King of Tokyo: Godzilla Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• OVERVIEW AND GOAL OF THE GAME
• CONTENTS AND GAME COMPONENTS
  • 6 MONSTER BOARDS
  • 6 BROWN DICE
  • 50 ENERGY CARDS
  • 1 TOKYO BOARD
  • 2 WOODEN LOCATION DISCS
  • 48 EVOLUTION CARDS
  • 6 CARDBOARD FIGURES
  • ENERGY
  • 12 DICE TOKENS AND 2 BLACK DICE
  • 6 MONSTER TOKENS
• SETUP
• HOW TO PLAY
  • TURN OVERVIEW
  • 1. ROLL THE DICE
  • 2. RESOLVE THE DICE
    • VICTORY POINTS
    • ENERGY
    • SMACK
    • HEAL
  • 3. ENTER TOKYO
    • EFFECTS OF TOKYO
  • 4. BUY ENERGY CARDS OR GAIN 1 ENERGY
    • BUY ENERGY CARDS
    • GAIN 1 ENERGY
    • EVENT CARDS
  • 5. END YOUR TURN
• END OF THE GAME
• EVOLUTION CARDS (EXTENSION)
  • SETUP
  • HOW TO PLAY
  • THE EVOLUTIONS
  • EVOLUTION CARD DETAILS

OVERVIEW AND GOAL OF THE GAME

Tactics, luck, and boldness will be your best assets to conquer the title of KING OF TOKYO.

Your destructive feats bring you glory and honor in the form of Victory Points (star). The first player to reach 20 wins the game.

However, if you're feeling truly bloodthirsty, you can try to eliminate all your opponents instead. The last survivor will be declared the winner!

CONTENTS AND GAME COMPONENTS

6 MONSTER BOARDS

These boards represent the Monsters you play in KING OF TOKYO. Each has a name, a dial for Victory Points (star), and another for Life Points (heart).

6 BROWN DICE

Each die has 6 symbols representing the actions you can take on your turn:

• 1 / 2 / 3: Score Victory Points (star)
• Energy (lightning bolt): Gain Energy
• Smack (claw): Damage the opposing Monsters
• Heal (heart): Gain Life Points (heart)

50 ENERGY CARDS

Energy cards are made up of a name, a cost paid in Energy (lightning bolt), a type (POWER / ACTION / EVENT), and an effect.

• Cost is shown in the upper corner of the card.
• Name of the card.
• Type of the card.
• Effect of the card.

Energy cards can be of three types:

• POWER: Players keep Power cards face up in front of them until the end of the game (unless stated otherwise).
• ACTION: The effect of Action cards is resolved immediately, then the card is discarded.
• EVENT: The effect of Event cards applies to all Monsters (see page 7).

1 TOKYO BOARD

2 WOODEN LOCATION DISCS

One represents Tokyo City and the other Tokyo Bay (for games with 5 or 6 players).

Every time you take control of one of these locations, place your Monster on the corresponding disc.

Every time a rule or a card refers to Tokyo, it refers to both locations.

48 EVOLUTION CARDS

Evolution cards are optional. This extension, included in the game, is explained on page 8.

6 CARDBOARD FIGURES

These figures represent the Monsters you play. Keep them close to you. When you take control of Tokyo, place your Monster on the board, on the Tokyo City or Tokyo Bay disc.

ENERGY

Keep the Energy you gain from Energy results (lightning bolt) in front of you. It can be spent to buy Energy cards or to resolve or activate certain card effects.

12 DICE TOKENS AND 2 BLACK DICE

These tokens and dice are used with certain cards.

6 MONSTER TOKENS

These tokens can be used to randomly choose your Monster.

SETUP

1. Each player chooses a Monster, takes its figure and its Monster board, and sets its dials to 10 Life Points (heart) and 0 Victory Points (star).
2. Place the Tokyo board at the center of the table. Place the Tokyo City disc on its corresponding space, and, for a game with 5 or 6 players, place the second disc on Tokyo Bay.
3. Shuffle all the Energy cards to form a deck.
4. Deal the top three Energy cards of the deck face up above the Tokyo board.
5. Place the brown dice on the table. Set the black dice and the Dice tokens aside.
6. Form a bank with the Energy (lightning bolt) tokens.

WITH 2 TO 4 PLAYERS: Only Tokyo City is used.

WITH 5 TO 6 PLAYERS: Both Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay are used.

HOW TO PLAY

The game is played clockwise.

Each player rolls the six brown dice. Whoever gets the most Smack (claw) results starts the game. In case of a tie between 2 or more players, they reroll the dice until one of them gets more Smack results than the others.

TURN OVERVIEW

1. Roll the Dice
2. Resolve the Dice
3. Enter Tokyo
4. Buy Energy Cards OR Gain 1 Energy
5. End Your Turn

1. ROLL THE DICE

On your turn, you get up to three rolls, but you can stop at any time.

Before your first roll, you may discard up to 2 Dice tokens to add the same number of black dice for this phase (you can spend a maximum of 2 per turn). On your first roll, use all six brown dice this way (plus one or both black dice if you discarded Dice tokens). You can never roll more than eight dice.

