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on August 4, 2016
The first time I saw this game I thought it looked kind of boring. I was browsing in our local game shop and it looked beautiful but as I read it I decided it wasn't for me. I like games that have strategy and competition. This seemed a little too nice for our board game nights so I passed on it a few times. Finally I saw that it was only sale here on Amazon and figured that I would give it a go. It had amazing reviews and I had heard from a few friends that they had loved to play it so I went ahead and bought it. I can't be more pleased that I did either! This game is now one of our go to games for game nights. It is a great starter game since it generally only lasts about 45 minutes so in terms of board games it's relatively short and it's the type of game that everyone, no matter their age, can enjoy and really get into.
This is the most zen cut throat game I have ever played in my life!! It is a game that is very focused on screwing over anyone who is not you and that makes it competitive and great for a board game night! You travel down a road in the feudal era of Japan and as you travel you can stop at various locations. You can paint landscapes in nature, take a dip in a hot springs, pick up a fellow traveling companion, stop at a shrine, go to a shopping market, or go to a farm house. The whole point of the game is to use you specific character to try to get as many points as possible. Some characters get extra points for picking up travelers so they will always try to pick up more travelers. If you want to stop them from doing so though you simply put your character on the marker and that forces them to move ahead and skip it over. At the end of each day you stop at an Inn and draw food cards and then continue on your journey the next day. This game is simple, beautiful, and has a ton of replay-ability. Personally I think it is a great addition to anyone's game collection that loves board games!
This is the most zen cut throat game I have ever played in my life!! It is a game that is very focused on screwing over anyone who is not you and that makes it competitive and great for a board game night! You travel down a road in the feudal era of Japan and as you travel you can stop at various locations. You can paint landscapes in nature, take a dip in a hot springs, pick up a fellow traveling companion, stop at a shrine, go to a shopping market, or go to a farm house. The whole point of the game is to use you specific character to try to get as many points as possible. Some characters get extra points for picking up travelers so they will always try to pick up more travelers. If you want to stop them from doing so though you simply put your character on the marker and that forces them to move ahead and skip it over. At the end of each day you stop at an Inn and draw food cards and then continue on your journey the next day. This game is simple, beautiful, and has a ton of replay-ability. Personally I think it is a great addition to anyone's game collection that loves board games!
on October 12, 2015
As far as the physical game is concerned, the art work is beautiful, the components have a nice weight and feel, and when setup, the games looks great on a tabletop. As far as playing it with 2 players, it gets boring pretty quickly. The point of the game is to travel down a path and doing as many interesting things as possible, which is demonstrated by taking a card.By the end of the road, whoever has the lived most interesting life as demonstrated by the cards is the winner.
With 2 players, it's pretty bland. There's little variety and you know what the other player is going for, so you can either be a jerk and just try to copy them the whole time or do your own thing. That's pretty much it. With more players, it's more unpredictable and has a higher replayability rate, but with 2 players, you'll probably not want to play ti again after a couple games. This one got traded in at our local game store for the 2 player version of Agricola All Creatures Big and Small.
With 2 players, it's pretty bland. There's little variety and you know what the other player is going for, so you can either be a jerk and just try to copy them the whole time or do your own thing. That's pretty much it. With more players, it's more unpredictable and has a higher replayability rate, but with 2 players, you'll probably not want to play ti again after a couple games. This one got traded in at our local game store for the 2 player version of Agricola All Creatures Big and Small.
on December 15, 2016
My fiance and I live together and have been looking for a good two person boardgame for some time now. We kind of burnt ourselves out on the classics and have been looking for a great newer 2 player board game. Catan is fun, but both of us prefer more than two players. Exploding kittens doesn't involve enough strategy with players and is basically glorified uno. Pandemic it's only interesting with more than 2 people. The list goes on.
