Into a Volcano to Be King of Monster Island as Purple Reign
Battle a gigantic boss and its minions with monsters, allies, and abilities around a volcano with King of Monster Island.
Time for some very lightweight and chaotic fun! My husband purchased King of Monster Island a few years ago, mainly as a way for me to try out the system solo. True to form, it’s taken me this long to get it to my table! I was ready for lots of dice rolling, along with the ability to toss dice into a volcano for even more randomness. To the island of monsters!
Game Overview
Game Name: King of Monster Island
Publication Year: 2022
Designer: Richard Garfield
Artist: Paul Mafayon
Publisher: IELLO
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to defeat the boss in a gigantic battle that requires an entire island! Minions provide obstacles to a monster, who acquires a team of allies with enough fame. It’s all very light, yet the card abilities add a lot more chaos and fun into the mix. Time for some island roars!
First Play
October 9, 2024
Complexity
2
Latest Play
October 9, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
30" x 26"
Low Score
N/A
From the Volcano
This is one very neat island! I immediately appreciated the way the zones were split up because I could see them all, even with the gigantic volcano in the center of the board.
Many of the games in this series are designed to be quirky and silly, and this one carries on that tradition very well.
Dice rolls determine what can be done during a turn, and the boss has a separate set of dice and actions. Perfect for solo! I chose to just utilize a single monster: Purple Reign!
I liked the rulebook and its gigantic examples, along with the reference guide on the back of unused ally cards.
The Crystal Dragon
A trio of bosses are included, each with a normal and advanced side. I started off at the lowest difficulty level, as usual, yet I think experienced players can skip normal.
The Crystal Dragon was the first boss who rolled 5 dice. However, these go through the volcano and end up in different zones. Then, the boss moves to activate dice.
With careful planning and some abilities, it’s possible to keep the boss limited to rolling and activating 1-2 dice.
The cumulative fame scale was also neat: Early abilities were fairly minor, but they quickly got more powerful!
There’s a Monster…
I think part of my reason for choosing this game was the literary tie-in with my childhood book titled There’s a Monster Eating My House. Someone is very hungry!
This is a nice little story about a huge monster that’s part dinosaur and part machine who takes bites out of lots of things… But just a few bites out of each location.
The secret twist? He can’t find anything he likes to eat! So the knight sent to fight him offers him some pies. Yum!
I can’t say I had the same option with the Crystal Dragon, but I had a few laughs thinking about the possibility.
Customizing Monsters
The included monsters are all basically the same, only with unique artwork. Customization happens with the choice of allies and the various power card abilities.
Purple Reign started off pretty basic, but the Mad Scientists added a lot of personality! With more fame, I found it easier to acquire even more power cards.
Many of these were discarded and used for one-time effects, but I had a couple of awesome keep abilities.
Defeated minions damaged the boss, and I had access to an extra die each round. Very awesome and silly!
Variability in the Available Cards, Not Setup
Many times, asymmetry and unique characters come about during the setup phase. This might simply be a character sheet, or it can be a combination of different cards or components. This one does it very differently, in that the variety comes about through gameplay. Purple Reign, or any of the monsters, are essentially identical during setup.
Allies add new abilities based on fame levels, and acquiring new power cards adds a lot more. I didn’t see a lot of keep abilities during my plays, so there were just a couple of unique elements. Yet these made a big difference!
I can see how each monster might feel very different based on their associated ally and abilities. The limited variety in allies and the set path of abilities seemed a little low, though. It would have been really cool to have a lot of unique cards so every ally wasn’t so predictable and locked to a single element… But I still had lots of fun with Purple Reign!
Victory at the Volcano
Purple Reign did it! The Crystal Dragon fell to my amazing plans and luck with the dice… Which was not at all consistent. Ha ha! Yet it was really cool to roll the dice.
I enjoyed setting up support tokens, too, which could be used later on or recharged. Only a couple were placed, yet I found it advantageous to set up battles in those zones.
Locking in dice was also really useful! When the symbols didn’t go my way, I could save up a few for later rounds.
It was a pretty neat system, although it all started to feel a little repetitive, too easy, and a bit lengthy for the fun.
Discard Abilities
Events were mixed into the deck, often leading to unexpected negative consequences. But this meant it was worth it not to constantly mill through the deck. Nice!
I found a few neat keep abilities, but had to decide when to use the discard abilities. Energy cubes weren’t always easy to constantly accumulate, and I had to spend wisely.
Then, I finally got the boss alone without any minions. Kamikaze! Purple Reign lost a fair amount of health…
But there was Healing Pulse! Very timely with a Halloween theme, too. The candy was just the ticket to heal up!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 & 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Normal & Advanced Difficulty Levels
Outcome: 2 Wins
My second play was a lot trickier, with the boss actually coming dangerously close to winning near the end. Definitely felt more challenging! I enjoyed certain aspects of gameplay, and think this could be an excellent choice for the right player. There were just enough small issues that added up to convince me I had seen my fair share, though I still want to repeat that this was a very fun time!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the power cards are unique and add lots of variability in the way the game can play out with what’s available.
- Dice are large and fun to roll, either on their own or into the volcano, with some interesting choices about re-rolls.
- Building support tokens and locking in dice offer very interesting strategic moments for long-term planning.
- Advanced bosses create a challenge with cumulative abilities and lots of protection from the minions in each zone.
- Moving around the island feels meaningful, as it’s useful to plan where to battle to do the most damage at once.
- The board design is great, with the volcano placed so it doesn’t visually block off zones or important spaces.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The normal difficulty level feels very easy and leads to almost no tension, even though it still takes awhile to win.
- Although the volcano is supposed to be random, it’s too easy to aim the dice to try to roll them into certain zones.
- Set abilities tied to each ally mean each one is very specialized, and this overall variety feels rather limited.
- Gameplay drags on a bit for such a light game, especially since there are a lot of abilities to check each turn.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Boss
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Defeat the Crystal Dragon at the normal difficulty level.
Defeat the Crystal Dragon at the advanced difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played King of Monster Island? Do you have a memorable matchup or combination of power cards? I had a very enjoyable time with my couple of plays! Although it doesn’t ultimately work for me as something I’ll play solo again, I got to toss dice into a volcano and knock out a huge dragon. Can’t complain about that experience. Ha ha!
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