King of Tokyo: Halloween

At it's heart, Richard Garfield's King of Tokyo is a push your luck dice game that's really similar to Yahtzee. However, he's wrapped it in a really fun Japanese monster king-of-the-hill battle full of amusing ridiculousness. And, well, it's got a special place in my heart.

King of Tokyo is a game that seems to appeal to all ages. I've had a ton of fun playing it with my kids and it's gotten a decent amount of play at Dice & Decks nights at Cartel (adult game nights at local coffee shop/bar).

What's New?

So what's new in the Halloween expansion? King of Tokyo: Halloween adds:

• 2 new monsters: Pumpkin Jack and Boogie Woogie.
• New card type — Costumes
• New set of oversized dice — orange, of course
• There's one more item in the box, but I'll get to that later.

Fight!

My daughter and I gave it a test run this evening. It's really fascinating to watch her play. Which die results does she keep? Which does she choose to re-roll? What makes a card interesting enough to buy? Her decision-making process is something I get to see in concentrated form during games like this and as a dad — I love it.

She ended up jumping into an early lead and despite trying, I couldn't catch her. She was the first monster to occupy Tokyo and I couldn't deal damage quickly enough to 'convince' her to leave. So, she was earning 2 points each turn in addition to whatever she gained through dice rolls. She proved to be the superior monster. :)

I won't dare call myself enough of a critic to conduct a formal review of the expansion. I will say this. The costumes are a fun sub-theme addition to a game with a really fun main theme. While the new expansion doesn't add a ton of new features or a huge new mechanic, it definitely notches up the charm of the game.

One More Item

As mentioned earlier, there's another item in this box that's new. They've included a promo card for King of New York. I guess we'll be stomping around amongst the Big Apple's skyscrapers soon! I'll place my wager now that the dice in that box will be colored red. ;)

Monster Dice

NOTE: The dice in King of Tokyo are oversized… It makes sense. You're huge monsters, after all. This makes it hard for someone with small hands to sufficiently shake and roll all six dice in one throw. We've found that having younger monsters shake and roll with a cup (and preferably into a dice tray of some sort) really makes it easier for them.