Attack of the Kaiju (King of New York)

New York City is a nice place to live, except for the shootings, the muggings, and of course the weekly attacks by giant mutated beasts.  But, that's the price you pay for seeing firsthand who will be the true King of New York.



BACKGROUND:  King of New York is a game for 2-6 players designed by Richard Garfield and published by IELLO, in which the players take the role of giant Godzilla like monsters and robots, wrecking the city of Tokyo in quest for total domination.

GAMEPLAY:  Players begin in various districts with 20 max health and 0 Victory Points (VP), and roll the special black dice up to 3 times, with each one providing various effects once resolved:

• Star:  3 Stars grants you the special Superstar card, which grants you a VP and any future Stars granting you VP as well.
• Claw:  Deal 1 damage for each claw to the Monster in the Manhattan District, or if in Manhattan, deal 1 damage for each claw to each other Monster not in Manhattan.  If a monster is attacked in Manhattan, they may move out anytime this is rolled, but will still take the damage.
• Lightning Bolt:  Gain an energy token.
• Heart:  If not in Manhattan, heal 1 point for each Heart
• Building:  Deal damage to Building Tiles or any Military Units not revealed this turn, and gain the effect of the Destroyed Tile, which is flipped, or the Unit, which is placed in front of you.  Damage is healed once the turn ends.
• Skull:  1 Skull rolled deals to you per Unit on your Borough.  2 Skulls deals damage to all monsters from Units to each monster in your Borough.  3 or more Skulls deals damage to all Monsters for each Unit in their Borough, and you gain the Statue of Liberty card and 3 VP.

MANHATTAN:  Once the dice are resolved, if there is no Monster in the Manhattan Borough when playing with 4 or fewer players, or there is only 1 there with 5 or 6 players, the turn player moves there, gaining a VP and other effects as long as they stay there.  Otherwise the player may move into any other Borough with 1 or less Monsters there.  Then the player may buy any of the 3 available cards, or pay 2 Energy to discard and deal new cards out.

WINNING:  Players win by either dropping all the other monsters health to 0, or gaining 20 VP.

CONCLUSION:  When I first played King of Tokyo, I had a hard time understanding or enjoying the game initially.  I am thankful to say that King of New York was a lot easier to understand, mostly.  Richard Garfield seems to understand how to take weird ideas and make them interesting.  The inclusion of multiple locations and the special cards balances out the game a little better than before.  Now, there are a couple minor gripes I have with the game, such as the forced movement.  Even though it helps with balancing issues, it is really easy to accidentally die from attacks that aren't your fault.  Still, the game is enjoyable, if a little frustrating.  I'd say give it a chance