Iki is a 2 – 4 player card drafting, set collection rondel game from designer Koota Yamada and publisher Sorry We Are French. In Iki players are trying to become the best Edokko by helping the city and ensuring the well being and prosperity of its people. Recruit characters from various trades, send them to work on the streets of Nihonbashi and let them gain experience and eventually retire. You’re trying to obtain the most iki, which are basically victory points. The pink flower symbols are Iki you obtain during the game while the red flower symbols are points you score during the end game. You get more iki by completing certain sets and actions: The board is double-sided, to pare the game down for two players. While two player is good, it’s at its best with three or four players. The extra competition for the shop spaces, and the extra choices with each turn, really bring the game to the boil. It’s so nice to see so many different, lost skills and jobs represented too. Hiring a puppeteer, Buddhist sculptor – or my favourite – the trumpet candy peddler, isn’t something you get to do in many games. Sadly there’ll be people who’ll find Iki on BGG and think “A 2015 game? Why would I buy that now?”, and those people will miss out. The original looks very dated now, but the artwork on this new edition eclipses the first one. This is the game Iki always could, and should have been. It’s not complicated to learn, but there’s a ton of depth and replayability. This is one of those games which I was given for review, but there’s no way I’m letting it leave my collection. Fantastic stuff. There are other ways to get iki, for example through certain workers gaining experience in their stalls. There’s also the Nagaya (a set of stalls) harmony bonus at each payday but I’ll go into that later. Set Up

There are a few resources that will score you points if you have any left at the game’s end: koban (the big coin) will get you three iki, wood will give you one iki and every four mons will give you an iki. Twenty-one long years ago, I sat down in an otherwise empty movie theater to watch a movie that I knew virtually nothing about. Aside from workers, buildings can also be put in the stalls. Once a small boi is placed there they can’t be removed, so it’s a long term investment. Some of the buildings have ongoing effects so sometimes it’s worth it to get one early. Others will only score you points at the end. Payday is indicated by a little money bag and occurs after the 3rd, 6th and 9th month. On payday you get the bonus stated above each of your little bois on the main board and the circle in the top right corner of any retired workers you have. You also calculate the Nagaya harmony bonus (which I’ll go into later) and then you have to feed all your workers on the main board (not the retired workers but we don’t think about that). If you don’t have enough rice to feed the workers in the stalls, they die, which isn’t great so it’s good to think about rice.When you build a shop, you add one of your little Kobun meeples to the card. If you use your own shop, not too much happens, other than getting the action on the card. If someone else uses your card, however, then your artisan – for some reason – moves up a space on the card, and a space closer to retirement. Retired cards get added to your player board, and there are bonuses on offer if you manage to collect retired folks of different card colours. I’m the firestarter! You can go your entire life and never experience such a moment. When you finally do, rarely do you ever get a second opportunity. Perfection is an elusive thing. It’s the center of the Venn diagram where opportunity meets talent meets skill. The Royal Tenenbaums, for me, was perfection. It showed that Wes Anderson was more than just a talented director. He was a visionary with a gift for imparting that vision to other people and utilizing their skill sets to produce the best product possible. The goal of this game is to become the annual Edoite, best personifying what is known as "IKI", an ancient philosophy believed to be the ideal way of living among people in Edo. Knowing the subtleties of human nature, being refined and attractive — these are all elements of a true IKI master.

Like many games of its type, Iki is a game of victory points. Victory points can be accrued in many ways: the product of certain merchants, retiring merchants for set collection bonuses at the end of the game, having matching merchants of certain types occupying the same nagaya during end-of-season scoring, and collecting fish, tobacco pouches, and pipes (just to name a few). I really liked the artwork of the original board game, imitating the Ukiyo-e prints of the period. Equally though, I understand the necessity for updating it. I think David Sitbon has done an extraordinary job illustrating all the cards and with the designer, create clear and concise iconography that works. Let me start by saying there is nothing new within the box of Iki: A Game of Edo Artisans. No amazing mechanic that you won’t have seen before. However, what it does do is mesh and meld a host of really fun mechanics and decisions into a board game in a smooth and seamless way. Offering a point salad of scoring opportunities. If you couldn’t tell, I think Iki is an excellent game. It definitely takes a while to get your head around it cause there are so many meeples and they all do different things. There are so many different ways to earn points and it has the potential to overwhelm people so it isn’t a game I’d put in front of a beginner. But on the other hand, it means the game has depth and allows players to develop better strategies as they play more, so it gets better with time. There’s one fewer Nagaya in the 2 player game. And the worker in the middle stall of each Nagaya can be interacted with from both spaces adjacent to it. End Game ScoringYou have to move the exact number of spaces that was determined, however if you have any sandal tokens you can use them to move forward as many extra steps you decide to use. The Nagayas get you thinking about how to utilise the placement of certain colours of workers to your benefit as the ongoing iki bonuses can make all the difference. Variations For Two Players

I don’t know about you, but for me researching the next game to buy is a side hobby of equally enjoyable magnitude. I delved slightly deeper into the game and found myself being immersed into the world of hype usually reserved for the bigger names of the industry. Next thing I know it has been delivered by Out of Town Games and is on my shelf of shrink without actually knowing as much about it as I would normally! It’s a stellar game: gorgeous visual appeal with intense gameplay in all the right ways. There are a lot of opportunities for player interaction…or not. And that’s part of the beauty of it. Utilizing other people’s merchants helps those players even as their actions help you. Knowing this largely affects where you place your own merchants and it also forces you to choose between whether or not it’s worth it to interact with someone else’s. It’s these kinds of decision making moments that aren’t obvious right away. Playing Iki is more than just an enjoyable way to pass some time. It’s a journey of discovery as you peel away the game’s layers one by one and discover the unseen pleasures that hide beneath. There is a lot to think about when playing Iki, it is this streamlining of options that makes the game so interesting, and so, so good. The point salad approach to end game scoring with various set collection and bonuses to consider, provides the strategy to make Iki a board game worth returning to, time and time again. It features on my 2022 10 x 10 challenge for exactly that reason.

Once you get your head around Iki it makes sense but there are a few unconventional mechanics and ideas in the game that might be confusing. I’ll be doing my best to clear the fog and teach you how to play Iki. Aim With the exception of the fear and risk of near-uncontrollable fires sweeping through your shops and leaving you in utter carnage, playing Iki is a relatively calm stroll around the streets of ancient Tokyo. However, during that calm stroll you will watch the cogs whir in other player’s as they try to maximise every move, it’s how you will look on your turn too! Iki is a wonderful game. The artwork and presentation throughout is beautiful, and the graphic design is clear and understandable. For each season, when the cards and collectables refresh, there are more cards than you need, so you’ll always get a fresh combination of artisans to hire. There are so many neat little touches which add to the experience. Take, for example, the Harmony bonuses at the end of each season. Players who group like-coloured buildings together in a quadrant all benefit, so there’s this really juicy communal co-operation to exploit.