For subsequent rolls, you choose which dice you reroll (the others are set aside). Before a roll, you can always take back dice among those set aside during a previous roll.

Once you have finished your three rolls, or you have decided to stop, keep the dice as they are in front of you. They make up your "Roll" for this turn. When an Energy card or another effect refers to your Roll, it refers to these dice.

2. RESOLVE THE DICE

You must resolve all your dice, in the order of your choice. The symbols obtained in your Roll represent your actions for the turn.

In Japanese: one = 1, two = 2, three = 3

VICTORY POINTS

For each triple obtained with 1s, 2s, or 3s, score as many Victory Points (star) as the number of the triple. Each additional die of the same number beyond the first three earns 1 additional Victory Point (star).

EXAMPLE: Godzilla obtains 2-2-2-2 = (2-2-2) + (2) = 2 Victory Points (star).

ENERGY

Take 1 Energy (lightning bolt) from the bank for each Energy result obtained, and place it in your reserve, in front of you.

Energy is kept until it is spent.

SMACK

Deal 1 point of damage (heart) for each Smack result obtained to all Monsters who are not in the same location as you.

• If you are in Tokyo (Tokyo City or Tokyo Bay) and you obtain Smack results, you damage all the Monsters who are not in Tokyo.
• If you are not in Tokyo and you obtain Smack results, you damage all the Monsters who are in Tokyo (Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay). These Monsters may then decide to flee Tokyo or stay there. Monsters that flee Tokyo still lose as much Life (heart) as the Smack results obtained. If a Monster loses its last Life point and a skull appears, it is eliminated (its Power cards and its Energy are discarded).

When the game begins, there are no Monsters in Tokyo. The Monster that plays first therefore damages no one.

Note: A Monster can only flee Tokyo when it loses Life points because of a Smack result. An Energy card that causes a loss of Life, for example, does not allow a Monster to flee Tokyo.

HEAL

If you are not in Tokyo, you may gain 1 Life point (heart) for each Heal result obtained.

If you are in Tokyo, Heal results do not let you gain Life points (you can then only gain Life points using Energy cards).

Note: You cannot exceed 10 Life points.

EXAMPLE:

Roll of the dice

Mothra is the KING OF TOKYO. It is Godzilla's turn to play. Godzilla rolls the six brown dice and obtains for his first roll: 1-2-3-3-Heart-Bolt.

He keeps the 3-3, rerolls the four other dice, and obtains: 3-3-3-3-Claw.

He has one roll left. This time, he decides to keep the 3-3-3-3, rerolls the three other dice, and obtains the following Roll: 3-3-3-3-Bolt-Claw.

Resolving the dice

Since he obtained 3-3-3-3, he scores 2 Victory Points, plus 1 additional Victory Point for the fourth 3.

With his Bolt, he takes 1 Energy.

With his Claw, he damages only Mothra, who currently occupies Tokyo. If Godzilla had occupied Tokyo, he would have damaged all the other Monsters.

Godzilla obtained no Heart results and therefore gains no Life points.

3. ENTER TOKYO

If there is no one in Tokyo, you must take control of it and place your Monster in Tokyo City. You can only leave Tokyo when you lose Life points (heart) because of a Smack result.

Note: At the start of the game, no Monster is in Tokyo. The first player will therefore be forced to place their Monster in Tokyo City.

WITH 5 OR 6 PLAYERS: If Tokyo City is occupied but Tokyo Bay is free, you must take control of Tokyo Bay and place your Monster on the corresponding Location disc. Tokyo Bay has the same advantages and disadvantages as Tokyo City. This rule applies only as long as there are more than 4 players in the game. As soon as there are 4 players or fewer, you must leave Tokyo Bay. If Tokyo City is free, you move there. Monsters in Tokyo City and Tokyo Bay are both considered to be in Tokyo.

EFFECTS OF TOKYO

Being in Tokyo (Tokyo City or Tokyo Bay) brings advantages and disadvantages:

• +1 Victory Point: You gain 1 Victory Point (star) when you take control of Tokyo.
• +2 Victory Points: You gain 2 Victory Points (star) if you start your turn in Tokyo.
• No Heal: Monsters in Tokyo cannot benefit from Heal results (but they can still use Energy cards to gain Life points).

In addition, which Monsters suffer your Smack results is determined by where you are:

• Smack results from Monsters who control Tokyo damage all the Monsters who are not in Tokyo.
• Smack results from Monsters who are not in Tokyo damage all the Monsters who are in Tokyo.
• You can only flee Tokyo after having been damaged by another Monster.

OPTIONAL RULE FOR 2 PLAYERS: If you start a 2-player game, we recommend this variant concerning control of Tokyo (all other rules remain unchanged):

• Instead of gaining 1 Victory Point when entering Tokyo, you gain 1 Energy.
• Instead of gaining 2 Victory Points when starting your turn in Tokyo, you gain 1 Energy.

4. BUY ENERGY CARDS OR GAIN 1 ENERGY

BUY ENERGY CARDS

You now have the option to buy one or more Energy cards from among the three displayed face up. To do so, pay as much Energy as the cost shown at the top of these cards. Each Energy card bought is replaced by the top Energy card of the deck, which immediately becomes available for purchase.

