IKI Game Rules

Welcome! I’m here to guide you through the rules of the amazing IKI game. Get ready for an adventure filled with excitement and fun.

Let’s jump right into it.

First, I want to introduce you to the concept of the game. It’s all about collecting points by answering questions correctly. Sounds simple, right? Well, there’s a twist! You’ll be competing against other players from all around the world. So, prepare for a challenge!

To get started, you need to create an account. Just click on the “Sign Up” button and follow the instructions. Once you’re in, you can start exploring the various categories and topics available. From history to science, there’s something for everyone.

Each question will have four possible answers. Your task is to select the correct one. But don’t rush! Take your time, read the questions carefully, and think it through. Remember, every correct answer will earn you points and bring you closer to the top of the leaderboard.

Now, here are a few tips to help you improve your game:

1. Study and research: The more you know, the better prepared you’ll be. Take the time to learn about different subjects and expand your knowledge.

2. Practice makes perfect: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get all the answers right at first. Keep playing, and with each round, you’ll get better and better.

3. Challenge yourself: Don’t stick to the same category every time. Explore different areas and test your knowledge in various subjects. You’ll become a more well-rounded player.

4. Be strategic: Use your lifelines wisely. You have three lifelines that can help you when you’re unsure of an answer. Don’t waste them too early; save them for the difficult questions.

5. Have fun: Remember, the most important thing is to enjoy the game. Play with friends, compete against them, and have a blast while expanding your knowledge.

So, are you ready to embark on this thrilling journey? Sign up now and let the IKI game challenge your wits. Get ready to discover new worlds, test your knowledge, and become a master of trivia. The leaderboard is waiting for you! Good luck and have a great time playing IKI!

Iki: A Game of EDO Artisans is a one-of-a-kind strategy board game inspired by the vibrant trade culture of Edo Period Japan. Back then, Nihonbashi was the bustling epicenter of commerce, brimming with an array of shops that catered to the needs and desires of a bustling city.

The main street was a hive of activity, teeming with rice dealers, tobacco shops, and eager customers. The air was filled with the lively voices of vendors passionately calling out to sell their freshly caught fish. Away from the main street, in the Nagaya houses, skilled craftsmen and peddlers quietly worked, ensuring the smooth functioning of the city and its commerce.

It is fascinating to learn that Edo was home to an astonishing 700-800 different professions. This game captures the spirit of this time by featuring cards that showcase various artisans and their unique trades, such as carpenters and tatami makers, food peddlers, geishas, kabuki actors, and even some more peculiar occupations.

The game board is inspired by a remarkable historical artwork called the Kidai Shoran. When I look at it, I see a remarkable bird’s-eye view of the stunning city of Edo, spanning a whopping 12 meters in width.

This board is adorned with exquisitely crafted illustrations that bring the bustling streets of the 1600s to life. As I gaze upon the detailed depictions of the 1600 townspeople shopping in the 90 shops, I am enthralled by the vibrant atmosphere of that era.

Now let’s talk about the different elements that make up this game board.

The Pieces

• I’m thrilled to share with you everything that comes in the box of this exciting game:

• A game board that sets the stage for your thrilling adventure.

• 56 occupation cards that will determine your destiny in the game.

• 6 construction cards that allow you to build your empire.

• 4 Oyakata (Boss) meeples to represent your leadership in the game.

• 16 Kobun (Townspeople) meeples to help you in your endeavors.

• 4 cylinders that bring height to your creations.

• 13 marker discs to keep track of your progress.

• 15 octagons of lumber to fuel your expansion.

• 24 hexagons of rice bales to feed your growing population.

• 50 money tokens, including 32 One-Mon coins and 18 Four-Mon coins, to manage your finances.

• 8 oval gold coin (Koban) tokens for those special moments of prosperity.

• 20 sandal tokens to traverse the land.

• 8 fish tokens (2 Spring, 2 Summer, 2 Autumn, 2 Winter) to add flavor to your culinary pleasures.

• 4 pipe tokens to indulge in occasional relaxation.

• 4 tobacco pouch tokens for a reminder of the simpler times.

• 4 fire tiles to bring warmth and light to your surroundings.

• And of course, a Rule Book to guide you through the exciting journey.

Now that you know what’s in store for you, I can’t wait to see where your imagination and strategy take you on this marvelous adventure!

So, What’s the Game About?

So here’s the deal: the goal of this game is pretty straightforward. You gotta survive a whole year and show off your mad skills at capturing the Edo spirit. And how do you do that? Well, by becoming the top dog in the game, of course!

To do that, you’re gonna need to hire a bunch of different shops and craftsmen. They’ll help you make some serious cash and keep your belly full. After all, a hungry samurai is not a happy samurai!

