game has bombed worse than a sequel to the Mario Brothers movie. It can be a little jarring in a game where the systems are pretty straightforward and nicely rounded. Don’t let that put you off though – chances are if you’re falling foul of some shitty dice rolls you’ve put yourself in a position to get a swift kick in the face anyway.
So what is King of Tokyo at its core? It’s a very fun-filled first step into the world of tabletop games that provides more diversity and challenging dynamics than the likes of Skull & Roses. It certainly has some interesting strategies behind its colourful façade, and anyone looking to write it off should reconsider it as something that is very easy to pick up but difficult to master. If you want a game that is good for kids and adults alike then this is certainly an excellent place to start and it’s a game that will easily find a home in any collection.
Pros- Great aesthetic
- Good game for adults and kids alike.
- Challenging but fun premise
- A certain amount of the challenge relies on luck too
- Not as appealing with fewer players
King of Tokyo is a fun-filled way for newcomers to ease themselves into gaming, but serves up a hefty slice of colourful enjoyment for veterans. While some of the challenge relies on luck, there are strategic elements that come into play and it should suit both adults and children. Wrecking a capital city has rarely been this colourful or kooky.
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