I had been eyeing tokaido for awhile, and finally ordered it on the cheap on black Friday. We're both happy we did. While the game is clearly designed for more players (we're trying that this weekend) it has modified rules for two players that actually add an extra element of strategy. We'll see what kind of replay value the game has over time. But a couple of weeks in, we're really enjoying the game. Trust the reviews. If you like strategy games that favor skill over luck, this is a game for you. The unique play style may not suit everyone, and can take a little getting used to, but once you figure out how to strategize, you'll really enjoy this game.
I had been eyeing tokaido for awhile, and finally ordered it on the cheap on black Friday. We're both happy we did. While the game is clearly designed for more players (we're trying that this weekend) it has modified rules for two players that actually add an extra element of strategy. We'll see what kind of replay value the game has over time. But a couple of weeks in, we're really enjoying the game. Trust the reviews. If you like strategy games that favor skill over luck, this is a game for you. The unique play style may not suit everyone, and can take a little getting used to, but once you figure out how to strategize, you'll really enjoy this game.
on July 5, 2013
As with all my boardgame reviews, I heavily encourage readers to peruse through boardgamegeek.com for a plethora of information, videos, and community posts. Now onwards!
Konnichiwa gamers and would-be game owners. I've had my eye on Tokaido for a while and took an easy plunge with it, but haven't really gotten an opportunity to give it a good go until recently.
Tokaido is a beautifully illustrated and light boardgame about traveling across Japan's famous 33-stop journey from Kyoto to Edo. This is an essence a "race" game but a strangely counter-intuitive one as you want to cleverly reach key destinations before other players and score as many points by the end of the journey in order to win.
The game really exists with a minimum of 3 players, but dramatically increases in difficulty with each additional player as resources become more hotly contested. You'll be cutting each other off for panaromas by going to vista points, visiting shops to buy curios, even meeting strangers or donating money at the shrines. There are a variety of "characters" that play differently and thus require a tweak in your overall strategy, some who will naturally pit certain players against each other with their natural advantages (the Magistrate and the Entertainer for example benefit from Encounters).
Without delving into the rules, I'll jump into the skinny of the game.
COMPONENTS:
This was the driving force behind buying the game. It has gorgeous and whimsical art, simple layout and well thought-out keys across the main board. The pieces are classic wooden "meeples" and all the cards are crisp and printed cleanly. The cardstock itself is thin and may not hold up well to serious play, so consider your playgroup or sleeves which will likely not hold in the vacuum-formed trayliner. Speaking of which, everything packs up neatly back into the box, so kudos for that design!
GAMEPLAY:
Once you get past the variety of colorful cards, it's very fast to pick up. First round with my mom (total game newb and not a killer-instinct in her body) and my sis (competitive recreationalist) and I (my sis calls me Hannibal and I ask which one, she replies both...at the same time) can finish a session in 35minutes. This is one of those odd games because if you're very hardcore, you'll mentally chalk it up as "light" and enjoy the zen-like quality of the game. If you're a beginner, it will certainly teach you about resource and initiative management as well as blocking and resource denial.
NEGATIVES:
This game is far from perfect, but that's like saying you're rained on but staring at a rainbow. You really don't mind some idiosyncracies or sometimes the perceived character imbalances. However, for veteran gamers, I can understand why they seldom would play this more than once: points. Everything you do generates points and sometimes it feels like clever maneuvers to block your rivals really didn't account for much. Even though there is an on-board points tracker, it seems like too many surprise points awards can sometimes thwart what you might have played as a stellar game. Thankfully the designers offered a few variants to give it a try, but I would add a couple of house rules namely no ties for objective awards so this limits collusion.
Get this game:
-because you enjoy aesthetic displays, seriously it's beautiful to non-gamers as well
-it's thematic and very light game, good for beginners
-you'll enjoy it win or lose without fretting over all the power-eking and power plays
Don't get this game if:
-the lightest game you'll play is Twilight Imperium
-you prefer casted soldiers over wooden meeples
-you don't like eurogames or non-combative themes
Konnichiwa gamers and would-be game owners. I've had my eye on Tokaido for a while and took an easy plunge with it, but haven't really gotten an opportunity to give it a good go until recently.
