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Samurai (board game)
Encyclopedia
Samurai is a German-style board game
invented by Reiner Knizia
, distributed by Hans im Glück
in Germany and Rio Grande Games
in the United States. It won the Deutscher Spiele Preis
4th place award in 1999. A shareware
computer version was published by Klear Games in 2003, and an iOS version was published by Conlan Rios Games in 2010.
, Honshū
, Shikoku
, and Kyūshū
, and on every island are a number of cities and villages. Each player has 20 tokens that represent various levels of influence against a certain force--rice fields, Buddhas, and high helmets. Each of the forces are represented on the board with an acrylic glass
figurine.
At the beginning of the game, players place the figurines one-by-one onto a city or village, with the capital city of Edo
containing one of each figurine. Cities may contain two figures, but only if they are different. Villages may contain only one figurine. After all of the figurines are placed each player takes five tokens from their supply.
Players then take turns in placing their force tokens on the spaces surrounding a city or village. A player must play at least one token on their turn. These tokens may be played only once per turn:
Any number of the following tokens may be played on each turn. These tokens also have a small character printed on the bottom of the token.
At the end of a turn the player takes random tokens from their supply to replenish their hand back to five.
Once a figurine is completely surrounded by tokens the player with the highest total of surrounding influence immediately takes the figurine. The figure is placed to the side in the event of a tie.
The game is over when all figurines of one type have been claimed by players or any four figurines have been set aside due to a tie. The winner is determined as follows:
(E.g. p1 has 5 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 1 rice field. P2 has 2 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 2 rice fields. p1 has the majority in helmets (his 5 vs p2's 2). Both players are tied in buddhas (3 vs 3) while p2 has the majority in rice (his 2 vs p1's 1). P1's other figures would be 4 (3 buddhas + 1 rice field) while p2's other figures would be 5 (2 helmets + 3 buddhas). P2 wins even though p1 has more total figures.
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
invented by Reiner Knizia
Reiner Knizia
Reiner Knizia is a prolific German-style board game designer. Born in Germany, he developed his first game at the age of eight. He has a PhD in mathematics, and has been a full-time game designer since 1997, when he quit his job from the board of a large international bank...
, distributed by Hans im Glück
Hans im Glück
Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH is a German board and card game publisher. Though many of their own games are language-independent they themselves publish only printings for the domestic market which include only German-language rules; English-language printings of their games have been published...
in Germany and Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games.-History:...
in the United States. It won the Deutscher Spiele Preis
Deutscher Spiele Preis
The Deutscher Spiele Preis is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue", which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs. The results are announced every October at the Spiel game fair in Essen,...
4th place award in 1999. A shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
computer version was published by Klear Games in 2003, and an iOS version was published by Conlan Rios Games in 2010.
Game play
The game board is split into the four major Japanese islands of HokkaidōHokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
, and Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, and on every island are a number of cities and villages. Each player has 20 tokens that represent various levels of influence against a certain force--rice fields, Buddhas, and high helmets. Each of the forces are represented on the board with an acrylic glass
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
figurine.
At the beginning of the game, players place the figurines one-by-one onto a city or village, with the capital city of Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
containing one of each figurine. Cities may contain two figures, but only if they are different. Villages may contain only one figurine. After all of the figurines are placed each player takes five tokens from their supply.
Players then take turns in placing their force tokens on the spaces surrounding a city or village. A player must play at least one token on their turn. These tokens may be played only once per turn:
- Figure-specific tokens - Printed with a specific force figurine and a number and only influence that particular force.
- Samurai tokens - A samurai can influence any of the three forces.
- Swap tokens - Swap this token with an existing token on the board, then move the old token to a new location.
Any number of the following tokens may be played on each turn. These tokens also have a small character printed on the bottom of the token.
- Ship tokens - Printed with an influence number and a ship icon, but may only be used in water.
- Exchange tokens - Discard this token and swap the position any two different figurines.
- Ronin token - A ronin can influence any of the three forces.
At the end of a turn the player takes random tokens from their supply to replenish their hand back to five.
Once a figurine is completely surrounded by tokens the player with the highest total of surrounding influence immediately takes the figurine. The figure is placed to the side in the event of a tie.
The game is over when all figurines of one type have been claimed by players or any four figurines have been set aside due to a tie. The winner is determined as follows:
- The player with the most of at least any two particular figurines is considered the winner. Note that if 2 or more players were to tie with the most of a particular figurine, none of those players would receive the majority for that figurine.
- If no player has a majority in at least two figurine types, any player that has the most of one figurine is still eligible to win, while those that do not have a majority of any type are eliminated. Of the remaining players, the winner is the player with the highest number of figurines excluding the type in which the player has a majority, or their 'other' figurines. If there is a tie between the other figurines, then the winner is the player with the most total figurines. If there is still a tie after that, then those players who are tied with the highest total figurines share the victory.
(E.g. p1 has 5 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 1 rice field. P2 has 2 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 2 rice fields. p1 has the majority in helmets (his 5 vs p2's 2). Both players are tied in buddhas (3 vs 3) while p2 has the majority in rice (his 2 vs p1's 1). P1's other figures would be 4 (3 buddhas + 1 rice field) while p2's other figures would be 5 (2 helmets + 3 buddhas). P2 wins even though p1 has more total figures.
- If none of the players from above had a majority of any particular figurine (again, ties do NOT constitute a majority) the winner is decided by total number of figurines.
External links
- Samurai for iPhone Official Version
- Samurai for PC Official Version