 | |
| Designers | Richard Garfield [1] |
|---|---|
| Publishers | IELLO [1] |
| Players | 2 to 6 [1] |
| Playing time | 30 minutes [1] |
| Age range | 8+ [1] |
King of Tokyo is a monster movie-themed tabletop game using custom dice, cards, and boards, designed by Richard Garfield and released in 2011. [1] A New York City-based edition, King of New York, was published in 2014. [2] The game was re-released in 2016, with all-new artwork and characters.
Players choose one of the six monsters, consisting of mutant monsters, gigantic robots and other creatures. Each monster has no difference from each other apart from name and design. Players take turn rolling six dice, and may reroll some of them as they wish, as in the dice game Yahtzee . [3] [4]
Die faces are energy, health, attack, 1, 2, and 3. Rolling an energy icon allows the active player to collect energy tokens equal to the number of energy icons they rolled; these tokens are used to buy power cards. Rolling a health icon restores the active player's health by one each, to the maximum of 10. Rolling an attack icon while Tokyo is unoccupied gives a player the opportunity to occupy "Tokyo City" and gain a victory point. Once "Tokyo City" is occupied, any attack icon rolled will result in damage to either the player in Tokyo or all players not in Tokyo, depending on whose turn it is, equal to the number of attack icons rolled. When a player outside of Tokyo rolls any number of attack icons while Tokyo is already occupied, that player also gets to choose whether to take over the spot at the expense of the previous occupier. Rolling three 1s grants the player 1 victory point, three 2s are worth 2 points, and three 3s score 3. Any additional same-numbered die face scores 1 victory point each. [3]
Being in Tokyo gives a player a number of advantages, such as two victory points for starting their turn in Tokyo and the ability to attack all players not in Tokyo. On the flip side, the player in Tokyo cannot heal by rolling dice, i.e. any health icon they roll does nothing, and will always be targeted by other players' attack rolls. When a player's health hits zero, that player is out of the game and cannot take any further turns. There are two occupation spots in Tokyo, with the second spot, dubbed "Tokyo Bay", only available so long as there are more than four players. [3]
The winner is the first player to collect 20 victory points or the last player still in play. [3]
A board game review in The Wirecutter stated that the game has "a host of wacky characters" that make it fun, but that players could be sidelined by being eliminated early in the game. [10]