Julian Game Trip #10: King of Tokyo??

On Tuesday night, we sat down in the Victorian parlor of the Julian Gold Rush Hotel and played ... King of Tokyo.  That was a satisfying case of being out of phase with the reality around us.  We just bought the game earlier in the day, another case of a game where I saw it and said, "Why on Earth do I not have one of those yet?"  We did play with the Leggs once or twice, and maybe once at a con.

Here is the old Tabletop episode where the four players are having a blast.

Right away, we felt it is not as much fun with two players.  There was a huge imbalance, because the first player who faces an empty Tokyo space has to move in, and then they get +2 victory points per turn unless they bail out and just have to hang in there until they hi 20 VP to win.  I didn't see the rule that you can't heal with dice while in Tokyo, but it still felt out of whack.  Then I saw the little optional rule for 2 players where you get 1 energy point per turn for starting in Tokyo, not those 2 victory points.  It felt better after that.


The very first card Anne got was the same Psychic power that messed with everyone in that Tabletop episode.  We played two games.  It was fun, and the dice were super loud on the wooden table.  We kept meaning to roll them on the map itself, a reasonable thick board that muffled it well, and it's not like the board ever had more than one piece on it.  We should probably try a few more times on future nights, to get a better feel for it.  In the car, I pitched the idea that we could each play two monsters, or maybe have a third NPC monster to help spice it up.  What really makes it come to life is when the players act out the behaviors with a bit of roleplaying flair.  Again, you have to get comfortable with rules before you can really start acting out.

Interesting note: in that Tabletop episode, Wil said that the game creator was the same guy who designed Magic: The Gathering.  Sure enough, that would be Richard Garfield.

Future adventures await.  So much more stomping to do.

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