Stats:
No. of players: 2-6
Amount of time to play: 30 min
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time: 5 minutes

King of Tokyo Rules Description:

King of Tokyo is a downtown brawl of monstrous proportions. You win by scoring 20 points or being the last monster standing.

To start King of Tokyo you choose your monster, set their health dial to 10 and their score dial to zero.

On your turn you roll six dice, keep what you like and re-roll the rest. Then you get one more chance to re-roll the dice you don’t want, but must keep these results.

There are six different symbols on the dice, a claw, lightning bolt, heart and the numbers one, two and three. Claws count as hits, lightning get you energy, hearts replenish your health and a set of three of any number gets you that many points. For each extra matching number you roll, you get one more point.

Every turn you are in Tokyo you get two points and your claw results hit everyone outside of Tokyo. But you cannot heal and everyone else’s claw results hit you. When you are hit you can pull the monster that hit you into Tokyo and you leave. Entering Tokyo scores you one point. With five or six players there are two spots in Tokyo.

Energy can be used to buy special ability cards. The special abilities do a variety of things including adding dice, getting you extra re-rolls or scoring you points. Some are discarded when bought while others stay in front of you for the rest of the game. There are three cards showing and you may spend two energy to remove the cards and see three new ones.

You win if you reach 20 points or if you are the last monster left in the game.

Quick Review of King of Tokyo:

King of Tokyo is a quick filler that is fun for all ages. Re-rolling the dice twice is reminiscent of Yahtzee but the theme makes this game a totally different beast. Since it is all about rolling dice this game is pretty random.

The game looks fantastic. The art work is great and the components are high quality. The rules are well written, but a bit sparse. You may have a couple cards and issues you’ll have to house rule, but there is a FAQ and none of the rules issues break the game or make it tough to play.

I like the theme, the length and the fun of King of Tokyo. I can play this with my young son or gamer friends and have a similar experience. It is not super strategic or deep but makes a great filler. You can play this with non-gamers and it makes an excellent family game.

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