Gone Dark
King of Tokyo was the first board game I ever owned and its Yahtzee battling monster mechanics still hold up today. The recently released Dark Edition added some new tweaks but didn’t mess with the core gameplay and isn’t compatible with the power up expansion.
Speaking of which said expansion can be a bit tricky to track down. Helpfully Iello are releasing a ‘Monster Box’ version of the game which includes both the Power Up and the Halloween expansions with some bonus cards and a Baby Gigasaur bonus character. Meaning there is 10 characters included in the game and as a bonus a dice tray too!
Monster Mash
King of Tokyo sees giant monsters battle it out in the titular city. To do so on a players roll dice choosing which results to keep and which to reroll. The dice have various symbols on them - the numbers 1-3, a heart, a lightening bolt and claws. Claws attack, hearts heal, and lightening gives energy. Numbers give victory points, as long as you match at least three of the same number.
Energy can be used to buy power cards which change things up. This can let you reroll more times, get extra bonus or roll another dice each turn. To win the game a player must win 20 victory points or be the last monster standing. The trick is how attacking works. Your monster will either be in or outside Tokyo. If it’s inside Tokyo you will attack all monsters outside Tokyo. But if you are outside Tokyo you will attack the monster (or two in games with more than 4 players) inside Tokyo.
When attacked a monster in Tokyo can decide to vacate. If they do the monster who did the attack then takes its place. Tokyo can earn you extra points, but you cannot heal in Tokyo! It’s a game with a great look and play style and if you haven’t yet added it too your collection this Monster Box is the perfect way to pick it up. You might want to even if you own the first!