King of Tokyo: great potential, great disappointment.

[kooms]

It’s a state of mind.
There is no second place in KOT, you are the King or you’re a loser.
So i get the Frustration but usually people i end up’playing with understand that and do not try to hide and get threes. Or if they do people band up to counter that.

I always wondered if 30 stars to win and 12 or15 hearts would make or a more tactical Game, where the buffs would be actually matter as you will have the Time to collect them.

[ExaltedAngel]

There is no second place in KOT, you are the King or you’re a loser.

I don't agree, it maybe sometimes happens, but I also played a lot of balanced games

I always wondered if 30 stars to win and 12 or15 hearts would make or a more tactical Game, where the buffs would be actually matter as you will have the Time to collect them.

I think that way buffs would be too strong and reduce the game to who gets lucky to have the chance to buy the best buffs. But it's just my sensation, it's not based on an accurate analysis

[misterbeerman]

Maybe you should play the dark edition. You will prefer playing this upgraded version. Combine it with the halloween expansion for more direct powers and fun.

In confident you will enjoy this set up better.

[DoctorFianchetto]

Without the wickedness track there's no incentive to roll 1s or even 2s, so the game is reduced to "who can roll the most 3s?"

Nearly every expansion made for KoT is to solve the problem of 1s and 2s just being worse 3s and/or the want to camp outside Tokyo.
1. Power up adds 1/2 payoff (primarily gigazaur's evos)
2. Tokyo tower gives incentive to roll 1s. It also gives a reason to not avoid Tokyo
3. Wickedness track is exclusively payoff for 1s and 2s
4. The berserk die is a payoff for going heavily into a damage strategy (aka a disincentive for camping outside Tokyo)
5. Dark Edition has the wickedness track innately as well as has an adjusted power deck to lean more into dealing damage. Also, a few of the op cards are nerfed or removed
(6.) As was mentioned in this thread, the main two differences between KoT and King of New York, is that KoNY has a different die, with relevance to every side as well as more significance to being/not being in Manhattan (Tokyo equivalent)

The only exceptions are
1. Cultists simply add more consistency and reward skilled game play (when and how to use them)
2. The curse deck inversely makes the game more chaotic, for those that enjoy the fun of randomness deciding fate
3. Halloween costumes adds more highroll potential and incentivises players to choose a gameplan early on with less adapting

I agree that the expansions help with incentivising rolling 1s and 2s, but many of them make it easier for passive players to camp outside of Tokyo and farm numbers. Cultists are my least favourite of the expansions, if you're lucky you accrue cultists which makes you basically invincible. So it's still luckiest player wins, except the luckiest player has an even safer route to victory with the cultist buffer and Wickedness tiles.

Berserk dice makes the game more potentially exciting but it's not enough to counteract passive play: one aggressive player cannot beat three passive players even with the berserk power. You might kill one or two opponents but the third (luckiest) opponent will have accrued enough points and buffs to be unstoppable.

[FluffyWuffy1]

Honestly, KoT is a frustrating game. You will lose more games than you win, especially as more players are added to the table. The goal in this game is simply to win more than your fair share of games. It's like poker in that regard.

You'll encounter many games where a player gets on a lucky run, and there is little you can do about it. That's the nature of it. Move onto the next one and stick with what you think is best strategy.

I've played a lot of games now, and honestly I think purely camping outside Tokyo and rolling for numbers is a losing strategy in the long run. I'm actually pretty happy to see players like this in my games. Players who don't adapt to the game situation and switch strategies when necessary simply won't win often enough. Some of the best, most successful players I've seen are extremely violent, and understand the value of Tokyo during different game phases.

[desjob]

the current expansions do help, especially beserk + cultists combi. I've seen quite some games turn around completely from beserk

[desjob]

however, the way the person ending up 4th is punished in negative ranking points still promotes passive play. Even more so since it's based on stars only, not HP or other cards/tiles you have gained.

[mikkashar]

I'm not playing King of Tokyo to win. I'm playing King of Tokyo to yell SMASHY PAWS! on chat to the friends I'm playing with when I've rolled 3+ attacks. Yes, one can be a better or worse tactician, but the randomness is high enough that I don't much care. (Shrink ray is still annoying, though.)

There are plenty of low or zero randomness games, or games with where the randomness improves replay value rather than unbalancing the game, when one wants to play to win. A game with a theme similar to King of Tokyo and less (or better-distributed) randomness would be fun, too, but I'd be playing it for different reasons.

[muntzer]

First, King of Tokyo is a light-hearted game. It's not chess, Go or Campaign for North Africa.

That said, there are SO many different winning strategies you can pursue. For instance, you might be able to buy a card that gives you healing abilities, even if you are in Tokyo. Even if you don't, if you don't get hit hard as soon as you move into Tokyo, you can push your luck a bit, esp. if your opponents are harvesting VPs. If you do 4 damage to every other monster, and you're at 7 or 8, they'll have a dilemma. If they smash you, then they'll be put into Tokyo in a relatively weak state. Suddenly, survival becomes a higher priority than point harvesting.

All that goes into overdrive if you get a Power Up that adds extra claws. Everyone starts avoiding Tokyo like it's Chernobyl on the 1st of May 1986.

If you play in KoT Arena, and get up to Elite level, suddenly wins are few and far between. At that level, players pivot and weave. You use the dice you roll to best effect rather than taking one predetermined strategy. And if someone gets a decent points lead, they'll cop plenty of heat. I've never seen a pedestrian, predictable game at that level. I doub't you will either.

[andrewsan]

I agree with the OP, the balance isn't there.
I play with evolutions, it adds strategy, and they get more money/power cards in play.
Even then, its often a game of rolling 3s.
So I keep Berserk on most of the time, and that brings it the game to a point race only like 30-40% of the time.
Berserk is too powerful, but isn't as unbalanced as without.

andrewsan