Tokaido is a beautifully illustrated and light boardgame about traveling across Japan's famous 33-stop journey from Kyoto to Edo. This is an essence a "race" game but a strangely counter-intuitive one as you want to cleverly reach key destinations before other players and score as many points by the end of the journey in order to win.
The game really exists with a minimum of 3 players, but dramatically increases in difficulty with each additional player as resources become more hotly contested. You'll be cutting each other off for panaromas by going to vista points, visiting shops to buy curios, even meeting strangers or donating money at the shrines. There are a variety of "characters" that play differently and thus require a tweak in your overall strategy, some who will naturally pit certain players against each other with their natural advantages (the Magistrate and the Entertainer for example benefit from Encounters).
Without delving into the rules, I'll jump into the skinny of the game.
COMPONENTS:
This was the driving force behind buying the game. It has gorgeous and whimsical art, simple layout and well thought-out keys across the main board. The pieces are classic wooden "meeples" and all the cards are crisp and printed cleanly. The cardstock itself is thin and may not hold up well to serious play, so consider your playgroup or sleeves which will likely not hold in the vacuum-formed trayliner. Speaking of which, everything packs up neatly back into the box, so kudos for that design!
GAMEPLAY:
Once you get past the variety of colorful cards, it's very fast to pick up. First round with my mom (total game newb and not a killer-instinct in her body) and my sis (competitive recreationalist) and I (my sis calls me Hannibal and I ask which one, she replies both...at the same time) can finish a session in 35minutes. This is one of those odd games because if you're very hardcore, you'll mentally chalk it up as "light" and enjoy the zen-like quality of the game. If you're a beginner, it will certainly teach you about resource and initiative management as well as blocking and resource denial.
NEGATIVES:
This game is far from perfect, but that's like saying you're rained on but staring at a rainbow. You really don't mind some idiosyncracies or sometimes the perceived character imbalances. However, for veteran gamers, I can understand why they seldom would play this more than once: points. Everything you do generates points and sometimes it feels like clever maneuvers to block your rivals really didn't account for much. Even though there is an on-board points tracker, it seems like too many surprise points awards can sometimes thwart what you might have played as a stellar game. Thankfully the designers offered a few variants to give it a try, but I would add a couple of house rules namely no ties for objective awards so this limits collusion.
Get this game:
-because you enjoy aesthetic displays, seriously it's beautiful to non-gamers as well
-it's thematic and very light game, good for beginners
-you'll enjoy it win or lose without fretting over all the power-eking and power plays
Don't get this game if:
-the lightest game you'll play is Twilight Imperium
-you prefer casted soldiers over wooden meeples
-you don't like eurogames or non-combative themes
on February 4, 2014
I bought this game on a whim because I had been playing what I consider to be similar board games with some friends lately--things like Evo, Smallworld, etc. Novel, entertaining, and more obscure than Milton-Bradley.
One of the first things I discovered that I like really well about Tokaido is that although it is a competitive game, most characters seem to want different things in order to score points, usually because of their idiosyncratic powers. Therefore, the amount of intentionally interfering with another competitor is, while still present, minimal. I'm sure I'm far from having optimized my strategy, but most of the time it seems less effectual to try to interfere with other people than it is to play to your own character's strengths.
The biggest fault that I've observed about the balance of the game is that there are some characters who seem to do exceptionally well compared to others any which way you slice it, and they are mostly the characters who start out with more money and have powers related to buying souvenirs or increasing their money. This is why I'm not giving it a 5-star rating, although it is attenuated a little bit by the random-selection process wherein you don't get to intentionally pick your character--you're given your choice of two randomly drawn characters. This stops people from getting too attached to any one character and keeps replayability higher by forcing most characters to get played by someone at some point.
