Tokaido - How To Play

hi welcome to watch it played my name is rodney smith in our series we take a game we show you how it's played and then over the following episodes we play the game and we're possible we put a seat at the table just for you so you can play along with us and help us make some of the gameplay decisions between the episodes by doing this we believe that you'll be able to decide for yourself whether or not a game would be a good fit for you your family or your gaming group now in this series we're going to be playing the game Tokaido which is for 2 to 5 players it's being published in North America by passport game studios but is also available outside of North America it's designed by the gentleman responsible for the very popular of Seven Wonders a game that we covered in one of our older series in this game you're going to be taking on the role of a traveler journeying along the Tokaido the old East Road that connected Tokyo to Kyoto thankfully for all of us that's all the geography I have to teach instead when you come back I'm going to show you how to play the game you as you play to Cairo and your journey along the old East Road there's going to be several different locations that you can stop at and at these locations you can collect points that will help you win the game the challenge is that some locations you'd like to visit may be blocked by other players who got there ahead of you now I understand how this all comes together let's get you to the table I'll show you how to set up a game and then how to play first we spread out the game board which shows the path we'll be travelling along that starts on this end goes along the winding road until we get to the very end of the board here which ends our journey the game also comes with several coins you'll want to place these in a pile somewhere near the board if you have a mild case of OCD like I do you won't be happy with that pile and you'll want to make nice neat little stacks with them but this is probably not the time for me to do that the game also comes with these achievement cards they have a yellow back and a blue back now you can really do with these whatever you like I prefer to put the blue cards face-up and then the yellow cards facedown because these may get used during the game these ones get used at the end of the game these cards with the black backs are souvenir cards you shuffle them up and you place them right here on the board these carries with a light bluish greenish back are the hotsprings currents they get shuffled up as well and are placed in this position these cards with the pinkish backs or the encountered cards they get shuffled up and are placed right here and then in the final position here we place the shuffled up red meal cards now the shuffling is over but we still have a little bit of sorting to do and I've done that here we have these panorama cards and I've sorted them by the different card backs before you put them into position on the board you're also going to pay attention to the numbers in the bottom corner and those here I have some ones and then some twos and some threes and this is the way you'll want to organize them with the highest numbers on the bottom all the way back up to the lowest number on top this stack is the same again except it goes from 1 to 4 the stack is the same as well except it goes from 1 to 5 next each player needs to pick one of the differently colored traveler pieces here since we're going to have three players we can remove these two pieces from the game our travelers will start the game on these red squares here underneath of the starting space but they need to be placed in random order so I like to take them give them a quick shuffle in my hand and then without looking draw them one at a time the first piece going into the first position closest to the road and then the rest of the piece is being drawn one at a time and placed behind that first piece and as you'll soon discover this will dictate the starting order for our players across the top of the board we have the journey point tracker each player has a matching colored marker that they'll place in the zero position here and as they score points over the course of the game they'll move that marker to show what their current score is these are the traveler cards and you don't want to take them give them a quick shuffle and then deal out two to each player but then they get to pick which one of the two they wish to keep all unchosen cards are then returned to the game box this card not only represents your character during the game but also gives you a unique special ability which we'll discuss later the card also indicates how many coins you'll start the game with so you should collect those now and finally the card also has a big hole in it right here which you can fill with one of these tokens that match your color as a reminder to the rest of the players that this is your traveler and there you have it the game board is all set up and we're ready to start playing and as I said before the players are traveling from this side of the board over to the final space here and once everyone is here the game is going to end as you journey there are several different locations you can stop and visit and they will give you either points or coins now to understand how to travel there are four essential rules you have to follow first the player who is farthest behind on the trip is the player whose turn it is so at the start of the game the yellow player is farthest back so they will get to go first second you can only ever go forward so once you travel ahead in the game you can never go back to a space that you already passed third when it is your turn and you're moving your traveler forward you can actually go to any space on the board at all up to and including the next in and the ends are easy to identify because just like the starting space they have several red squares attached to them