King
of Tokyo

King of Tokyo (2011) is a push-your-luck game where you are a giant monster on a rampage. You play by rolling and re-rolling dice like Yahtzee to carefully pick either offensive or defensive actions. It twists this idea with a territorial element that doubles down on the pressured prioritisation.

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You are fighting to stay alive and be the first monster to collect twenty victory points. You roll and re-roll dice, choosing between combinations that earn points, attack monsters or heal yourself. Get these decisions right and you satisfyingly destroy the other monsters.

Unlike Yahtzee, there's also a territorial dimension. Being in or out of Tokyo changes who can attack who. Fight your way into Tokyo to get bonus points and be able to damage all other monsters at the same time. However, being in the city makes you vulnerable to attack from other players on their turn.

As you progress, you earn Energy tokens to buy Special ability cards. For example, Burrowing deals extra damage on your attacks. You need to balance these attacks with defence, staying out of Tokyo if you need to use healing dice rolls. If you lose all your ten lives, then you are out of the game.

It's a game of prioritisation balanced on carefully selecting which dice to keep or re-roll. Get this right, with a bit of luck, and you assert your monstrous dominance leaving your friends cowering for survival.

(Image Credit: DadSuggests)

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Our examiner, Rob Prior, first checked King of Tokyo 21 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 14 months ago.