King of New York – Monster Mayhem Fun

Last week we reviewed a great family board game all about building up New York City in New York 1901.

And now it’s time to tear it all down…with monsters in King of New York!

That’s right, King of New York is a game about playing “king of the hill” in the boroughs of New York City. It’s a followup game to the very successful and super fun monster battle: King of Tokyo.

But in King of New York, players don’t just battle each other for supremacy. Now they also get to destroy buildings and fight back against the military onslaught.

Check out Trevor’s video review of King of New York and see how it stacks up against its predecessor!

 

Can the whole family enjoy King of New York?

If your family likes rolling dice, attacking each other, and using special powers then, Yes, your whole family will enjoy King of New York.

The publisher-recommended age for King of New York is actually 10+. But we know kids younger than 10 that love playing the game as well.

But age isn’t the only consideration. In our family, we’re pretty split on who enjoys the game – the boys!

While mom has played King of New York, she isn’t keen to play again any time soon. And Brooke hasn’t even wanted to play. She played King of Tokyo when we first got that game and didn’t like attacking or being attacked – so she just went straight for points every time. The funny thing is that she won that game on points. But she’s steered clear of this monster mayhem ever since.

However, we also know there are plenty of gals that enjoy the monster battles in King of Tokyo and King of New York.

 

King of Tokyo vs. King of New York

Since King of New York is a followup game to King of Tokyo, the first 2 questions out of everyone’s mouth are sure to be, “which game is better?”, and “do we need both games?”

First of all, we’ll make it clear that King of New York is NOT an expansion to King of Tokyo. There have been some expansions published for King of Tokyo, but this isn’t one of them.

King of New York is a game that stands on its own.

So you don’t HAVE to have King of Tokyo to play King of New York.

If you do have a copy of King of Tokyo, feel free to use the monsters from either game interchangeably. After all, the monsters themselves don’t have unique characteristics (unless using the Power Up expansion) so it really a personal preference for which monster character you want to use when playing.

Now on to the question of which of the 2 games we think is better.

And it may not surprise you that our answer to this question is the same as our answer when asked about which are the BEST board games – “it depends”. Because it totally depends on who is playing and what type of game you want to play.

If you’re looking for a simple dice-rolling, attack each other king-of-the-hill battle, then King of Tokyo is the better one to choose.

If you’re looking for something with more options and more things happening during the game, then King of New York is the way to go.

And depending on who we’re playing with, we’ll pick one over the other.

For example, if it’s Guys Game Night and we have guys over that prefer light games or games without too many rules to think about, yet we still want to have some attacking fun, then we’ll pull out King of Tokyo.

But if the gang of guys that show up are the ones that enjoy games with a bit more meat or more options to think through, then we’ll pull out King of New York.

Now, that’s not to say that King of New York is a meaty strategy game. As you can see from our video review, it’s still a game full of lucky dice rolls. But because players aren’t just choosing between attacking or going for points (like they do in King of Tokyo), there’s more to consider.

In King of New York, in addition to the battle choices, players also need to choose when to destroy buildings and which borough to move to at the end of their turn.

So for us, if we had to choose only one of the games to keep, then we’d pick King of New York. And that’s mainly because we like the additional elements that are now a part of the battlefront (buildings to destroy, military fighting back, moving around the boroughs, additional benefits of staying Manhattan longer, etc).

We’re just glad we don’t have to make that cut so both games can remain on our game shelves.

 

How does King of New York score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

King of New York scores high on the “let’s play again” game meter for the boys in our family. The overall game play is so familiar and welcoming to keep the battles going.

While there’s a bit more set up to King of New York over King of Tokyo, it’s still very simple – making it easy to start another game on the heels of one finishing.

And for sure it’s a game with a prominent spot on our game shelf so it’s readily accessible. Because we know when Guys Game Night rolls around, it needs to be an easy game to grab.

Thanks iello for making yet another fun family game in King of New York!

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
Has not played	Brooke
	Jaden
	Trevor
	Mom
	Dad
	Average