Tokaido
Welcome to the Tokaido, the legendary East Sea Road connecting Kyoto to Edo. Here you will begin an extraordinary journey during which you will discover a thousand marvels for the first time.
Be sure to take the time to contemplate the sumptuous vistas before you: the majestic mountains, peaceful coastland, and vast rice paddies… Let the brushstrokes of nature be an anchor for your memories. Appreciate the beneficial stopovers that punctuate your path, the restorative tranquility of the hot springs, and the countless culinary delicacies that will astonish your palate.
Bundle together with your belongings delightfully unexpected souvenirs, from the most modest to the most sophisticated, that you gather from surprising encounters that may change the course of your travels.
Time will be your best means to remain clear-sighted, methodical, and patient so that you don’t miss anything on this unique route but instead can fully savor the experience the Tokaido has to offer!
User Reviews (3)
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I started playing this game recently and behind a sleek look and a theme rather funny. Tokaido hides a great game mechanic with simplicity in the rules.
The theme is a journey from Kyoto to Edo as a tourist, you relax in hot spring, meeting with travelers and eat local specialty. Don’t forget to buy souvenir.
The appearance of the game is beautiful, cards and board are colored with great art. I think the points pawns are really small but overall the art is beautiful even the box is well executed.
The mechanics of the game is simple but so well executed. There is no dice, the last player is always the one who play and can play several rounds . The move choice are very strategic because they directly impact other players. Understand their needs and intentions are important to understand the game. Because sometime it’s a good thing to let them play more turn if you need something or maybe they are the one who need it.
There a lot of way to win the game , Each game are different. The game can be played with two players but I really prefers 4 or more players.
Pros:
• The artwork is really nice
• Easy to learn not so hard to master
• Fast game can be play in less than 1 hour
Cons :
• It’s sometime hard to keep the score for each player
• Maybe not enough strategy for Hardcode gamer
Overall, I really like this game , the fact that the last players is always the one to play give a lot of depth in the strategy. The game is easy to learn and the setup don’t take too much time. It’s hard to not have fun with this game , a great game and a good start for the year 2013..
I was completely on the fence about buying this game. I am a sucker for great art so that immediately peaked my curiosity. After watching a few instructional videos and a review I decided to go ahead and buy it knowing that the possibility was there that I would hate it.
Components – As I said before the game is beautiful. The only issue I had was the point markers are so incredibly tiny and very easy to lose. I am perplexed as to why they made them so small! The cards are also small – same as Ticket To Ride.
Gameplay – The game objective is simple – have the best experience on your trip from Kyoto to Edo. Sounds boring right? And yet so intriguing at the same time?!
Your journey consists of meeting villagers, taking relaxing baths with monkeys (yep – monkeys!) and collecting hoards of souvenirs and eating some great Japanese cuisine. Completing different tasks like this gives you a different number of points. At the end additional points are added for people who completed different objectives throughout the game such as the person who spent the most on food or the person who collected the most souvenirs.
So what did I think after I played? Well I only played a two player game which has slightly different game rules but I must say I did enjoy it. I felt like it was a relaxing game and yet there was still enough strategy to keep you engaged. Do I block another player so they can’t go to the farm and make some extra cash? Or do I move faster to get to the inn first and get my choice of the best cuisine?
I am saving my score until after I play this weekend with four players. Until then, happy traveling!
Update – The gameplay is more strategic with more players and therefor more enjoyable. After playing this weekend with four we all had a really great time with it and it will be in our regular rotation on gaming weekends! So happy I picked this up!
Before I review the game I want to take a moment to say what a beautiful game this is. Halfway through the game take a moment to stop and look at it.
Now for the review. The game is simple and easy to teach.
Your token is traveling from one end of the Road to the other. There are locations along the way that trigger various game effects. Each location has 1 or 2 spaces on it. Each space can only be occupied by one player’s token. The spaces are as follows: Souvenir stand: To stop at this space you must have at least 1 coin. You draw 3 cards. The price ranges from 1-3 coins. Each card has a symbol on it. You immediately score points for the cards you purchase. The goal is to collect sets with different symbols on them. A full set has 1 of each symbol on it. Throughout the game you will have chances at these sites to add more cards to your sets. This is one of 2 weakspots in the game as you can rack up the largest amount of victory points(VPs) on this space. HotSprings: Stopping here gets you a card worth 2-3 points. Temple: This is the other space you need money to stop at. You donate 1-3 coins for a corresponding amount of VPs. At the end of the game you earn up to 10 VPs based on how much you gave relative to other players. Panoramas: There are 3 different panorama spaces. When you stop on one you get the next card in that sequence for VPs worth the number on the card sequence. There are panoramas with 3,4 and 5 cards in them. The drawback is once you complete a panorama you can no longer stop at that space on the road. However, if you are the 1st to complete a particular panorama you get a 3 pt. bonus. Visitors: Stopping here lets you draw a card. The visitor grants you a bonus. It can be anything from money to bonus cards. Inns: You must stop at the inns and cannot leave until all players have arrived. At this space you may purchase a meal for 6 VP. Farms: You gain 3 coins.
The unique part of this game is that you may move along the road as much as you want. However, The person in last place,by position, moves next. With some careful timing you can end up moving more than once before another player gets a turn.
At the start of teh game everyone blind draws 2 characters and chooses one to play in the game. The character you choose determines your starting money(2-9 coins) and gets a special power that works in relation to one of the game spaces. This is where the other problem in the game appears, because if 2 people pick characters with powers based on the same space it can be a big handicap.
The game is fun and there is enough tension in the decision making process to keep you focused. Money is tight throughout the game..
As I said earlier this game is easy to teach and has good replay value. Check it out.