Game 87: King of Tokyo

When Caleb suggested we play King of Tokyo tonight, I was sure I had posted about this game already.  We were all surprised to find I hadn't.  It's a game we play reasonably often (or so we thought!).  It's quirky  .  .  .  in a good way.  All players are basically monsters fighting for control of Tokyo.  During set-up you choose which monster you want to be (see below), and then you battle it out with the other monsters.  There are two possible win conditions, that of killing all the other monsters or that of being the first to win 20 victory points.  We had so much fun with this game tonight that we just couldn't put it away and played 3 times in a row!
The first player to roll a claw on the dice during his turn ends up in Tokyo.  The monster in Tokyo is in a position to attack all other monsters with his dice rolls, but he is also hit by everyone else's rolls.  Monsters can't heal while in Tokyo, but they gain victory points for staying in Tokyo.
You'll see next to the board above that three cards are laid out.  These cards can be purchased with power cubes, and they have some very interesting effects on the game.  In our third game, Caleb and Jacob just went nuts with the card buy, which was really powering them up, but while they were focused on that I was able to stealthily gain victory points for the win.  That was game 3.  In game 2 I was the first to be killed by having my life points drop to zero through attacks and inability to heal (i.e. to roll hearts on the dice).
Below is a close-up of one of the cards.
Typically only the six black dice are used, but there are cards (such as "Extra Head") that allow you to add more dice to your roll.  The rolls typically work as they do in Yahtzee - where you get three rolls and have the opportunity to set aside the dice you want to keep after each of the three rolls.  For each heart showing after you finish your rolls, you gain one life point (unless you are in Tokyo).  Lightning bolts give you power cubes (for buying cards).  Claws are attacks.  Rolling three of a number gives you that amount of victory points.  There are also cards that allow certain other bonuses for certain rolls.
The situation below was pretty amazing.  Just the turn before, David had purchased the card "Complete Destruction," which gives 9 victory points if you roll one of each symbol on the dice.  On his first roll that's exactly what came up!
Here's another shot of the play.  I always choose Killer Bunny as my monster, because what's more scary than that?

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