15.1.2016

I kept hearing good things about King of Tokyo in online board game forums, so when I found out about the sequel, King of New York, I decided to take the plunge. I have never played KoT before, so didn't really know what to expect.For your money you get a deep box containing a number of large character standees (double-side cardboard characters with plastic bases); a score/health board for each player; some power-up cards; eight large, chunky dice; numerous transparent energy cubes and a number of cardboard tokens. The game takes place on a simple board that features a map of New York divided up into districts.Taking the place of Tokyo in the earlier game is Manhattan: your character has to move here if it's vacant at the end of your turn and by being in Manhattan you are both at an advantage in terms of earning the power cubes and attack but at a disadvantage with respect to health.You see, to win the game your monster must try to get 20 stars or be the last monster standing. You start your turn by rolling six custom dice: you can reroll some or all of them up to two times more in order to get what you want. The dice feature building icons, stars, skulls, hearts, lightning bolts and claws. The claw icon is for attack: if you're in Manhattan, an attack takes a health from every player outside Manhattan but if you're in another district an attack is targeted only at the player in Manhattan. The building icon lets you attack the buildings in your district: these give rewards of health or stars but are then flipped into military 'units' such as tanks and jets which will attack you, taking a health, for every skull you throw in that district. Heart dice restore your health (unless you're in Manhattan, where they do nothing). Lightning bolts earn you energy cubes.After you have resolved the dice, you can choose to buy a power-up card, using the energy cubes you have earnt, which give you special powers such as the ability to throw an extra die (there are two special green ones included for this purpose) or regain health at the start of your turn, &c. Finally, you can choose to move district: by doing so you can avoid the units or move out Manhattan to recouperate, for example.Manhattan is special, in that when you're there you cannot heal using the heart dice, you attack every player outside that district and you earn energy cube and star rewards for being there. You are also obliged to move to Manhattan if it is vacant during the 'move' part of your turn.KoNY is a pretty chaotic, silly game...but it is fun. The first few plays of this I didn't really enjoy it but it has definitely grown on me over the last six months. I'm now starting to appreciate it for what it is: this is no 'euro' game (there's no engine building and players can be eliminated) but for a crazy romp it's good fun: throw the chunky dice and stick it to your fellow monsters! My kids get a bit upset when they're eliminated but to solve this I've just said they can play on with a different monster when it dies. The card power-ups are really good fun but they vary wildly in their power and so the game is a bit unpredictable and there's very little strategy involved: it's like a Hollywood action movie rather than a complicated drama.

29.10.2014

King of New York is effectively King of Tokyo version 2.0. It's as if the creator of the game, Richard Garfield, sat down after the success of King of Tokyo and relfected on what he would have done differently had he made the game again. The result is King of New York - a game which keeps all the positives from Tokyo and looks to add some new additions to hopefully improve the game.What's the same?- You're still fighting over Tokyo (only this time it's Manhattan) and monsters inside the area attack all others, while those outside the area attack only Manhattan.- The energy and cards work exactly the same and the game comes with some cool new cards as you'd expect- Hearts (heal) and claws (attack)are exactly the same- You still have 6 monsters fighting to be king! Although they're different and new monsters to TokyoWhat's new?- The board now has boroughs (areas) for monsters to hang out in while they're not in Manhattan, so you're not just off the board while not in Tokyo anymore- The numbers on the dice (1, 2 and 3) are all gone- They've been replaced with a star, a building destruction and ouch symbol- Roll three stars and you become the star of NY allowing you to score victory points by rolling more stars on future turns- There are now buildings on the board in each borough. These buildings can be destroyed by rolling destruction icons. Each building gives you a reward (health, energy and victory points) for destroying it. Fun!- Once buildings are destroyed you turn them over and they become a military unit in the borough where the building was. Military units can hurt the monsters! If you roll 1, 2 or 3 ouch symbols you will cause the military to fight back either only on you (1), you and the other monster in your borough (2) or all monsters (3). This can be a great way to cause damage to other monsters no matter where they are. Military units can also be destroyed using the destruction icons - you get rewards for doing this too. If you roll 3 ouches you will also get a statue of liberty card which gives you 3 points so long as you have it- You can now move around the boroughs- You now have increased reward for staying in Manhattan - the longer you're in there the more points and energy you will get.How's it play?It plays better than Tokyo in my opinion. Tokyo was one of my favourite games but New York has improved upon and overtaken it for me. There are more options in the game to cause chaos and have plenty of fun while doing so. The buildings and military units add a lot. If you enjoy Tokyo you will really enjoy New York.Do you need it if you have Tokyo alreadyWell, Tokyo is still a great game but I don't see myself going back to it now I've played New York. For me, it's either one or the other - there's not a huge reason to keep both in your collection.

