Shadow Theater: Legend of the Monkey King - Review
Information:
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 Players
Time to Play: 20 Minutes
Year Published: 2025
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution.
Introduction:
Shadow Theater is a quick back-and-forth, two-player game of monkey and resource dominance. Players are aiming to win two rounds by having the most points at the end of a round. Once players understand the game, it is a race to gain enough points then push for the end-of-round condition of one resource being depleted.
Game Anatomy:
Scroll Tiles:
Scroll tiles allow for various player abilities. Each round players will be given two and choose one. These include a vast array that will activate throughout the game and help steer your strategy in a certain direction. Each round with players will be given two scrolls and will choose one to use for the round.
Tokens:
There are three pivotal tokens; peaches that can feed up to three monkeys, monkeys that (if fed) are worth one point at the end of the round, jadestone worth two points for the first three and two points per additional stone at the end of the round. If a player has the most jadestones during scoring they will gain a further two points.
In addition to having an end-of-round point value, monkeys are used during the game as workers in the three locations.
Dragon Weapon Cards:
There are two dragon weapon card types; one that instantly counts as two points at the end of the round but has no other ability, and the other that counts as one point if unused but can be used in the game to activate a special action.
Monkey King:
There are three worker locations, each with three available spots. The Monkey King will be used throughout the game as a tool to block the available spots. He will also relate to numerous scroll tiles or dragon weapon cards in various ways.
Setup:
- Place the jadestones, peaches, and monkeys in their designated locations on the board.
- Shuffle the dragon weapon cards and deal nine to the designated location on the board.
- Place the Monkey King in any space in the celestial garden.
- Deal each player two scroll tiles, where each will choose one and discard the other (this will happen at the start if each round).
- Randomly determine the first player, who will gain three monkeys, and the second player will gain four.
How to Play:
Shadow Theater is played over two or three rounds. Each round will finish when one of the resource piles depletes. These include dragon weapon cards, monkeys, jadestones, or peaches. Whichever player has the most points at this time will win a lantern and the board state will be reset. Gain a total of two lanterns and you are the winner.
On a turn, a player may play as many dragon weapon cards as they choose at the start of the turn, then either play a monkey onto one of the empty worker spots or collect all the played monkeys from one location.
There are three locations in the game. Dragons Lair allows you to draw one dragon weapon,
Emperors Palace allows you to take one jadestone and two monkeys, and the
Celestial Garden that grants you one peach and allows you to move the Monkey King piece.
Final Thoughts:
- Perfect introduction game for two players.
- Compacts worker placement into a quick resource gathering game.
Shadow Theater: Legend of the Monkey King takes the essence of a worker placement game and compacts it into a quick back-and-forth, two-player game with players racing first for resources/points, then racing to end the game before the other player can catch up. Turns are quick and straightforward, where you play any amount of dragon warrior cards followed by either playing one monkey into a worker locations or collecting all the monkeys from one locations. The round ends when a resource pile is depleted and the highest score wins the round; win two and you're the victor. This is the kind of game that is great for new players looking for duel kind of games but who just are entering into the hobby.
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