Take a little break

こんにちは！


While I am working on a lot of little things in preparation for midterms, Spring Break, and a slew of other things, I decided to share a little of my second love (gaming) with my first love (languages). Japanese culture--particularly the older times long, long ago--have been the focal point for a number of games. So, I'd like to share it with you.

1) Tsuro （つろ）通路
Tsuro, "the way of the path", is a fun abstract strategy game that I personally own. Many people enjoy it due to the simple rules, quick gameplay, and unintended endings.

Image thanks to this webpage!

In the game, you lay tiles down and move you piece along the path that you create. As time goes by, the different paths connect and overlap and loop back around in all directions. The last one that has not crashed into another player or off the board is the winner. 

2) Samurai Sword
This game is developed under the "BANG" system, but instead of wild west characters, we are treated to a theme of honorable samurai protecting the shogun from sneaky ninjas and a backstabbing ronin. My gaming group loves this games because it accomodates our usual seven-player size. Humourously, the cards, are not in English and Japanese, but English and Italian instead!

Thanks to The Dice Tower/Miami Dice for this image

3) Tokaido 東海道
This is a beautiful and fun-looking game that I am personally hoping to get one day. It is a game of catching-up and experiencing the journey. You can find reviews and play-throughs online. What I like most is that the words are using the japanese pronunciation on the cards.

Image originally found here.

There are other fun games that have Japanese themes, like Yedo, Shogun, many others. I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Japan-inspired games.

よくガームをします！         (yoku geemu-o shimasu)         I always play games!

And, according to Google Translate, Will Wheaton would say:

より多くのゲームをプレイ！ (Yori ōku no gēmu o purei!)   Play more games!

Until next time...

さよなら！