King of Tokyo in recent years. Along with Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan and The Resistance it has become a must play game. For those of us who obsessively try to seduce our friends into the boardgameverse, many have successfully employed King of Tokyo as a gateway game. While it may have flaws, particularly concerns with replayability — even with the expansions — it is still a boardgame that you will find on the shelves of most modern tabletoppers.
[box type="info"]
• Designer: Richard Garfield
• Publisher: iello
• Number of Players: 2-6
• Release Date: Available Now
[/box]
When I heard that Richard Garfield would be designing a game called King of New York, clearly as a sequel, I was very excited to see a game that would build on already great and established game mechanics, while also improving on some of its flaws, and it kind of did. Kind of. Actually, almost all questions about the new boardgame I could only reply with half-answers. Is it the same game but in a different setting? Yes, but not really. Are the game mechanics the same? Sort of. Could you still win just by rolling dice very well? You could, but… Is it worth buying if I already own King of Tokyo? Well, that depends. Only one question I could answer with complete certainty: is it fun? Yes!
I have come to realise that it is hard to objectively discuss King of New York without comparing it to its predecessor. So I have decided to let the monsters fight it out for the title of one true King!
Round 1: The Board.
In King of Tokyo the board is almost irrelevant. You are either in Tokyo (on the board, or could be in the centre of the table) or outside of Tokyo (not on the board, or could be anywhere else on the table). For International TableTop Day 2014 we printed people sized monsters for a giant sized game of King of Tokyo. When setting this up, a creative arrangement of stools and chairs served as “Tokyo” just fine. Therefore, if the board gets lost, nothing will change about the gameplay.
If the King of New York board is misplaced you would be in trouble. The board is much bigger and throughout the game all monsters are on the board and there is more interaction with the board. You can move from one borough to another, and Manhattan is also divided into three areas, each with different benefits. Secondly, unit tokens are introduced along with a new mechanic, which makes it very important to be in the right area of the board in relation to those units. The board is finally useful but, even more importantly, it is a fun addition. Therefore:
King of Tokyo 0 : 1 King of New York
King of Tokyo 0 : 2 King of New York
Round 3: Is Tokyo / Manhattan the place to be? The names of both games imply that Manhattan and Tokyo are the places you absolutely want to fight to occupy. In both games that is the easiest way to earn victory points. However, to balance it out, the gameplay tries to adopt ‘to win big, you have to risk big’ approach. It is fairer but also more competitive and fun. This absolutely works in King of Tokyo. While in Tokyo you cannot heal and everyone else is attacking you. Being in Tokyo is dangerous, and could be a deadly affair. The gameplay is very dynamic as monsters often jump in and out multiple times in a round. You count yourself incredibly lucky if you have managed to pick up a card that heal you or if you have managed to get out to roll some much needed hearts. In contrast, Manhattan is like a monster retirement island. Whenever you receive damage, you could just destroy some health units around you. That is, if your opponents, preoccupied with destroying everything in their sight and rolling Ouches, will even remember to attack you. Personally, I think the game would be much more dynamic if the units, which are more useful than they are dangerous, are only placed in boroughs, or at least no units with health abilities are put in Manhattan.King of Tokyo 1 : 2 King of New York
King of Tokyo 2 : 1 King of New York
Round 5: The Cards. Both games have special power cards that can be purchased with green energy cubes. Having played both games a lot, I still constantly pick up cards I have never seen before. Although, I welcome this variety, in both games the quantity substituted quality. I could not name one really great card in either games because they all have blurred in my mind. To be honest, as far as I am concerned the card set from King of Tokyo could have been used in King of New York and I would not have spotted it. No points.King of Tokyo 2 : 1 King of New York
FINAL SCORE
King of Tokyo 3 : 2 King of New York
I am a very happy owner of both King of Tokyo and King of New York and both games are played regularly in my household. To me, King of New York has done enough new and interesting things to justify the purchase. While, Mecha Dragon, Gigazaur and others have climbed to the top of the pedestal, this was a close fight. I have nitpicked both games so much only because this was a hard decision to make in regards to the two boardgames that are both really good and I would recommend either in a heartbeat. If you have not yet played either of them, I suggest you get a copy. Whether that copy is King of New York or King of Tokyo or even both, I hoped this helped. Copies of King of Tokyo and King of New York are available to play for free at Loading Bar.]]>
Alex
Cool breakdown. I recently bought King of Tokyo, realised a more recent game had been released, and panicked a bit. Luckily progress is not always good it seems.
Alex
Thank you! If you liked King of Tokyo, then I think you can enjoy King of New York too. I wound’t necessary rush into buying it straight away though. Play KoT, and if you get bored of it but still want something similar, then check out KoNY
The Sheriff
It looks like you took a point away from King of New York after round 3 going into round 4.
Alex
Yeah, I subtracted one point from KoNY because I don’t like new monsters and their names. As you named yourself The Sheriff… it is a bit awkward now 😛 Sorry…
Cory
You are the only reviewer and game player that likes King of Tokyo better than King of New York. I think you may have some monster name bias issues.
Sheriff
Personally, I think the monsters in Tokyo, especially the 2nd edition, are A LOT worse.. Although I may be biased because my name is Sheriff. 😛
And you mentioned Tokyo has like no replayability, so I was wondering if New York had more given it had more mechanics involved?