One day, Kaiju City was busily minding its own business. It’s little windmills were whirring, trying to gather up some of that eco-friendly electricity to help construction of a new office apartment and high rise tower. It was going to be a really lovely too, an achievement of a prosperous and peaceful city until – POW -A giant city-block sized purple octopus wielding neptunes trident slurps out of the dank sea and reigns slimy terror onto the denizens of Kaiju City. “OctoKraken! Kiwotsukete, OctoKraken!!”, shout the poor, helpless denizens, scrambling to safety.

The city chiefs meet. Two of the most powerful and intelligent leaders Kaiju city has EVER seen* formulate a defensive plan. What will they build? COLOURED RAINBOW LASER CANNONS! Oh they work so so well. The airforce launches its Alpha Strike and the newly dubbed “rainbow cannon” takes chunks out of OctoKraken’s oily tentacles, leaving it dead and motionless.The city is safe … [super hero style pause] … FOR NOW …

I love games that are easily playable by non hobbyists and worry not friends, I love hardcore hobby games too – but I really love the idea of gateway games. Fun for everyone including people who have never played games before. That means more people are introduced to boardgaming, that means that the boardgaming industry gets more awesome (awesomer?) and everybody has a good ol’ time with new friends!

Kaiju City is a family game designed by new-designer-on-the-block Levi Mote. In partnership with Game Salute it is currently on Kickstarter for $35 (plus postage) and I can thoroughly recommend it as an awesome family game. Playable by 2-6 players, they are split into two teams: the monsters and Kaiju city. The city is set up, and promptly attacked by four monsters. They have their normal “stompy” attack*, a regenerate move and special variable powers; everything from tunneling underneath the city to eating power plants to regain health (we called that one “battery-mon”).

Once the monster team has moved, attacked, special abilit’ied or healed each of their monsters, the city will take their turn. The city tiles produce certain resources which are collected and used to lay further city tiles down. Some tiles house military installations and have special attack used to combat the invading monsters. While the game proper is simple (see: gateway game for non-gamer friends & their kids), the tactics can get quite involved as either team, using the limited placement/move rules, try to outwit their opponents, playing on their weaknesses and rolling for the victory.

The best part about Kaiju City for me is that in any game with three or more, the players work together in two teams either protecting their civilians or making the most of their “800 Tentacles Attack”. The game encourages players to work together, each controlling a number of monsters or advising, understanding and coordinating their defense. A very positive and cooperative atmosphere emerges around this game. Players having equal amounts of fun in winning and losing, and table talk is great. I like that. I think your family will like that too.

There are only 12 days left of backing so get over to kickstarter and help out!

* Me and my friend Jacob fit the bill perfectly

* RWOOOAAR!

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