King of Tokyo: Acid Attack

Question

In King of Tokyo, what are the consequences of the acid attack card? Specifically, the following questions:

• Who does the damage effect?
• Does the damage count as an attack?
• If damaged by acid attack while in Tokyo, can the monster leave Tokyo?

Answer 1

The damage will hit any valid target of a normal dice-based attack, so if you are in Tokyo (City or Bay) all players outside Tokyo are hit, but if you are outside Tokyo the player(s) in Tokyo are damaged. (Taken from the official-ish FAQ from BoardGameGeek)

The damage from Acid Attack does not count as an attack, and a monster in Tokyo cannot yield their place as a result of it. It is explicitly stated on page 4 of the rulebook:

[Life] lost dealt from a Power card effect is different than [dice Claw symbols]. A Monster can only Yield Tokyo when losing from [Life] from [dice Claw symbols].

Answer 2

The answer depends on which edition of King of Tokyo you are playing.

In the first edition, the answer is given by the answer of user Ken Herbert.

In the second (2016) edition, the Acid Attack Power Card states:

Add [Claw symbol] to your Roll.

Hence, it acts in the same way as if you had an extra die and rolled a Claw with it. Hence, if you have this card and are outside of Tokyo, the monster in Tokyo can yield.

Answer 3

Mostly just wanted to add this info to stack exchange. These answers are the general consensus as found on boardgamegeek.com and other stack exchange questions.

Who does the damage effect?
Damage effects players in the way a normal attack would. Essentially, if you are in Tokyo, you deal damage to all monsters outside of Tokyo. If you are outside Tokyo, you deal damage to all players in Tokyo.

Does the damage count as an attack?
Similar to other damage dealing cards, acid attack does not count as an attack. The damage is dealt in addition to attack damage.

If damaged by acid attack while in Tokyo, can a monster leave Tokyo?
Since damage dealt by acid attack does not count as attack damage, a monster cannot leave Tokyo if dealt damage only by acid attack. If the monster is attacked (in addition to damage from acid attack) they may leave Tokyo as they normally could.