14.5.2015

Starting from where King of Tokyo left off King of New York has a very familiar feel. Choosing monsters, rolling dice, trying to hold on to Manhattan (Tokyo). However, there are some quite significant differences that mostly lead to an improvement over the original.Pros - The board is now necessary, this may seem like an odd thing to say about a board game but players of it's predecessor will know what I mean. The board of Tokyo only had 1/2 players on at any one time and the majority of players character's would be sat off of it. Now the boroughs of New York beyond Manhattan offer an interesting array of additional actions that I shall come on to later. They have removed the 1s, 2s,

8.9.2014

Being a big King of Tokyo fan I simply had to get a pre-release copy at GenCon. I've now played the game a good number of times, with various number of players, including experienced King of Tokyo players and complete newbies.If you don't have King of Tokyo, it is a dice based monster combat game, with some additional 'power up' mechanics, and you'll find plenty of reviews around already. King of New York follows much the same format but introduces additional mechanics allowing you to munch through buildings and for the military to fight back. Manhattan is the new Tokyo with monsters in Manhattan dealing damage to those outside and vice-versa. Just like Tokyo, you can't heal in Manhattan,

13.10.2019

When I have friends over, there are 2 board games I bust out, because I know they are easy to explain, are fun, have a short running time, very little downtime between turns, encourage having fun.First of these is King of Tokyo.The rules are simple, and there's enough spectacle that "super casual" players can enjoy it (ameritrash as it is sometimes called) but enough depth that one can reliably strategise and implement one's plans, and also anticipate and foil other players' plans.It's also quite quick to set up and take down, and occupies a small footprint.Other games I really like fail in this criteria, even though they may be "better" games overall. For example merchants and Marauders is probably my favourite game overall,

1.11.2017

In principle it's the same mechanics as King of Tokyo but the way how the game works is quite different.The monsters, from what I can tell could easily be used in KoT and vice versa but it's the dice, map, cards and tokens that are massively different.The map allows for 2 monsters (depending on the number players) but the longer you stay in the city you may progress to higher rewards so you move from the lower, middle to higher areas, if you don't leave.There's also borough's that monsters move around on, such as Queens.The cards have powers that can affect or increased effectiveness depending on the borough your monster is in.Each borough has 3 stacks of 3 tiles (tokens),

10.12.2014

King of New York is excellent. I've played it with my friends about 10 times so far and there are so many different tactics you can use to try and win, far more than with the forerunner to this game King of Tokyo . We had become such old hands at playing King of Tokyo (playing maybe 100 games) that it had become quite a quick game -- we all knew quick ways to try and win, but I don't see that happening with King of New York because there are a lot more ways to win and ways to disadvantage you opponents, and there are more levelling mechanisms in the game so it's less likely that some one gets way-out in front on points (or very low on life)

27.2.2015

How can anybody not give this game 5 out of 5. So lets go into the game you are monsters trying to get to 20 victory points. The best way to amass points is by been in Manhattan this is however risky because everybody can attack you in manhattan until it comes round to your turn again. Will you be brave and risk taking a beating to get the victory points needed. If you lose 10 health it is game over for you. You throw 6 dice you get to keep which dice you like after the first throw if you don't like any of them you can roll them all again you choose what to keep your allowed to roll the dice 3 times. The game really is that simple with buildings and special cards added in.

16.1.2015

I had not played King of Tokyo before playing this game, so the whole concept was completely new to me. Basically you are a monster rampaging around New York and you have to acquire enough victory points by trashing buildings to win before your opponents. Your progress is basically determined by throwing a whole load of dice each time, but you can also buy cards which give you power-ups. If your health gets low, and your opponents get lucky with the dice, you can be eliminated pretty quickly (as I found to my cost) so you have to be careful and re-charge your health-meter from time to time. The game is quick to play and it's lots of fun. It's very nicely made too.

6.4.2016

King of New York is a great strategy game building on King of Tokyo, it brings additional depth thanks to the building/army tokens which are also add to the theme as well as the different boroughs you can move through.Its very well balanced for different strategies, I collect energy and buy cards to build attack power and kill off foes while my wife collects points and we tend to be 50/50 in wins. It plays best with 3+ people and handles up to 6 really well.I prefer this (New York) game while my Wife prefers King of Tokyo, if you have a group which prefers light games go for King of Tokyo. If you have a group which prefers deeper games buy this one.

17.4.2017

It's a great game, and would have 5 stars were it not for King Of Tokyo, which to me is easily the better game. This game has more mechanics that make it more 'gamey', but with this sort of light Yahtzee game, they are sort of unnecessary and only really serve to complicate and slow things down.If you have one, it's possible that having both in the collection might suit you, if you have 3 or more friends that actively prefer this one. Alternatively I would suggest checking out game play on Youtube to decide which game would be best for you.

5.3.2015

Much like King of Tokyo with a twist and extra mechanic! Great fun, especially in larger groups!played it and KoT so much we combined them! Using this board, we managed to combine it with KoT, keeping the decks separate and using 2 power tokens to clear one selection of cards or 3 to clear both. we had a great well balanced game! (we used KoT characters and evolutions cards too.

12.11.2017

A bit complicated to start with but once you get in the swing of it it's great fun, it's also different enough from the original that you don't feel like your just playing a rebranded version. We also liked that there is the option of more advanced play with the tokens.

20.4.2015

Lacks the charm of the simplicity of King of Tokyo, perhaps for those new to it or buying it as a 'Family game' I would recommend Tokyo. However, the complexity of this is ideal for those that have become a little tired of the original or see it as too basic.

7.7.2015

BUY THIS GAME!It's nice and quick and really good fun. It's the sort of board game that you want to carry on playing after it's over and unlike a game like RISK you won't end up completely hating all of your mates... Not completely.

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