But here’s the kicker – the real winner of this game is the one with the most IKI. IKI is an ancient philosophy that people in Edo believed was the ultimate way to live. It’s all about understanding people, being classy, and oozing charm. You know, all the stuff that makes you a true IKI master!

Now, if there’s a tie (which sometimes happens), things get a little more intense. Then, the winner is the one with the most firefighter power. And if it’s STILL a tie, well, the winner is the one whose firefighter marker is higher. It’s all about being resourceful and coming out on top!

Before we dive into the game, I just gotta give a shout-out to Mr. Mitani Kazuma. This guy is a total legend when it comes to Edo culture and Japanese painting. He’s the brain behind this whole IKI concept, and we owe him for making this game awesome!

Let’s Get Set Up!

In this game, the player with the best craftsmanship gets to go first. After that, we’ll take turns clockwise. Starting in February, though, the player with the most firefighter power will go first. You get to choose your own color, by the way.

Now, let’s set up the game. Put each player’s disc marker at 0. Next, put the black disc marker on January of the calendar. Each round represents a month, so there will be 13 rounds in total: 12 months plus the New Year.

Now, pay attention to the seasons. According to the lunar calendar, Spring is from January to March, Summer is from April to June, Autumn is from July to September, and Winter is from October to December. At the end of May, August, and November, there will be a fire. And at the end of each season (March, June, September, and December), there will be a closing.

Let’s talk about the cards now. They are divided into different types based on the label on the back. There are Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter cards, as well as the 4 starting cards. In total, there are 6 construction cards.

Let’s begin by talking about the 4 starting cards. I’ll explain them later. What you need to do is shuffle the 4 season cards and create stacks with them. Make sure the cards are facing down and arrange them in the order of the seasons. Then, take the 6 construction cards and place them face up on the side of the board. Don’t forget to shuffle the fire tiles and create a stack with them as well. Place the stack of fire tiles facing down on the side of the board.

Now, let’s move on to the next step. Take four cards from the spring stack and place them face up on the side of the board.

Now, I’ll explain the starting occupations. The salt peddler, boiled egg peddler, cotton peddler, and eyeglass peddler are the available options. The player who has the last order gets to choose one of these four cards first.

Once you’ve chosen a card, it’s time to select one of the outer houses in any nagaya, as shown on the board. Place your chosen card in the house you’ve selected. Make sure to put your townspeople meeple under the lower left corner of the card on the board.

So, here’s what we need to do. First, the person who is second to last in the order gets their turn, followed by the person who is third to last. We keep going like this until we reach the last player, who will go first. If there are less than four players, we don’t need to worry about the remaining cards, we can just leave them out of the game.

Now, let’s set up each player’s marker at 0. Remember, the order of the markers is important. The starting player’s marker goes on top, and then we pile the rest of the markers clockwise from above. In the Firefighter Track, you can see the player’s order and their firefighter power in Phase 1.

During the game, whenever you earn a firefighter power, move your marker one space to the right immediately. If two or more players earn the same amount of points, the player who earned them later gets to place their marker on top. And if a player already has 10 points and they earn a firefighter power, just place their marker on top.

As I begin my journey in this captivating game, I must place my cylinder marker on the designated spot. The Way of Life Track is where I’ll decide how many movements I can make in Phase 2. But I must remember, if it’s a two or three player game, I should only use squares 1-4 on the Way of Life Track.

Now, let’s talk about what I start with. I’ll have 4 Kobun meeples of my color, 1 sandal token, 1 rice bale, 1 four mon coin, and 4 one mon coins. It’s the perfect setup to get things going.

Moving along the main street, I see that there are 8 squares waiting to be explored. The Oyakata meeple starts from the starting point and goes counterclockwise, making deals at the shops in the front and doing business with the townspeople living in the nagaya in the back. It’s a bustling journey ahead!

I can’t wait to see what awaits me at the different shops. At the tobacco shop, I’ll pile the pipes and tobacco pouches in the order of their colors: grey, light yellow, orange, and purple, starting from the top. And at the fish market, I’ll place two spring fish tokens, ready for me to collect.

Hey there! Did you know that in this town, there’s one shop for every square? That’s right, eight shops in total, and each one offers something different.

Now, let me break it down for you. There are four nagayas here, and each one is bounded by the main street. Inside each nagaya, you’ll find four houses, and each house is home to a townsperson. So, four houses make up one group, and this is important because it affects when the nagaya closes for the day. Oh, and here’s something interesting – two houses that are right next to each other actually correspond to one shop. And if you look at the four houses on each corner of the nagaya, you’ll notice they have different colors. Guess what? They form a brand new group! By the way, if you want to move into one of those corner houses, you’ll need two mon coins.

Now, let’s talk about the game setup. Place all the other coins, sandals, rice bales, koban, and lumber next to the board – that’s the magistrate’s office, or the bank if you will. Then, each player puts their Oyakata-meeple on the starting point right at the center of the board.

