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The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review

Hot
W Updated July 16, 2022
 
5.0
 
0.0 (0)
8613 1
The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review

Game Information

Publisher
Players
2 - 6
There Will Be Games

Hello everybodeee! Welcome to my review of King of Tokyo Monster Box starring Loveable, Furry old Wade! You probably want to stand back, I may have to bust out some flowcharts and possibly a spreadsheet to explain exactly who I think need to pick up this Monster Box. What? We blew the budget on the Monster at the end of the review shtick and there is nothing left to create flowcharts and spreadsheets? Damn, time for a flashback then: In 2016, just after the 2nd Edition of King of Tokyo was released, I picked up my (current) copy. Since then, it has made it's way to the table about once a week. I've never bought into sleeving cards but even after six years of considerable play, my copy has held up remarkably well. The only real causality was that a few of the character counters (for recording hearts and stars) have gotten loose, so they tend to move way too easily. So, when I came upon the Monster Box at my local game store and mentioned it to my wife, we agreed picking it up was a good idea.

Wait,what did that say? In the title of the review, did that say there will be a monster at the end of this review??? It did? Oh, I'm so scared of monsters! Okay, I'm not really that scared of monsters, if I was then the Monster Box would have terrified me. It comes with all of the normal monsters from 2nd Edition of King of Tokyo, the two monsters featured in the Halloween Expansion (Boogie Woogie and Pumpkin Jack), Pandakai from the King of Tokyo Power-Up expansion and Baby Gigazaur (which was only previously available in a Target exclusive version of King of Tokyo...and I'm not sure if they swapped Baby Gigazaur for regular Gigazaur in that version or included both...Either way, the Monster Box includes both.) Of course, it doesn't just include the extra monsters, The full versions of the Base Game, Power-up and the Halloween expansions are inside, including the second set of Orange Halloween dice.

Shhh, listen. I have an idea. If you do not scroll any further down, we will never get to the end of this review. And that is good because there is a monster at the end of this review...and there are bonus items included in this Monster Box: The aforementioned Baby Gigazaur, a cardboard KOT-themed dice tray, and 11 promo power cards. So, even for an obsessive like myself, there were plenty of extras even I didn't have. And while they do call this a Monster Box (it's big enough that I can include all my additional King of Tokyo Characters), it isn't a massive coffin box. So, update your flowcharts, if you are a veteran King of Tokyo 2nd Edition owner who has everything and just want a crisp, new version with some kickstarter-esque extras, you won't regret this purchase. 

You scrolled down the page! Maybe you don't understand. You see, scrolling down the page will bring us to the end of this review. But this will stop you from scrolling down the page, I'll put a screen shot here.

In Action

The Monster Box is also a near-perfect entry point for anyone interested in King of Tokyo. The base game is a battle of Stars and Scars, with players attempting to either eliminate all the other monsters by reducing their health to zero or earning twenty stars. You do so by rolling six dice with faces that include Paws (Damage to other monsters), Hearts (That give you back Health), Energy (the currency you use to buy evolution cards that give you variable powers), and numerical faces of 1, 2 and 3. Roll at least three of any number and you earn that many stars. You get three rolls per turn, so “It's like Yahtzee with monsters” will almost inevitably come up when teaching the game.

The inclusion of the Power-up and Halloween expansions mean it has almost all of the extras you will inevitably want for King of Tokyo. New to King of Tokyo? My flowchart says: Pick this up. I no longer have to say “If you pick up King of Tokyo, you probably want to get the Power-up expansion, it really makes each monster feel unique.” I can just recommend this Monster Box. Upgrading from King of Tokyo 1st Edition? The Power-up cards for the now discontinued Kraken and Cyberbunny are included...flowchart says: Snag this if you have the first edition. As you can tell, I'm ecstatic with my purchase of King of Tokyo: Monster Box. Okay, maybe my enthusiasm getting the better of me. No, you don't need the Monster Box if you already have King of Tokyo and the Power-up expansion. If you are buying it for the extra storage space and the few exclusives, you might be disappointed...Or just take the opportunity to gift your old King of Tokyo to the next generation of Kaiju addicts. 

This will stop you from scrolling down. A heavy, thick, solid, strong picture of the contents of the King of Tokyo Monster Box! I would like to see you try to scroll down past it.


All the stuff

Well, look at that. This is the end of the review and the only monster here is Baby Gigazaur!

