Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 45-60 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 5 min

In Kaiju Crush you play a giant monster and must crush buildings and fight your opponents to gain the most VPs and win.

Kaiju Crush Rules Description:

Kaiju Crush takes place on a modular board made up of five different types of tiles. You choose your monster and place them in their starting position on the board. You also start with a movement card, a deck of cards for combat and a special power card.

On your turn you use your movement card to move your kaiju and crush a building. There is also a shared movement card you can use. If you use your movement card you swap it with the shared movement card. When you land on a building tile you take it and swap in your top combat card. They are the same size as the tiles and mark your territory. Each city tile is worth three to five VPs.

There are a couple restrictions to movement. First you cannot move off the board or end in a park. Second you cannot land in a space previously crushed by you or another kaiju. Unless your opponent is currently there. Then you fight. You also may fight if you land orthogonally adjacent to another kaiju. If you cannot move you must pass.

Combat is resolved in a rock-paper-scissors method. You draw the top five cards from your combat deck. Then you secretly choose one to play. You and your opponent reveal your cards and resolve your selections. Claws beat tails which beat kicks which beat claws. Your breath weapon beats them all but your spikes which loses to everything else. Ties count as a loss for both players. You will play your entire hand in a best-of-five battle.

Winning combat that initiated in the same square as an opponent lets you take possession of the square by placing your top combat card there. You also gain a random VP chip worth one to three VPs for winning any combat.

As you jump around crushing buildings, battling kaiju, and collecting tiles there should be some method to your madness. There are four objectives that if you meet can get you a special bonus or VPs at the end of the game. For example, possessing the largest continuous area or the most of tiles of a specific type.

At the start of the game you are dealt two special power cards. You choose one to keep. It will give you a one-time special ability that lets you break the rules or gain a bonus.

Once no kaiju can make a legal move the ends. You total your VPs from combat tokens, claimed city tiles and from the objective cards. The player with the most VPs wins.

A Quick Review of Kaiju Crush:

Kaiju Crush is a fun, family-friendly area control game. Who doesn’t enjoy being a huge monster crushing buildings and fighting other huge monsters?

The components for this game are very nice. The monsters standees, artwork, and components are all of good quality. The rulebook is well written, full of examples, and easy to follow. It would be nice if the territory markers were as thick as the map tiles but since you use them for combat it makes sense to have them thinner.
Though not a high strategy game there is a lot of things going on including, area control, rock-paper-scissors combat, and set collection. None of it is too complex and this game is very accessible to both kids and new gamers.

Kaiju Crush has a lot of replay value. The map is random, the objectives are double-sided and the monsters have different abilities. You will want to try them all. And there are rule variants you can try out too.

My one small complaint is how fiddly switching some tiles can be. You might find yourself having to fix the map often when swapping out interior tiles. Not a huge deal but something to be aware of.

If you are looking for a fun, family-friendly game that is also great for new gamers, pick up Kaiju Crush.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6