Ready to Play

Hey there! Let me break it down for you in a simple and easy way. The whole game is made up of two parts called phases. First, we have the Way of Life phase, and then we move on to the action phase. You can move to the action phase only after everyone finishes the first phase.

Phase 1: The Way of Life Phase

During the Way of Life phase, you get to decide two important things: the order in which players take their turns in the action phase, and how far each player can move.

When it’s January, we start the game with the player who goes first. The order then goes clockwise. But once February rolls around, we switch it up. We start with the player who has the highest firefighter power and continue in chronological order.

Now, if there’s more than one player with the same firefighter power, the player who has the higher disc will take the lead.

Starting with the first player, we each take turns placing our colored cylinders on one of the five options on the Way of Life track. However, if there are less than four players, we don’t use the leftmost square. The number on the square shows the order and how far we’ll move in the second phase. Keep in mind that only one player can place their cylinder on each square. The next player will then choose one of the remaining options on the left.

When you’re playing the game, and it’s your turn to choose the leftmost square, you have to skip the action A. That means you won’t get any income or hiring. But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to move up on the board, anywhere from 1 to 4 squares. You can even add some sandal tokens to help you out. Just remember, you’ll be the first player in Phase 2.

Phase 2: Action Phase (A->B)

In Phase 2, the order of play goes from left to right on the Way of Life track. The player who has their cylinder marker on the leftmost spot of the track goes first.

Now you have to choose between two actions: Hiring or Income. Whatever you choose, you’ll get to move your Oyakata meeple along the track. Keep in mind, the player who has their cylinder marker on the second leftmost spot will go next.

A. Hiring or Income

Here’s your choice: Hiring or Income. You can pick one of these actions:

Hiring: If you want to hire a job from the available face-up cards, you can do so by paying the cost to the bank. And the good news is, you get to keep the coins that are on the card you hired. Just remember, you can’t take the coins and then get rid of the card. So make sure you choose wisely and take into account the cost and the coins you’ll get. The option to hire is a valuable opportunity, but it comes with its own set of considerations.

For example: In March, Hiroshige decides to hire a book lender. There are already two mon coins on the card. Hiroshige doesn’t have any mon at that point, but he gets two mon and uses one to hire the book lender.

B. Moving the Oyakata Meeple and Making a Deal

Moving: Make a business deal after moving your Oyakata-meeple. There are 8 squares in the main street, and the Oyakata meeple should move counterclockwise. The starting point is located in the outer square.

Move your Oyakata meeple by the number of squares you picked in Phase 1. At this point, if you use your sandal tokens, you can add the number of squares to move your meeple.

When you’re playing the game, there are no restrictions on how many sandal tokens you can use at once. In each round, you are allowed to activate the ox-cart ability once. And guess what? You can even combine the ox-cart ability with a sandal token. Isn’t that awesome?

Here’s something interesting – multiple Oyakata meeples can occupy the same square on the main street. So don’t worry if you see more than one Oyakata meeple in a single square.

Oh, and here’s a tip for you – all of your hiring occupation cards will level up by one when your Oyakata meeple goes back to the starting point. Pretty cool, right?

Now, let’s talk about the deal. After you move your Oyakata meeple, you have the option to make a deal with the shop in the square and one of the occupation cards in the nagaya. The best part is, the order in which you make the deal doesn’t matter. You can choose to make a deal with the shop first or the occupation card first, or you can even decide to pass altogether. It’s all up to you!

Did you know that each shop in the game has two occupation cards hidden behind it? And here’s the twist – you can only strike a deal with one of them. But guess what? You can also negotiate with another player’s occupation card!

Here’s how it works: when you make a deal, the occupation card you choose gains experience and levels up. Pretty cool, right? But there’s a catch. If you decide to make a deal with your own occupation card, it won’t grow.

So, choose wisely and strategize your moves. Will you seek out new opportunities or rely on your existing occupation card? The choice is yours! Remember, every decision counts in this game.

I’m going to mix things up a bit! Let’s say I start by choosing Square 3 in the first phase, and bam! I end up with four mon in action A. But hold on, that’s not all! I already had three mon, so now I’m sitting pretty with a grand total of seven mon. Cool, right? And to make things even more exciting, I decide to use one of my sandal tokens and move my meeple by four squares. Talk about a power move!

Now, here’s where the fun really begins. I strike a deal with the Ukiyoe artist living behind the exchange shop. I give up 1 IKI point, and in return, I get five mons. It’s like trading swords for gold! But that’s not all. I head over to the exchange shop and make another sweet deal. I hand over my twelve mon, and in exchange, I get two kobans. Score!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Now, here’s the deal. In order to show that I’ve completed my action, I pop my cylinder marker to the first place once I’m done with action B. But remember, I’m not the only one playing this game. Once all players finish their moves with their Oyakata meeples, that’s when the round comes to an end. It’s game on!