All of the art in this game is amazing. It's super pretty, if that's your selling point.
Compared to similar board games, Tokaido is actually pretty simple to pick up and start playing--there aren't a whole lot of rules. However, there is, as usual, at least one rule they don't clarify very well. In the instructions they refer exclusively to players' money as that character's "bank" and the yet-to-be-owned money as "the reserve." One of the encounter cards is a miko (shrine priestess) and the instructions for said card say to take one coin from "the bank" and donate it to the temple on behalf of the character who encountered the miko, scoring 1 point as usual. Given how precious money is and how infrequently most characters would want to donate to the temple (as well as how unrewarding donation typically is in terms of points), this seems like a punishment to take it from the character's own money, so when I play with my friends encountering the miko takes from the yet-to-be-owned money pile and makes the card actually seem worthwhile. Dunno if we're interpreting right or not, but it works better that way--there are no other cards of any variety in the entire game that actually punish a player so it seems weird to let the miko be the only one.
The last great thing I want to say about this game is that you don't always know who is going to win until you finish. It can seem like one person is far ahead, but there are a number of categorical bonus points awarded at the end that can and often do change the running. Accounting for some of these factors into a person's strategy too, and keeps the game from often being knowingly one-sided.
One of the first things I discovered that I like really well about Tokaido is that although it is a competitive game, most characters seem to want different things in order to score points, usually because of their idiosyncratic powers. Therefore, the amount of intentionally interfering with another competitor is, while still present, minimal. I'm sure I'm far from having optimized my strategy, but most of the time it seems less effectual to try to interfere with other people than it is to play to your own character's strengths.
The biggest fault that I've observed about the balance of the game is that there are some characters who seem to do exceptionally well compared to others any which way you slice it, and they are mostly the characters who start out with more money and have powers related to buying souvenirs or increasing their money. This is why I'm not giving it a 5-star rating, although it is attenuated a little bit by the random-selection process wherein you don't get to intentionally pick your character--you're given your choice of two randomly drawn characters. This stops people from getting too attached to any one character and keeps replayability higher by forcing most characters to get played by someone at some point.
All of the art in this game is amazing. It's super pretty, if that's your selling point.
Compared to similar board games, Tokaido is actually pretty simple to pick up and start playing--there aren't a whole lot of rules. However, there is, as usual, at least one rule they don't clarify very well. In the instructions they refer exclusively to players' money as that character's "bank" and the yet-to-be-owned money as "the reserve." One of the encounter cards is a miko (shrine priestess) and the instructions for said card say to take one coin from "the bank" and donate it to the temple on behalf of the character who encountered the miko, scoring 1 point as usual. Given how precious money is and how infrequently most characters would want to donate to the temple (as well as how unrewarding donation typically is in terms of points), this seems like a punishment to take it from the character's own money, so when I play with my friends encountering the miko takes from the yet-to-be-owned money pile and makes the card actually seem worthwhile. Dunno if we're interpreting right or not, but it works better that way--there are no other cards of any variety in the entire game that actually punish a player so it seems weird to let the miko be the only one.
The last great thing I want to say about this game is that you don't always know who is going to win until you finish. It can seem like one person is far ahead, but there are a number of categorical bonus points awarded at the end that can and often do change the running. Accounting for some of these factors into a person's strategy too, and keeps the game from often being knowingly one-sided.
on March 16, 2016
This game is great. I own quite a bit of games ranging in difficulty and playability. As do my group of friends. Together we have played quite a number of games and this one is probably one of my favorites. It's not a difficult game at all. It's straightforward, simple, and actually a pretty calm game considering it can definitely be a very strategic game if you want it to be. With a range of characters each with their unique abilities, limited resources, and different goals to work towards - every time you play is going to be different. Especially if you go from two players to three to max five. The more players there are, the more strategic it can get. I would recommend four players for the best balance between strategy and casual fun. The game mechanics are simple - move however far you want to get to the space you want to attain whatever your goal is. The catch is the person furthest in the back gets to take their turn next. So if you decide to move all the way to the resting point, you're not going to have a turn until EVERYONE gets to the resting point. And the resources you may want next have a chance of being taken by the time you take your turn. That's where the strategy lies. You chose the path you want to take. I wanted the art. Others the food. Others the trinkets. And one just REALLY loved those hot springs! But a good traveler enjoys everything the road has to offer.
