King of Tokyo Duel Review

“The time for the Final Duel is now!” Two Monsters face off in Tokyo looking to annihilate their rival, inspire the most awe or terror from the crowds watching the battle. Is this the best thing that has happened to Iello’s King of Tokyo series since adding Alison Haislip to the original game for a GenCon release? Read on to find out

King of Tokyo Duel is a two-player dice rolling game published by IELLO Games. It takes about 20 minutes to play and works well for players ages 8 and up.

Gameplay Overview:

For those familiar with the original King of Tokyo, the rules are pretty similar, but the play is a bit different. The two players take turns, and each turn consists of three phases: Roll Dice, Resolve Dice, Buy Power Cards or Gain One Energy. The board of Tokyo Duel is a colorful section of Tokyo with two tracks: the Fame and Destruction Tracks. Each track has a Marker that starts in the center of its respective 15-space track. There are three Power Cards along the top of the board with the rightmost always being discounted by one energy cube.

Roll Dice: Roll all six dice, or up to eight if you have earned bonus dice from Dice Tokens. You may roll the dice up to three times, keeping as many or as few dice as you want each roll.

Resolve Dice: There are six symbols on each die (shocking I know).

• Paw – deals one damage per die to your rival.
• Heart – heals one damage per die.
• Lightning Bolt – gains one Energy cube per die. Energy cubes are used to buy Power cards.
• Star – 3 Fame dice allow a player to pull the Fame Marker one space towards their Victory space.
• Building – 3 Destruction dice allows a player to pull the Destruction Marker towards their Victory Space
• Exclamation point – Each monster has a unique Special Power that requires one or more Special Power dice.

Buy Power Cards or Gain One Energy Cube: After resolving the dice, players can purchase one or more of the three Power Cards on top of the board. The Power Cards are either Keep cards that give bonuses as long as the card is in play or are Discard cards which give an immediate bonus. Some Power Cards also give you a buzz token that modifies the track on which it is placed. Buzz tokens can shorten or extend a track, or give a bonus each time the marker is pulled onto that modified space.  If no cards appeal to you, you can take an Energy Cube instead and save up to buy more expensive Power Cards later.

There are three ways to win King of Tokyo Duel:

• Smash your rival monster until their health reaches zero.
• Pull the Fame or Destruction marker to your respective Victory space (the last space on the track)
• Pull both the Fame and Destruction marker into your respective Spotlight zones (three spaces marked on each track 3-5 spaces from the End of the track)

Game Experience:

Let me start by answering the question at the top, Yes, this is the best thing in the King of Tokyo series since adding Alison Haislip to the original game. Unrelated, you can watch Alison and me together in the low-budget horror film Freshwater here.

Back to a possibly more enjoyable creature experience, King of Tokyo Duel, is a very fun fast-paced game with a lot of luck thrown in. The six monsters all have unique powers, but they appear to be very well-balanced. This results in a fun tug of war for pulling the Fame and Destruction markers on their respective tracks or one Monster attempting to inspire the people of Tokyo while the other Monster is focused on annihilating their rival.

As with any dice-rolling game, luck and needing to change strategies based on dice rolls is a giant part of this game. The more expensive Power Cards can be game changers, but you may lose the game while earning the energy cubes necessary to purchase them. Every choice seems to have a consequence that your rival can exploit, which is fun.

The Buzz tokens add a nice extra feature and can help or hurt the player that places them. I lost the last game I played because I added a damage token to the Fame Marker and was all excited when I pulled my rival onto the space, but then the yo-yoing of the marker kept hitting me on multiple turns, while never hitting my rival again.

Final Thoughts:

King of Tokyo Duel was dubbed Dice Throne Lite by my 10-year-old son, Mason. That name is pretty appropriate, and I like both games, but fear that the simplicity of King of Toky Duel (from set up, to gameplay, to game time) means that this will make it to the table more often than Marvel Dice Throne on which I have spent a lot of money. This game is fun but the relatively few monsters (six) may limit how long this game stays fresh. Looking at our original review of King Of Tokyo, that was the same complaint of the original game. If you are new to King of Tokyo, I would pick up Duel instead, it is simply more fun. If you already like King of Tokyo and want an improved 2-player experience, pick up a copy.

Final Score: 4 Stars – Looking for a two-player game that can be set up, played, and cleaned up in 20 minutes with a fun theme and improved game experience over the original game? Then pick up a copy.

Hits:
• Easy to set up, easy to learn, easy to play.
• The variety of Power up cards (there are 50), Buzz tokens, and unique powers give each play a very different feel.
• The art on the Monster cards and Power cards captures the old Monster movie vibe perfectly.

Misses:
• Too few monsters may make this game wear out it’s welcome sooner than the Monster Cinematic Universe.
• Few if any ways to modify dice rolls means that luck plays a monster-sized role in determining the victor.