the other spaces you can visit are indicated by these dots on the line so if I want to travel to this location here I would just pick up my piece and I would place it on that dot the circular graphic attached to that space is a reminder of what kind of location it is and the benefit you receive by visiting there we'll talk about those benefits in more detail later and the last essential rule is that you can never occupy the same location as another player unless it is at an inn and that's why the end has so many spaces to fit all the travelers that will be stopping there now there is one exception to that last rule you'll notice that some of the spaces along the way have a second dot or space attached to them this divided dot here and it's called a double space these are only used in four or five player games in which case more than one person can visit the same location now the first person to arrive at this location would go on the dot directly on the travel line another traveler if they choose to go to the same location goes to the double space now remember we sent the person farthest back is the person whose turn it is so the player on the double space is considered farther behind the player who arrived first the yellow player here so let's pretend we have a game in progress and I'll show you how this all works together we know that the next player who gets to take their turn is the player that's farthest behind in the trip so far and that would be our yellow piece here and the player has to move forward and they can move to any space up to and including the inn you're not allowed to go past the next in we also know you cannot go to a space currently occupied by another player so that means our yellow player could pick up their piece and put it here if they wanted to you would then resolve the abilities of this location and we'll talk about those abilities very soon and you go on to the next player well who's the next player it's the person who's farthest back and that's going to be our green piece here so this player may pick up their piece and decide to go to this position here they'd resolve this location and as you might have realized already this player is still in last place which means they can go again in other words you could have consecutive turns so this player might pick up their piece and decide it's in their best interest to go to this location did we get the benefit of that location and then we would move on to the blue player and so on this will continue until all the players have arrived at the next end and then they will be able to resume their journey but now let's move on to what happens when you travel to the various spaces on the board where you'll be able to collect points and coins in this game when you collect points you'll be able to immediately store them by moving your marker on the score tracker up here so let's start by explaining the village space here you may collect souvenirs to commemorate your time spent at the various villages along the journey you may only choose this space if you have at least one available coin to spend when landing here you then draw three of the souvenir cards and these cards are easy to identify because the symbol on them matches the same symbol that you see on the space you're visiting once John you place the three souvenir cards face-up in front of you and then you may buy as many as you would like if you have the money to pay their costs which are shown here on the bottom of the cards so for example if I have three coins I wanted to spend I could spend them to collect these two cards any cards you don't purchase are then discarded to the bottom of the draw deck for the souvenir pile I'd also like to mention that there are four different types of souvenirs you can collect and this is indicated by the icon located here we have small objects clothing art and food and you will immediately score points when you purchase these cards but you will get more points for having a greater variety of types so for example if we had just purchased this card here which is a small object we would collect one point if we then later on or even in the same turn purchased another small object that would also only give us one point however as soon as we add another souvenir of a different type to our collection we would then score three points a third different kind of souvenir would allow us to score five points and finally if we collect a fourth different type of souvenir we will then collect seven points so you want to think of this as collecting sets of unique cards here we have a completed set we have one of each of the different kinds of souvenirs but we started another set up here so that means if we were to add this art object because it's different than the small object this is the second card in the set so it's worth three points and the game makes it very easy to remember this scoring because it puts it right on the card the first card in the set gives you one Journey point the second card gives you three journey points and so on now remember I said you may only go to a village space if you have at least one coin but you don't actually have to buy anything when you go to a village if you don't want to now you may also be wondering how you're able to afford things at these shop spaces once you run out of money from all if you're buying and that can be fixed by traveling to a firm which is located here so let's say we put this person onto the farm that allows you to very simply collect three coins it's very easy to remember this because above the farm symbol it shows three small coins right there another simple space are the hot springs when you go here you're going to draw a card from the hot springs pile which is very easy to identify because the symbol on the cards that's the symbol of the space you're visiting and these cards will be marked with either two or three points which you'll immediately collect so taking a peacefull