King of Tokyo

Today I review the 2011 release King of Tokyo.  For 2-6 players, it plays in 30 minutes.

Overview
You are a monster.  Or robot.  Or alien.  Whatever you are, your goal is to be king of Tokyo.  Only one creature can be in the city at a time, so you want to take control of the city (becoming king) and fend off opposing creatures until you gain 20 victory points.  But beware- when you're king, the others will focus on knocking you off your throne and occupying the city themselves.  If your life points (initially 10) get to 0, you're out.  When attacked, you'll take damage and can choose whether or not you leave, but you can't heal while in town.  So stick around, or let someone else be king so you can recover and take them on later?

Simplified Gameplay
Each turn, you roll 6 dice, which allow you to do one or more of the following:
- gain victory points
- gain life points (heal wounds- only if not king)
- gain energy cubes (which you can use to buy power cards)
- smash monsters (make others lose life points, and possibly take over the city)

You can roll the dice up to three times on your turn, giving you a few chances to get the ideal combination.  If you have enough energy cubes, you can buy power cards and improve your monster.  If you roll the 'smash monsters' (and you're not king), you can damage the current king and take his place (if the owner chooses to leave the city).  If you are king, you damage everyone else.

game components; image from here

Review
This is an elegant, simple, and fun game.  It's press-your-luck; every turn you're king in Tokyo, you gain victory points, but being king opens you up to attacks from all directions and precludes you from healing.  So you have to know when to stay or go.

The rule book explains more.

Rating: A