You may spend 2 Energy to discard the face-up Energy cards, except for Event cards, which can only be bought. So it is possible to spend 2 Energy to discard only one or two of the face-up Energy cards. Then reveal the top cards of the deck until there are three face up again. These cards are immediately available for purchase.

As long as you have enough Energy, you may keep buying or discarding Energy cards.

GAIN 1 ENERGY

If you do not want to or cannot buy Energy cards on your turn, gain 1 Energy. Spending 2 Energy to discard the face-up cards does not count as buying cards.

EXAMPLE: Rodan has 10 Energy and is not interested in the Energy cards on offer. He spends 2 Energy to discard these three cards and reveals the next three. He still has 8 Energy and sees an Energy card he likes, at a cost of 3 Energy. He buys it and reveals a new Energy card. He has 5 Energy left, which he decides to keep for another turn.

EVENT CARDS

When an Event card is revealed face up, its effect, shown in the lower left corner, applies immediately.

Reveal effect: The effect applies only once. Ongoing effect: The effect applies until the card is bought.

Event cards can be bought like other Energy cards. When they are bought, their Action effect is resolved as usual. However, when a player pays 2 Energy to discard the face-up Energy cards, Event cards stay in place. The other cards are discarded and replaced normally.

5. END YOUR TURN

Some Energy card effects activate at the end of the turn. Once these are resolved, your turn is over: pass the dice to the player on your left.

EXAMPLE OF A 5-PLAYER GAME:

Godzilla occupies Tokyo City, and Rodan occupies Tokyo Bay; King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Mechagodzilla are the three other Monsters.

Mechagodzilla obtains 4 Smack results. Godzilla and Rodan each lose 4 Life points, then both flee Tokyo. Mechagodzilla then takes control of Tokyo City, gains 1 Victory Point, and Tokyo Bay becomes unoccupied.

It is now Godzilla's turn: he obtains 1 Smack result. Only Mechagodzilla is damaged since he is alone in Tokyo (no one in Tokyo Bay). He decides to stay in Tokyo. Godzilla is then forced to take control of Tokyo Bay because the location is unoccupied. Godzilla gains 1 Victory Point.

Then, on his turn, Rodan obtains 1 Smack result. Godzilla and Mechagodzilla each lose 1 Life point. Godzilla decides to flee Tokyo Bay, while Mechagodzilla prefers to stay in Tokyo City. Rodan is therefore forced to take control of Tokyo Bay and gains 1 Victory Point.

King Ghidorah and Mothra obtain no Smack results on their turns.

Mechagodzilla starts his next turn in Tokyo and therefore gains 2 Victory Points. He obtains 3 Smack results and damages Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Mothra, but not Rodan since Rodan is in Tokyo Bay, and Monsters located in Tokyo do not damage each other.

Godzilla has no Life points left: he is eliminated. Tokyo Bay can then no longer be occupied since there are only 4 Monsters left in the game. Rodan therefore leaves Tokyo Bay, leaving Mechagodzilla the sole KING OF TOKYO.

END OF THE GAME

The game stops at the end of the turn of any player if a Monster has reached 20 Victory Points (star) or if only one Monster remains in the game. The Monster who reached 20 Victory Points or the last survivor wins the game and is crowned KING OF TOKYO!

EVOLUTION CARDS (EXTENSION)

The struggle to become KING OF TOKYO goes to the next level! Monsters evolve and gain new powers! Each player has an Evolution deck from which they can earn and use cards during the game.

Evolution cards offer a new way to play KING OF TOKYO. Take the cards matching the Monsters chosen for the game, then put the others back in the box.

SETUP

Each player takes the eight Evolution cards for their Monster, shuffles them, and places them face down in front of them as a deck.

Each Monster starts with one evolution. Draw two cards and choose one. Keep the chosen card in your hand (without showing it), then shuffle the other card back into the deck.

HOW TO PLAY

After resolving their dice, if a Monster obtained three Heal results (Heart-Heart-Heart), they draw two Evolution cards, choose one without showing it, and discard the other next to the deck.

Note: This is not a cost but a bonus. You can still use your Heal results to heal yourself (if you are not in Tokyo) or to activate the effect of a Power card. Being in Tokyo does not prevent you from drawing Evolution cards.

If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Keep your evolutions in hand until you decide to play them, which can be done even during another Monster's turn.

THE EVOLUTIONS

There are two types of evolutions:

• Temporary evolutions: Discard them after use.
• Permanent evolutions: Place them face up in front of you. You benefit from their effects for as long as they are in play.

Note: The effects of Evolution cards or base game cards that refer to a "card" without further detail do not apply to evolutions.

EVOLUTION CARD DETAILS

1. SPECIES: Mutant, invader, or robot — each Monster belongs to a kind of kaiju.
2. MONSTER NAME: Indicates which Monster this evolution is associated with.
3. EVOLUTION TYPE: An evolution can be temporary or permanent.
4. NAME AND EFFECT OF THE EVOLUTION