stop at the hot springs is a guaranteed way to collect some points or prevent someone else from stopping by and getting them instead now you might think once I've collected the points don't need to hang on to the card at all and the answer is yes you always keep the cards that you've collected because there are some bonus points that are awarded at the end of the game based on the cards that you have another spot that's easy to understand is the temple here you may show signs of your generosity and attempt to achieve some inner peace now in order to stop at this location you must have at least one coin available to donate because when you go there you will be donating either one two or at maximum three coins to the temple and that's located on the board here and the coins that you donate you'll want to place in the matching location of your color so I'm going to place two coins that I've donated in this position here for each coin that you donate you'll be able to collect one point and then you may also get some bonus points at the end of the game for your accumulated donations other players that visit temples will also be able to donate coins and they'll place them in the space that matches their color panorama spaces have three different kinds of location the green ones the light blue and then the grayish white ones here and there are piles of cards that match both these colors and the symbols on the locations if you stop at one of these locations and it is your first time to a panorama space of that type you take the card that matches that space with the value one on it so in this situation I would take this card you then immediately score that number of points you then flip over the card you've collected and place it face up in front of you this represents you're taking the time to admire the amazing scenery around you if you travel to another space of this same panorama type you may then collect the next highest numbered card in that set so here I've collected the card with a value of 2 I'll then score 2 points and add that to my panorama as you can see the picture is growing larger this particular panorama has three different parts to it so once I travel to a third green panorama location I would score 3 points and then I would add and complete this panorama the other panoramas are larger and you can look on the board and you see these little dashes here and they indicate how many parts there are to each panorama this one has three this one has four and this one has five this means of course that you will score more overall points by collecting this panorama but it will take more stops to complete it now remember these achievement cards that we placed beside the board at the beginning of the game when you're the first player to complete a panorama you are then able to find the matching achievement card of that panorama take it and then score the bonus points indicated here now other players can still continue to collect these panorama cards and score the points on them but they will not have access to the bonus points these only one player can collect them they instead will have to work towards these other bonus points unless I get them first next we have these encounter spaces these are the interesting people that you'll meet along the way when you stop at one of these locations you then collect the top card from the encounter deck again the symbol on the space matches the card so it's very easy to find you then will resolve the special ability on the card and there are five different kinds of effects that can happen here the first we have here is the traveling merchant and this allows you to draw a souvenir card for free add it to your collection and score the appropriate points here we have the guide these are all the same except they show one of the different kinds of panorama cards this means you get to collect the next highest value of that panorama type which could be the very first one if you haven't started that one yet if he is showing a color of panorama you've already completed then you may add to another panorama of your choice the Shinto priests here allows you to take one coin from the bank and then immediately place it into the temple scoring you one point the samurai encounter is very straightforward simply give yourself three points and finally we have the noble who generously gives you three coins so those are all the spaces that you might encounter leading up to the end now I know I've already said this but all players must stop at the end and then wait for all the other players to arrive before moving on here you will enjoy a rest and a well-earned meal the inn however will only provide a set number of dishes so the player who arrives to the inn first will have first pick of a meals because of this the arrival times of the travelers is important so to indicate who arrived first you place your figure on the space closest to the road and then future travelers who arrive in the end will place their figures incrementally farther away from the road the first player to arrive at an inn will then draw as many meal cards from this deck as there are players plus one so this 3 player game we would draw for meal cards and these are the only cards that you draw that are then kept a secret from the other players at least for now of course it will be a lot easier for me to explain this step if I actually show you the cards face-up and here's the four different meal cards that I drew the player may then choose one and only one of the meals and purchase it for its cost which will be either 1 2 or 3 coins you then add that meal face-up in front of you the rest you then collect and place facedown in this space here beside the meal cards the next player to arrive at the end will then take these cards and be able to purchase if they choose one of these remaining meals once they've done so they'll again place these cards facedown and the last player to arrive at the end will then