The best part is that even though you may have the most points by the end of the game, that doesn't mean you've won. In come the achievement points! And those can change the whole thing. It's like Dumbledore giving Gryffindor extra points after Slytherin had already won and giving the house cup to Gryffindor. I was Slytherin. I had by far the most points and was way ahead of everyone else. I didn't think those achievements were going to do much but man was I wrong! The person in fourth place ended up winning! Even he was surprised!
The game itself has a lot of depth for the simplicity of it. Beautifully done artwork. Learning to play takes minutes - if that! Just an amazing game overall. I absolutely loved this game a lot more than I expected to.
The best part is that even though you may have the most points by the end of the game, that doesn't mean you've won. In come the achievement points! And those can change the whole thing. It's like Dumbledore giving Gryffindor extra points after Slytherin had already won and giving the house cup to Gryffindor. I was Slytherin. I had by far the most points and was way ahead of everyone else. I didn't think those achievements were going to do much but man was I wrong! The person in fourth place ended up winning! Even he was surprised!
The game itself has a lot of depth for the simplicity of it. Beautifully done artwork. Learning to play takes minutes - if that! Just an amazing game overall. I absolutely loved this game a lot more than I expected to.
on October 17, 2016
Great board game, a family favorite. Game is well made, most of the pieces are wooden. Had it for while now, and use it semi-regularly and it is still in good condition. This game is easy to learn and is still fun to play even if you have 50 times before. In my opinion it is well worth the money. I only wish that each game could last a little longer, average game for me takes about 40 minutes with 4 people.
on March 5, 2017
Purchased as a gift for a teenage boy, it was the most popular game for the whole family during Christmas break. Touted as a non-traditional gaming activity, it is a different experience than Monopoly, although it does use money. The idea of collecting experiences, painting pictures and meeting people as the essence of gameplay give it a different feel than most games I have played.
on May 22, 2017
I just played this game once but so far so good.
Pros:
•it is on the easier side to learn. No need to roll dice or learn a lot of rules. There is still some explaining to do. Returning players will have a bit of an advantage over new players but then again this is probably true of all games
•the graphics are beautiful
•can be played quickly or made to last longer if you have good storytellers in the group or simply people that take a while to make a move.
•relatively easy board to set up
cons:
•max is 5 players, I usually have an even number and larger groups. But this could be a plus if you play with smaller groups
•the playing cards are so small especially when compared to the box. I wish the box was smaller or the cards were bigger. I can understand they made the box bigger to avoid having to fold the board more times but if that is the case they should have made the cards bigger. As they are now it is a little awkward to hold. The only advantage is that it takes less room on the table
Pros:
•it is on the easier side to learn. No need to roll dice or learn a lot of rules. There is still some explaining to do. Returning players will have a bit of an advantage over new players but then again this is probably true of all games
•the graphics are beautiful
•can be played quickly or made to last longer if you have good storytellers in the group or simply people that take a while to make a move.
•relatively easy board to set up
cons:
•max is 5 players, I usually have an even number and larger groups. But this could be a plus if you play with smaller groups
•the playing cards are so small especially when compared to the box. I wish the box was smaller or the cards were bigger. I can understand they made the box bigger to avoid having to fold the board more times but if that is the case they should have made the cards bigger. As they are now it is a little awkward to hold. The only advantage is that it takes less room on the table
