How To Play: King of New York

King of New York throws you into a monster mash-up for city control. To win, master card choices, time your building smashing, and balance health with victory points. The rules are simple, but the laughs and backstabbing are wild. How To Play king of new york? Beat your buddies with brains and brawn!

King of New York cover

Overview

Welcome, monsters! I’ve played King of New York more times than I’ve eaten pizza (and that’s saying a lot). This guide gives you a quick outline of the game rules, plus all the best strategies I’ve learned while smashing skyscrapers and my friends’ hopes. If you want to impress your group and actually know How To Play king of new york, you’re in the right spot.

What’s in the box

  • 1 Game board
  • 66 Cards
  • 46 Tokens
  • 6 Monster boards
  • 6 Cardboard monsters with plastic stands
  • 8 Custom dice
  • 6 Cardboard arrows
  • 45 Building/Unit tiles
  • 50 Energy cubes
  • 6 Cardboard tokens for each monster
  • 1 Rulebook

How To Play King of New York: Rules Summary

Setup

  1. Give each player a monster board, monster standee, and 0 energy cubes. Set their health dial to 10 and victory points dial to 0.
  2. Shuffle the Power Cards deck and place 3 cards face up. Place the rest nearby.
  3. Place the building/units tiles face down on the 6 borough spaces (including Manhattan), then flip them face up.
  4. Put the dice, energy cubes, and tokens within everyone’s reach. Pick a first player. The player with the best monster roar goes first (argue this for 20 minutes like I do every time).

Gameplay

  1. On your turn, roll 6 dice. You may reroll any dice up to 2 times, keeping what you want. It’s like Yahtzee, but with more destruction.
  2. Resolve the results: claws (attack), hearts (heal), energy (collect cubes), and numbers (score victory points if you get 3 or more of a kind).
  3. Claws attack monsters in Manhattan or outside it, depending where you stand. Attack and cackle maniacally.
  4. Destroy buildings with claw dice if you want. Buildings give you rewards (like healing, energy, or points), then flip to army units you must now defeat later. My friend Dave always regrets this step.
  5. After rolling, you may move into Manhattan if nobody’s there. This is usually when you start sweating. If you’re already in Manhattan, you must move up the borough and collect bonus points!
  6. Buy power cards with your energy cubes if you can, or simply hoard them to annoy your friends. Draw a new card after a purchase.

Winning

  1. Reach 20 victory points first and win instantly. It’s like a monster sprint—first past the post wins!
  2. Or, be the last monster standing by knocking everyone else’s health to zero. Don’t gloat too much (okay, gloat a little).

Special Rules & Conditions

  1. You can’t heal in Manhattan. Yes, really! Try not to end up there on 2 health like I did.
  2. If you get attacked in Manhattan, you may flee to any open borough, but you must do so before the next attacker rolls.
  3. Army units attack monsters at the end of your turn if you didn’t destroy them. Prepare for tanks with a grudge.
  4. Some power cards and unit tiles change the rules. Always read them! (Unless you don’t mind chaos and confusion).

That’s How To Play King of New York! Now, you’re ready to stomp and chomp your way to monster glory. Or, at least, to annoy everyone with your growling skills.

Best King of New York Strategies

Monster Power Card Choices: Crush with the Right Cards!

Picking the best Monster Power Cards is more important than eating the last slice of pizza. So, here’s how I do it after many heated King of New York battles with my friends. Cards win games, but only if you know which ones to grab.

1. Go for Energy Early

  1. Choose cards that give you extra energy cubes fast.
  2. Use this energy to buy better cards later.

2. Snap Up Healing Cards

  1. Keep an eye on cards that heal your monster.
  2. These help you last longer than your friends expect.

3. Pick Offensive Powers

  1. Pick attack cards that punish other monsters when they attack you.
  2. Cards that boost your damage help you push for victory.

4. Stay Flexible

  1. Sometimes a weird card saves your monster. Try new combos when you can.
  2. Change your strategy if the card market changes.

Still thinking about How To Play king of new york? Well, picking the best cards is half the battle. Don’t just hoard energy—spend it on cards that fit your playstyle and watch your friends squirm!

Smash, Crash, Win: Mastering Building Destruction Timing in King of New York

Why Timing Matters

If you wreck buildings at the wrong moment, you risk giving your enemies free stuff. I once knocked down three buildings and watched my friend grab all the bonuses. Oops! Choose your moment wisely.

Best Moments to Strike

  1. When you need hearts or energy cubes to power up.
  2. Right before an opponent who’s low on health would benefit from them.
  3. After moving to a new borough so you control what gets destroyed.

Extra Destruction Tips

  1. Save high-value buildings for a crucial round.
  2. Don’t make it easy for others to heal or gain stars.

So, next time you play, pause before you smash. Building destruction timing turns a monster into a champ!

For more smart gameplay, check out How To Play king of new york guides and try these tricks on your group.

Stay Alive or Grab Glory? The Health vs Victory Dilemma

Picking the Right Times to Heal

Honestly, you can’t win if you croak before you hit 20 stars. So, when your health drops below 4, start grabbing healing dice or cards. Here’s what worked for me:

  1. If a healing card pops up and you’re below half health, buy it—even if you want flashier cards.
  2. Don’t ignore hearts if you’re outside of Manhattan and getting battered.
  3. Try to time your healing to dodge big attacks from other monsters.

Risk It for the Victory Biscuit

Sometimes, ignoring health gets you that last star. I’ve barely scraped a win more than once! Consider these plays:

  1. If you’re leading in stars and no big attacks are coming, go all in for points.
  2. Use power cards that push you faster to 20 stars, even if you take a beating.

Knowing When to Flee Manhattan

Staying too long in Manhattan can burn your health fast! Balance this by:

  1. Leaving Manhattan once health drops too low—winning is tough if you’re monster toast.
  2. Returning when you can soak up points—just don’t get greedy!

Juggling health and victory is the real heart of How To Play king of new york. Weigh your options every round, or you’ll find yourself out of the game, watching everyone else stomp their way to victory.

Smash It Like a True Monster!

And there you have it, folks—my monster-sized brain dump on How To Play king of new york like a pro (or at least better than your cousin Jerry, who still thinks rolling dice is all luck). My friends and I had such a blast, even though Rosie tried to bribe the dice with cookies. Remember, the best strategy is to keep an eye on the power cards, bash buildings when no one else is looking, and don’t get too greedy with victory points—unless you like living on the edge (or the hospital).

So go forth, stomp those skyscrapers, and may your monster reign be long and dramatic. Or at least until the next game night when someone brings a new board game they claim is ‘way better.’ Good luck, future monarchs of Manhattan!

Want to know what we think of King of New York? Read our detailed review of King of New York here

Jamie in his proper element: With all of his board games
Jamie Hopkins

With years of dice-rolling, card-flipping, and strategic planning under my belt, I've transformed my passion into expertise. I thrive on dissecting the mechanics and social dynamics of board games, sharing insights from countless game nights with friends. I dive deep into gameplay mechanics, while emphasizing the social joys of gaming. While I appreciate themes and visuals, it's the strategy and camaraderie that truly capture my heart.