So, here’s the deal – fires happen in May, August, and November, and we close up shop at the end of March, June, September, and December. When the seasons change, you can trade fish tokens for two tokens of the next season. Cool, right? Now, let me explain what happens to the occupation cards that don’t get hired.

After a round ends, the occupation cards that don’t get hired stick around. We put a mon on each of those cards. And if there’s already one mon on a card, we add another (but two is the maximum, got it?).

Next, we flip over four new cards for the next round. Unless, of course, the next round is in a different season. In that case, we kick out all the cards (even the coins!) to reset the hiring pool. Then we turn over four cards from the new season.

And that’s pretty much it. Oh, one last thing – we move the calendar maker to the next month. Easy peasy, right?

Let’s Talk About Closing Time

When March, June, September, and December come to an end, it’s time to close up shop. Here’s what you need to do:

Payday: Your payday depends on how much your occupation card has grown. You can receive IKI points, money, or resources as part of your salary. The retired artisans can help you maximize your earning potential.

Humanity Nagaya Bonus: The Nagaya neighborhood consists of five groups: four groups along the main street and a group of four corner houses.

So, here’s the deal. To figure out your total IKI points in a group of nagaya, you gotta do a little math. First, count how many meeple you got in that group. Then, count up all the occupations in the group that are the same color. Multiply those two numbers together, and boom! That’s the IKI points for that group. But hold up, there’s a catch – if you only got one occupation card, you don’t get any bonus points. Gotta have more than that to score big. So, add up all the IKI points from each group, and that’s your total score. Easy, right?

Example: In this group, there are three peddlers (with cream border), one owned by purple and two owned by red. The red player scores 6 points (3 x 2) while the purple player scores 3 points (3 x 1). However, since there is only one master craftsman (with a red border) in this group, it is not counted.

Paying for Food: Now, let’s talk about paying for the rice bale based on the number of occupation cards you have on the board. Don’t worry about paying for retired occupation cards.

If you don’t have enough rice to pay for the cards, the artisans will run away. In that case, you need to remove occupation cards equal to the number of rice you are short. You can decide which card to remove.

Fire Phase

As they say, “Fights and fires are Edo’s flowers.” Fires happen frequently in Edo, and the town’s firefighters are organized among construction workers.

Once the months of May, August, and November come to an end, it’s time for the fire phase. The power of the fire is indicated on the board – 5 for May, 8 for August, and 10 for November. The player with the highest firefighter power at this point becomes the leading firefighter.

The leading firefighter gets to choose a fire tile from the pile placed face down. The tile will have a number written on it, indicating the magnitude of the fire. The chosen tile is then returned to the face-down pile and the pile is shuffled again.

If one of the player’s townspeople is living in a house, the fire can be extinguished if the player’s firefighter power is equal to or greater than the power of the fire (End of Fire Phase). However, if the player’s firefighter power is lower, the occupation and building card are removed from the game, and the townspeople meeple returns to the player’s hand.

If we don’t put out the fire, it’s going to spread to the next house in the same nagaya, right towards the center of the board. And as the fire spreads, we lose a little bit of power. It’s like a game of dominoes, but with fire. Once the whole nagaya is up in flames, that’s when the Fire Phase is done. So, it’s pretty important to stop that fire from spreading. We don’t want the whole neighborhood going down in flames, right?

Example: In August, I witness a blazing fire erupting in the leftmost nagaya, its flames fierce and untamed. But amidst the chaos, there stands two valiant figures, a yellow player and a purple player, both with the power of five.

Alas, the fire proves to be a formidable adversary, overpowering the strength of these brave souls. It obliterates their occupation cards, casting aside the old clothes seller and the cold water seller, stripping them of their abilities.

However, hope flickers faintly as the fire engulfs the area where an engraver resides. Miraculously, its power diminishes, weakened to a mere five. And there, the yellow player seizes the chance to extinguish the flames and save the engraver from certain doom.

The Final Round (new Years)

A grand finale unfolds, distinct and unlike anything witnessed before. The final round holds a unique order of actions, dictated by the supremacy of firefighter power. It is a hierarchy, where the highest-ranking firefighter takes precedence over the rest.

As the final round commences, I find myself liberated from the mundane tasks of phase 1 and action A of Phase 2. They no longer burden my existence, allowing me to dive straight into the heart of the action.

Hey there! Let me break it down for you. You can move your Oyakata meeple anywhere on the board and strike a deal with the shop and one townspeople in the nagaya behind the shop. No matter how far your Oyakata meeple goes, your townspeople won’t grow during this last round.

\

Once all players finish their turns, the game comes to an end. It’s time to calculate the final IKI points.

\

End of the Game

\

When the New Years round is over, the game is done. We’ll calculate the final IKI points. Just add up all the IKI points below.