Fight to the friendly(?!) finish in King of Monster Island by Richard Garfield

Originally teased by publisher Iello at Essen Spiel 2021, King of Monster Island by designer Richard Garfield and artist Paul Mafayon is a cooperative, monster-battling game. Like its predecessors King of Tokyo and King of New York, players take on the roll of a monster looking to smash, but this time you’re not smashing each other... You’re working together to smash an even greater menace living in the volcano on Monster Island.

Using similar mechanics to the other “King of” games, players will roll the dice in order to collect die faces that will deal damage, heal damage, earn power to gain and trigger new abilities, and increase fame in order to recruit allies. However, the boss monster living in the volcano also gets to act and players will drop his dice into the volcano in order to determine what actions the boss will take.

There are three bosses to face with six difficulty levels for each boss allowing for up to 18 different combinations. While you can use the monster boards from the other “King of” games, the game uses different dice faces and different game mechanics so the cards from those games will not be compatible.

King of Monster Island plays 1-5 players, ages 10+, and has an estimated playtime of 45-60 minutes. English and French versions of the game will be available at Essen Spiel 2022 while the German version will be available at the Nuremberg Toy Fair 2023.