be able to pick from the remaining cards keep in mind you do not have to purchase a meal card if you don't want to or can't afford to however you do score six points when you buy a meal all the meals score you six points there are also some duplicates of the meal cards and single player can only have one copy of any kind of meal in their collection now you might be thinking if all the meals are going to award six points then wouldn't you always want to buy the cheapest one well you might but as you'll find out later at the end of the game the player who ate the most expensive meals will earn some bonus points once everyone has arrived at the end and had a chance to purchase a meal it's time to continue the journey by returning any unpurchased meals to the bottom of the meal pile and then having the player furthest behind pick the next face they would like to travel to again ensuring that the players do not go past the next in until everyone has once again arrived there and resolved purchasing meals once all of the travelers have arrived and resolved the last in the game is over and here we'll have some extra scoring to do first we look at the temple area and whoever has donated the most money over the course of the game will collect ten points so in this case Green has the most coins donated so they'll collect ten points the second most donations will give that player 7 points and the third most donations will score that player four points any other donators with at least one point will score two points if you donated no coins you get no points and this is very easy to remember because you don't have to remember it's written right here beside the temple space on the board if you tie with someone else you both get the full points for that rank so if two people tied for second they both get 7 points the next highest player would then collect the points for the third rank and finally we'll hand out these yellow-backed achievement cards which are only awarded at the end of the game this is the go may achievement the player who had the most expensive total meals in their collection will gain 3 bonus points this is the bather achievement which gives 3 points to the player who has the most hotsprings cards the Chatterbox achievement goes to the player with the most encounter cards and scores them 3 points and finally the collector gives 3 points to the player with the most souvenir cards for all of these achievements any ties for first place means that all tied players receive the bonus points once all the points are scored the player with the most has managed to have the most fulfilling and rewarding journey and they win the game in the event of a tie the player with the most achievement cards is considered the winner now you'll remember I said anytime you collect points in the game you need to indicate it right away by moving your marker on the journey point tracker this is important because that way you know who's in the lead and also lets you know where you are relative to the other players if you're anything like me occasionally occasionally you collect points in the game and you forget to move your marker that's no problem if you think you've done that just go over the cards you've collected so far add the journey points listed there then you'll have your correct total and you can adjust your marker accordingly and that's all the rules to the game now there are a couple of extra rules for a two-player game I'm not going to go over those in any detail but basically you have a third dummy player that is controlled by whoever is farthest along the track at that particular point in time there's a couple of other rules as well but again they're they're very simple and very basic needs to follow there are some variants that come with the game as well one of the variants is it's for learning games you want to make things a little bit simpler you can just remove these character cards and their special abilities it's one less thing for players to have to think about when they're learning how to play the game the other option you have is instead of traveling from this side of the board to this side you can go in the opposite direction so you could head back to Tokyo if you want now there's no variant called the gastronomie variant and this one involves when you go to the end instead of drawing a number of meal cards equal to the players plus one just draw a number of meal cards equal to the number of players so there's a little less to choose from which gives a little greater advantage to getting to that in a bit quicker than the rest of the other players and then the final variant is the preparation in variant this just gives a bit of a benefit to the player who's leaving the first in last because that person will have less choices to choose from them the player who left first this is a variant that only affects that very first starting in basically gives a few more points the person is going to be leaving last and a few less coins to the player is going to be leaving first so that's that's really all the rules to the game I hope that this was very easy for you to follow thank you for sticking through the whole thing if you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to ask them in the YouTube comments below I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can in the very next episode the kids are going to join me we're going to randomly deal out two of these character cards to each of us we're going to pick them but I explained to you what the abilities are that are on them and then we'll be ready to start playing the game until then thanks for watching you Oh

Channel: Watch It Played

Views: 261,041

Keywords: Passport Game Studios, Learn, Learn How To Play, instructions, Learn To Play, Rules, tabletop, Watch It Played, Board Games, Game Rules, Japan, Tokaido, Rodney Smith

Id: uoTRz1PC_MM

Length: 22min 18sec (1338 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 31 2013