King of Tokyo: Power Up!
With King of Tokyo: Power Up! – an expansion for the King of Tokyo base game – after choosing a monster, each player takes the eight Evolution cards associated with that monster, shuffles those cards, and creates a personal deck. At the end of a player's turn, if she has three hearts, she draws one Evolution card and adds it to her hand; this is possible even in Tokyo (when hearts are normally useless) and even if the hearts are used for some other action, such as healing.
A player can reveal and play an Evolution card at any time. Some Evolutions are temporary, allowing a one-time bonus, while others are Permanent, such as Gigazaur's "Tail Sweep", which allows him to change one die to a 1 or 2 each turn. Each Evolution card also identifies whether a monster is a Mutant, Invader or Robot, and while not relevant for Power Up!, this species identification could come into play in future expansions.
The rules for King of Tokyo: Power Up! contain a few variants: Players start with a random Evolution in play, or draw two cards and choose the one they want, or draft a set of Evolutions prior to the start of play. However you play, the goal of the game remains the same: Score 20 points or be the last monster standing amid the rubble of what was once Tokyo.
User Reviews (3)
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I’ve always found expansions to be a mixed bag. The usual are more of the same – more cards, more pieces etc etc. Then occasionally an extension throws something more into a game, something that makes the game better – but not unwieldy. Power up does just that.
Firstly in your lovely small box – oh its so small and cute, you’ll find a panda wielding a staff, nothing to do with King-Fu panda of course, any similarity is purely coincidental. So we have a new monster and monster counter – a good start, more of the same.
Then there’s the extra. A new deck of cards – evolution cards. Each character has their own set of cards and monsters have been given a new category, in the rules that come with there’s teasing mention of more expansions, more monsters – oh these designers are foul tempters of a man’s gaming habit.
Anyway a player picks one of their evolution cards when they roll three hearts (in or out of Tokyo) and take the relevant health to boot. These cards work like the cards in the main game giving you abilities of various types, some constant, some one shot etc.
And that’s it, suddenly everyone’s character has a more substantial difference and can do more stuff. And what more could you want? More of the same you say? – there’s more of that coming too…..
I recently got this expansion to the original King of Tokyo and here what I have seen from its game play so far.
New Stuff:
1 new character, a giant Samurai Panda (visible on the cover art) and a plastic stand for the hard cardboard cut out of the character.
8 new Evolution cards for all seven character (Panda included).
A some new token, which a few of the Evolution cards reference.
Game Play:
With the addition of the Evolution card the game seems to last a little longer as players are now given extra incentive to attempt to roll hearts instead of Claws. With that said once the game does begin to swing towards destruction it fly’s by as a lot of the Evolution cards can add damage.
Evolution Cards: (first impression)
All characters are grouped into 3 groups; Monsters, Aliens and Robots. Robots Evolution cards seem to deal more with lighting bolts/power. Monsters Evolution cards tend to deal with damage/claws. Alien Evolution cards tend to deal with hearts/health. These are only general themes as each character is different. Gigasaur (a Monster) for example deals mostly with making other players lose points.
FYI: Mecha-Dragon does a lot of damage. I mean a lot! Do not let him get up and running or he can do a lot of damage. With the perfect roll (i.e. all Claws) it is possible for him to do 9 damage, and this is before you include any standard cards.
I bought this at the same time I bought King of Tokyo, but I left it in the box for the first dozen or so plays. I wanted to get a good understanding of the core game before playing the expansion. I am glad I did. King of Tokyo isn’t super complex but, knowing the game well before adding Power Up is a good idea.
Components:
Power Up includes not Kung Fu Panda as well as new Power Up cards. The cards themselves are character specific, giving certain abilities from the beginning of the game. When I first read the abilities I thought there would be a huge power shift, but after playing a few times, I see there is a real balance of power here.
The cards are a bit smaller than the cards that you buy in KoT, but still just as thin. I wish they were a bit more hearty.
A few more counters that continue to be sturdy and contain good art detail.
Rules Changes:
There are now Power Ups you begin with (either temporary or permanent) and you can buy Power Ups when you roll three hearts in Tokyo (hearts can now be useful in Tokyo!).
Overall:
I would definitely recommend this if you are a fan of KoT. It adds a decent element. It can be played from time to time to spice up the game.