Matthew BaileyGame 41 of the “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024” – “King of Tokyo Origins” played with Toby(6) and Jack (9).
“King of Tokyo” and I have always had a somewhat unusual relationship. The “King of Tokyo: Black Edition” was one of the earliest reviews I ever did on this site, way back in July 2021. At the time, I was left with a lukewarm impression and didn’t enjoy it all that much. This was very early in my journey of playing games with my children. At that time, Jack was six, Toby was three, and Henry was a few days away from being born.
I didn’t play the game much after that. When we reviewed “King of Monster Island” last year, I wasn’t keen on that either, mainly due to the constantly regenerating minions, which added a frustrating element to the game. None of us were massive fans of it. I’ve since sold both of those games, but with the release of “King of Tokyo: Origins,” a slightly stripped-down and purer version of the original “King of Tokyo,” I thought I’d give it one last go. Surprisingly, I actually really enjoyed it.
“King of Tokyo” is essentially a Yahtzee-style game where you play as kaiju trying to become the ruler of Tokyo and defeat all the other monsters. On your turn, you roll dice, which either allow you to attack opponents, gain energy to buy special powers, regain health, or collect sets of numbers to earn victory points.
You gain more victory points at the start of your turn by being the monster in Tokyo. The downside is that while you’re in Tokyo, you’re vulnerable to attacks from everyone outside it. At the end of each player’s turn, if you’re in Tokyo, you can choose whether to yield Tokyo and retreat, forcing the player who attacked you to take your place—sometimes with devastating consequences.
Being in Tokyo involves a massive risk-reward balance. On your turn, all your attacks target everyone outside Tokyo, but you cannot heal while you’re in the city. So, you must carefully manage when to stay in Tokyo and when to leave.
You can also spend your energy on extra powers, which allow you to do things like change dice rolls, make additional attacks, or gain victory points in other ways.
It had been about three years since I last played regular “King of Tokyo,” so I didn’t remember exactly what I didn’t like about it before—just that I wasn’t overly keen. However, we had a really good time playing “King of Tokyo: Origins” and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. “King of Tokyo: Origins” is essentially a streamlined version of the regular “King of Tokyo.” It’s limited to four players (as opposed to five or six), and some of the complexities have been slightly simplified. This makes it a purer, more Yahtzee-style experience. However, this doesn’t explain my previous lukewarm feelings about the game. I’m starting to question whether we played “King of Tokyo” correctly back in July 2021, three days before Henry was born. I suspect we might have mixed up the rules regarding yielding Tokyo, although that could be a false memory.
The box is smaller, which is nice, and all the components are of decent quality. I do wish the energy tokens were the lightning bolt ones from some of the other versions, and I equally wish they would release miniatures for these games instead of the standees. The artwork is lovely and fits the theme well.
It’s also worth noting that “King of Tokyo: Origins” can be used as an expansion for regular “King of Tokyo,” and you can use the characters from this set in the base game.
Either way, we really enjoyed “King of Tokyo: Origins.” It’s a fun Yahtzee-style dice game with a reasonable amount of strategy that can lead to unexpected outcomes. The simplicity of the game makes it engaging and enjoyable, and since it can be picked up for a very reasonable price of about £15 online, it could be a great gateway game for people looking to get into more complex board games.
I suppose I’m now going to have to re-buy the regular “King of Tokyo,” aren’t I?