Baby Power

Isn't he the cutest! And you were so scared! What does he have? It's the power-up card “Tiny Tail” that let's you change any two dice to 1's! And look, he's purchased two cards with his tiny little energy! One is called Herd Culler (that lets you change any dice to a 1) and the other is called Freeze Time! It allows you to take another turn (with one less dice) if you roll at least 1,1,1! Uh..., wait, that means no matter what he rolls, he will always have at least three 1s until he has taken at least 1,2,3,4 turns! And if Baby Giga is in Tokyo, he gets TWO additional stars every time he starts another turn! Oh no. I told you and told you there was nothing to be afraid of....but I was wrong. Run, run for your very life. He has those unbelievable sharp baby teeth and finger nails, like every real baby, that are literal blood drawing talons.

Those Cold, Dead Eyes

Photos

The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review
The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review
The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review
The Monster at the End of this Review: A King of Tokyo Monster Box Review

Editor reviews

1 reviews

Rating 
 
5.0
King of Tokyo: Monster Box
The Monster Box is also a near-perfect entry point for anyone interested in King of Tokyo. The base game is a battle of Stars and Scars, with players attempting to either eliminate all the other monsters by reducing their health to zero or earning twenty stars. You do so by rolling six dice with faces that include Paws (Damage to other monsters), Hearts (That give you back Health), Energy (the currency you use to buy evolution cards that give you variable powers), and numerical faces of 1, 2 and 3. Roll at least three of any number and you earn that many stars. You get three rolls per turn, so “It's like Yahtzee with monsters” will almost inevitably come up when teaching the game.
Wade Monnig  (He/Him)
Staff Board Game Reviewer

In west Saint Louis born and raised
Playing video games is where I spent most of my days
Strafing, Dashing, Adventuring and Looting
Writing reviews between all the Shooting
When a couple of guys reminded me what was so good
About playing games with cardboard and Wood,
Collecting Victory Points and those Miniatures with Flair
It’s not as easy as you think to rhyme with Bel Air.

Wade is the former editor in chief for Silicon Magazine and former senior editor for Gamearefun.com. He currently enjoys his games in the non-video variety, where the odds of a 14 year old questioning the legitimacy of your bloodline is drastically reduced.

“I’ll stop playing as Black when they invent a darker color.”

Articles by Wade

Wade Monnig
Staff Board Game Reviewer

Articles by Wade

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drewcula's Avatar
drewcula replied the topic: #334199 13 Jul 2022 11:50
Great read. Thank you. I was half expecting to see Grover pop out of my screen and keep me from scrolling.

So...

If I still own 1st KoT, Halloween, and Power-Up... I can skip this box. I may not get that cute baby, but I (think I) can live without.
WadeMonnig's Avatar
WadeMonnig replied the topic: #334203 13 Jul 2022 12:44
Well, if you are rocking the 1st edition, you would also be getting Cyberkitty and Space Penguin from 2nd edition
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #334219 13 Jul 2022 22:16
Nice work. Still doesn't sound like it's for me, but it was a great explanation of both the box itself and the game.
cdennett's Avatar
cdennett replied the topic: #334368 20 Jul 2022 11:08
I will continue to evangelize playing KoT without the Power-Up expansions. While on the surface having more "unique" monsters seems great, the way evolutions interact with the game are both unbalanced and tend to slow the game down. This knocks the fun out of game which is supposed to be about quickly chucking dice and yelling at them when they give you the opposite of what you want (or glaring at my wife, who always sits my left and will pick up hearts to try and roll more claws even if she's at 3 health). And while sometimes you do need to chase those hearts, any mechanic that rewards you for chasing hearts (aka 3 hearts for an evolution) again, SLOWS THE GAME DOWN. My group universally despised the evolutions when Power-Up first came out, but online discourse seems to make it the "default" way for people to play, so maybe it's just us? And this includes folks that are typically fun-murdering cube-pushers. One in particular loves the fact that the most important decision is picking your monster, which makes no difference in game play. Except for the Kracken, because the Kracken rolls more claws, I swear it...
quozl's Avatar
quozl replied the topic: #334376 20 Jul 2022 18:11

cdennett wrote: I will continue to evangelize playing KoT without the Power-Up expansions.


Preach it, brother!
WadeMonnig's Avatar
WadeMonnig replied the topic: #334377 20 Jul 2022 18:50

quozl wrote:

cdennett wrote: I will continue to evangelize playing KoT without the Power-Up expansions.


Preach it, brother!

As Barnes told me on Twitter when I was extolling the virtues of Power up "Sorry Wade, you are having fun the WRONG way!"
quozl's Avatar
quozl replied the topic: #334378 21 Jul 2022 00:08

WadeMonnig wrote: As Barnes told me on Twitter when I was extolling the virtues of Power up "Sorry Wade, you are having fun the WRONG way!"


Eh, what does he know? He doesn't see the fun in Diplomacy.