A new board game stomped into my gaming group this week and with a mighty roar we clashed over the Japanese metropolis to see who would become King of Tokyo!

King of Tokyo draws upon all those great old Japanese monster movies and Power Rangers style giant robot vs monster fights to create a fast paced dice game, as you and your friends take on the roles of various enormous freaks of nature clobboring each other  for dominion over the city.

The game starts with each monster possessing ten life points, grouped around the outside of the board representing the city of Tokyo. On each player's turn they roll the six black dice in order to decide what their actions that turn are. They are allowed two re-rolls of any number and combination of dice, meaning a player has to think carefully about which dice to keep and what to risk.

The dice rolls will either allow you to gain energy points, which can then be spent on cards to help your gaming, attacking the other monsters, healing your own life points, or getting victory points. The game is won when a player manages to get 20 victory points, which can be gained either through dice rolls or capturing Tokyo, or ends up as the last monster standing.

It's a simple as that!

That is pretty much all there is to the game, with your tactics changing in regards to your own dice rolls and the tactics of your opponents, and the tactics adding a fun element to the play. It makes for a quick and challenging game which serves as the perfect break from those longer board games you might be playing, with play generally only lasting around 30 minutes.

The whole thing is brought to life with superb cartoony artwork that make it abundantly clear that this is one game that should not be taken too seriously, but rather to have fun with. The number of bad impressions of Godzilla this game caused in my gaming group meant we were having speaking in words and half in growls.

Now of course King of Tokyo may not suit everyone's taste. The simple nature of the gaming mechanics lead me to question its replay value, while also potentially putting off those players looking for a more tactical and versatile challenge in their gaming experience.

However, I would not hesitate to recommend this game to anyone looking for something new to try out over this Christmas holiday period. This quick and simple game could be the perfect thing to get the family playing while you are all waiting for the Christmas turkey to go down.