King of Tokyo

I needed a non-thinking game to end the game session this week. Normally Incan Gold would be my call, but Board Game Arena has a new King of Tokyo event. I am rarely against a game of King of Tokyo, so in we jumped.

Right now there is a new monster available each week. This week, it was Quetzalcoatl. If you wanted to play as the epic lizard, jump in quick because it’s gone next week!

There was another new creature that I assumed was part of the event, and that is Lollybot. This could be my new favourite up there with Oogie Boogie and Jack Skellington. Well, there legally distinct versions in King of Tokyo anyway. Lollybot and its mini-gun full of what looks like jellybeans appeal to me.

I managed a pretty mean win during our first game. I managed to take out both Alpal and Rabbit in one go, while not even in Tokyo.

We changed it up to add the curse cards for a couple more games. The curse threw me for a loop when we first played them but adds enough mayhem now that I am very much enjoying the twist.

I am a little disappointed King of New York isn’t on Board Game Arena. I would like to play that again with Alpal, and having the system maintain the extra setup would make gameplay quick.

Until then, there are plenty of other modules to try in King of Tokyo!

One of the great things about PAX Aus 2022 was the larger tabletop area. There was a lot more space for people to grab and play tabletop games, which was amazing. It wasn’t just more room for tables. There were dedicated areas for tournaments, making things much clearer. Of course, I had to play a couple of games, and this year King of Tokyo got a huge run!

I have talked about King of Tokyo before, playing with Rabbit and Alpal on Board Game Arena. No digital interaction here! It was the original base King of Tokyo, around a table throwing dice and shade at each other. What better way to spend a Sunday morning?

We met up with a friend of Rabbit and had a couple of three-player games. This was fun, and three is the smallest player count I would play King of Tokyo with. Then the beauty of a gaming convention kicked in – randoms. We met a couple of nice people, and they also jumped in to play. This opened up Tokyo Bay, leading to even more mayhem and shenanigans!

There was an experienced player and a new player in the people that joined us. There were also fans of King of Tokyo that just enjoyed seeing it played, and wanted to have a look. Everyone that came by had a ball, and it was great to get in a few games of an old favourite.

King of Tokyo is a great convention game. Simple to teach and learn, random mayhem equalising the skill curve, and fast to play. This makes it great for game nights of almost any form. You may notice if you look for King of Tokyo, there are two different titles in the series. King of Tokyo Dark Edition is a limited run with deluxe pieces and one small rule change. Don’t stress about hunting down King of Tokyo Dark Edition for a gameplay difference.

King of New York though – that’s a slightly different story. There are a lot more rules and processes around gameplay. King of New York is a fun game but isn’t the general recommendation like King of Tokyo.

And there is always that great fallback of try King of Tokyo on Board Game Arena to see for yourself!

We were looking to finish off the gaming day with something fun and quick. There was a joke about King of Tokyo being super quick. The last time we played thinking it would only take 15-20 minutes Alpal made it last almost 45!

That said, it had been a while and I was keen to give it another play. I made the comment King of Tokyo should be quick, because the last time we played was during an event with lots of expansions on by default.

This disappointed Alpal and Rabbit, so I turned on every expansion and modification short of King of Tokyo Dark. Let the chaos reign!

Well, that’s what I thought would happen. Instead, we had very little idea of what was going on. Starting with drafting powers (which seemed to make sense), only Alpal could play one.

Powers worked sometimes, but not others. Rather than chaos reigning, confusion seemed to have the wheel!

It was still a fun experience and didn’t put me off King of Tokyo at all. It would be nice to know how some of those rules worked though. Maybe I can read up on the rules for next time.

Or I can skip that, and go to King of Tokyo Dark which I have been eyeing for a while. More likely though, I will skip all this and buy King of Monster Island – the new cooperative entry in the King of series!