How to Play King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo is giant monsters punching each other for control of a city. On your turn you roll six dice, keep what you like, and reroll the rest, up to three rolls. It is the Yahtzee rhythm, with more stomping. Richard Garfield designed it, and IELLO publishes it.

This lesson walks the King of Tokyo teach sheet from top to bottom, using the current IELLO rulebook and its terms.

How do you win?

Two ways. Be the first Monster to reach 20 Victory Points, or be the last Monster standing. Every Monster starts with 10 Life, and a Monster at 0 Life is out. That is the tension: the Monster racing to 20 still has to stay alive to get there.

What is in the box?

The current edition of King of Tokyo has a board and cardboard figure for each Monster, with dials for Life and Victory Points. The Tokyo board has two places, Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay, and “Tokyo” means both. You also get 6 black dice, 2 green dice, Power cards, Energy cubes, and tokens.

How do you set up?

1. Each player chooses a Monster, takes its board and figure, and sets the dials to 10 Life and 0 Victory Points.
2. Put the Tokyo board in the middle. With 2 to 4 players, use only Tokyo City. With 5 or 6, use Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay.
3. Shuffle the Power cards into a deck and deal 3 face up next to the board. Put the tokens nearby.
4. Make a pool with all the Energy cubes.
5. Put the 6 black dice in the middle. Set the 2 green dice aside.
6. Everyone rolls the black dice. Whoever rolls the most Smash results goes first; tied players roll again. Play goes clockwise.

Nobody starts in Tokyo. Keep your figure beside your board until you move in.

What do you do on your turn?

Five steps, in order: roll dice, resolve dice, enter Tokyo, buy Power cards, end your turn.

Rolling. Roll all 6 black dice. Set aside any you like and reroll the rest. On your third roll you may also reroll dice you set aside earlier. You can stop after any roll.

Resolving. Whatever shows after your last roll is what you do. Resolve every die, in any order you like.

What does each die face do?

Three 2s score 2 points. Four 2s score 3. Two 3s score nothing, because pairs never score. Life never goes above 10 unless a Keep card says otherwise.

How does Tokyo work?

Tokyo is the heart of the game, and it is a good deal with a big catch.

• The good part: you score 1 point when you enter Tokyo and 2 points if you start your turn there. Your Smash results wound every Monster outside Tokyo at once.
• The catch: every Monster outside aims its Smash results at you, and Heal results do nothing while you are in Tokyo. Only Power cards can give you Life there.

Leaving. When another Monster wounds you with Smash results, you lose the Life, then choose: stay, or Yield and leave. That is the only moment you may leave. Life lost to a Power card effect does not let you Yield.

Entering. During the enter Tokyo step, if Tokyo is empty, you must move in. So when the Monster you wounded Yields, you take its place and score 1 point. On the first turn Tokyo is empty, so the first player’s Smash results hit nobody, and that player must enter Tokyo City.

Tokyo Bay, with 5 or 6 players. It works just like Tokyo City. If Tokyo City is taken and Tokyo Bay is empty, you must enter Tokyo Bay. Monsters in Tokyo do not wound each other. Once only 4 Monsters remain, whoever is in Tokyo Bay leaves at once, or moves to Tokyo City if it is empty.

How do Power cards work?

Next, you may buy any face-up Power card by paying its cost in Energy. Replace it right away from the deck; the new card is for sale at once. Or pay 2 Energy to sweep all three away and reveal three new ones. Buy and sweep as long as your Energy lasts.

Keep cards stay in front of you, unless something says otherwise. Discard cards take effect once, then go to the discard pile. The green dice and tokens only matter when a card calls for them.

How does the game end?

At the end of your turn, resolve any end-of-turn card effects and pass the dice to your left.

The game ends at the end of a turn when a Monster has 20 points, or when only one Monster is left. That Monster is crowned King of Tokyo. You must survive your turn to win: reach 20 points and 0 Life in the same turn because of a Power card, and you are eliminated. If every Monster is eliminated at once, everyone loses. An eliminated Monster’s Keep cards and Energy cubes are discarded.

Playing with two?

The rulebook’s optional 2-player rule changes one thing: entering Tokyo gives 1 Energy instead of 1 point, and starting your turn there gives 1 Energy instead of 2 points.

That is the whole game, on one page. If your group is new to games like this, our list of gateway board games shows where King of Tokyo fits and what players often try next.