Stats:
No. of players: 2-6
Amount of time to play: 45 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: minimal

King of New York is the follow up to the now classic King of Tokyo. It has the familiar monster bashing, king of the hill theme but now the board really matters.

King of New York Rules Description:

King of New York shares a few things in common with King of Tokyo. First the art, style and theme are the same. You also still roll dice to see what happens in the game and may re-roll them twice.

The board is different and contains the five boroughs of New York City. Upon game set up each borough has three stacks of three building tiles. If destroyed the buildings can get you VPs, health or energy. Manhattan contains a track with three spaces that one or two monsters (depending on the number of players) can climb. After resolving your dice you must move into Manhattan if it has an empty space. If it is not empty you may move to any borough that has less than two monsters in it. If you are in Manhattan you nay move up the track one slot. The further up the track you move the more VP and energy you gain (up to +2/+2). Manhattan works like Tokyo. While there you attack everyone (and vice versa) and cannot heal. You can still pull people into Manhattan when they hit you and when you do you go to their borough.

The dice are different too. The claw, heart and lightning side remain but the 1,2 and 3 results are gone. They have been replaced by the destruction, ouch and star symbols.

The destruction symbols let you destroy buildings in your current borough. Tiles have a value from one to four on them and that is the number of destruction dice results you need to destroy that tile. When destroyed you flip a building over to show the army unit on the opposite side. If an army unit is destroyed it is removed from the game.

Ouch results cause army units to attack the monster or monsters in their borough depending on the number rolled. A monster takes one point of damage for each unit in its borough. Rolling three or more ouch results gets all the monsters in the city attacked. But you gain the Statue of Liberty card. This card is worth three points but may be stolen by the next player that rolls three ouch results.

If you roll three or more stars you gain the Superstar card. It lets you score VPs equal to the number of stars you rolled. But like the Statue of Liberty card the next player that rolls three or more stars can steal it.

The game goes until just one monster is standing or if you score 20 VPs.

Quick Review of King of New York:

King of New York is sure to be compared to King of Tolko but they are fairly different games. In King of New York the board matters more and it is more complicated.

The components for this game are great. The art exudes theme and is comparable to the rest in the series. The card and tiles are well made and the rules are easy to read and follow.

I like how you can now interact with the city. If I am a monster in a large city I destroy things and the puny humans get man. Well now you can. The way the buildings turn into army units is nicely done.

The ouch dice triggering the army units to fire is a neat mechanic and adds some press your luck to the game. But it does suck to roll them when you need health badly and eliminate yourself from the game.

Having the board matter is nice and the way you are rewarded more for staying in Manhattan longer is a cool addition.

So if you were waiting for me to compare the two kings…I have to say I enjoy King of Tokyo a bit better (but this could change over time). But I don’t think it’d be abnormal to own both. King of New York is less accessible to non-gamers and I am not sure all the new parts add up to a better game. You are still at the mercy of the dice.

If you own King of Tokyo give King of New York a try, it fills a different niche and really feels like a different game. If you don’t own either and only want one, then it might depend on whom you game with. King of Tokyo is a great, light filler for gamers old and new to enjoy. But if you mainly play with experienced gamers you might just want to pick up King of New York. But honestly I feel like there is room for both of these in most collections.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 6 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6