by pdzoch
This session report is part of a continuing series where I describe the games being played as part of our Game Lunch Fridays during the lunch break of a business office. Our lunch break is only thirty minutes, so our game choices are limited to games that can be taught and played in a short time.This Friday was a day off for most of the office workers. With the light work day ahead of us, I used the opportunity to bring in a game that would take longer to play, so I brought in Tokaido. I had raved about how beautiful a game Tokaido was to my co-workers on previous – I have a copy of the Deluxe Edition – so it was a natural choice for the longer game session. Most my regulars were able to play today (Bill, Vince, and Corietha). Craig, my sometimes player, also joined.
I knew it would be difficult to keep track of all the player moves during the game, so I spent the night prior crafting a Tokaido game session tracker to help keep tabs on all the moves.You can find a copy of the tracker in the files section for Tokaido. I've provided a copy of the tracker used for this session in the filepage comments.
None of the others had played this game before. Despite the simplicity of the game, there are a lot of sets that have to be explained, especially as there are bonuses for set collection at the end of the game. They were very distracted by the beauty of the board and all the components and parts. Sometimes I think they act that way just to annoy me. I also pointed out that there are no points for money at the end of the game (unlike many other games). Once everyone selected their character, I explained each one’s special ability. It took about 15 minutes to go over the rules, covering all the ways to collect sets and score.
Player – Character
Bill – Hiroshige
Craig – Kinko
Corietha – Hirotada
Vince – Zen-emon
Patrick – Chuubei
Day 1
Both Vince and I made our first stops at the gift shop. I do not know why I did it because Chuubei has so little money to start, I was getting broke from the very beginning. Corietha moved next to the temple, using her character power to score extra donations. Craig took the next spot to meet visitors and Bill took the spot afterwards to begin the rice paddy panorama. Trying to recover from my mistake, both Vince and I went to the farm to collect money. Both Craig and Corietha made their next stop at the springs. Bill moved all the way forward to the next gift shop. Craig took the visitor spot again, and Corietha continued to make donations at the next temple. I decided to start the seaside panorama as it is important to start it early in order to finish it on time. Then Bill decided to do the same thing. Craig hit the springs one last time, making him the last to arrive at the inn. Everyone was able to order food, but I was low on fund again, and Craig had tons because visitor loaded him up with more coins on top of the wealth he started with.
Day 2
I was surprised when Craig’s first move was to the farm to collect more money. Vince took the next seaside spot, making it harder for me to complete the panorama first, so I stopped by the temple to make a small donation (and make sure I would get some points in the end). That was a mistake because I was low on funds, and I should have gone to the farm instead to collect funds, which is what Bill did next. Corietha by passed everything and went straight to the visitor in the middle of the day. I decided to switch tactics and start on the rice paddy panorama. And Bill and Craig started working on the mountainside panorama. Craig hit temple and made a large donation next. Both Vince and Corietha visited the only spring this day. I was able to make it to the second seaside spot to work on my panorama, and I was joined by Vince to work on his second panel. Craig hit the gift shop before going to the inn and Corietha collected gold at the farm before closing in at the inn last. Bill completed the rice paddy panorama thanks to his character’s special ability, and thus collected the first achievement of the game.
Day 3
Corietha bypassed the rice paddy and went straight to the gift shop. In fact, since Bill had already won the achievement for the rice paddy panorama, nobody visited the rice paddies at all this day. Craig went to the farm to collect more money (and we reminded him again that money did not turn into points at the end of the game). Vince and I both took visitors and Bill went to the mountainside to continue his panorama, followed by Corietha who finished her second panel. Vince took in the spa next. I stopped by the seaside to complete my fourth panel (only one more to go and another side spot still in the day). Both Craig and Corietha bypassed all the scenic spots and went to the temple to make sizable donations. Bill went to the farm next, leaving the second seaside spot next to me still open, which Vince took to also complete his fourth panel. Because Vince was the last one behind me, he got to move again, and he moved all the way to the next seaside spot to complete the panorama and earn the achievement ahead of me! I was low on fund, so I stopped by the farms to collect gold. Craig now moved all the way to the inn and took stock of everyone’s funds before purchasing his cheap meal, laughing. I decided to stop by the gift shop to see if I could pick up a cheap item to add to my collection. Nope, the art cost me three coins, leaving me with only two coins for a meal. Bill joined me at the gift shop but headed into the inn before me. I knew there was going to be trouble when Corietha arrived at the inn behind Craig and could not afford any of the meals. By the time I arrived, last, only expensive meals remained and I went hungry. Not even the visitors I met in the inn offered me any money.
Day 4
Starving and with little money, I gambled on saving my last two coins for the final meal at the end of the day and went to the seaside to work on my fourth panel instead of the farm to get more money. Bill took in a spa, Vince met some visitors, and broke Coreitha went all the way to the farm. Craig used this opportunity to stop by the temple to make a donation, moving him to second place for donations but leaving Corietha’s sizable donations in the lead (by one coin). Craig then went to the gift shop to add to his collection. Having got a gift from the visitors, Vince stopped at the gift shop next to add to his collection. He then proceeded to hit the spa again. I decide to complete my seaside panorama because it still gave me five points for the stop. Craig took in the last visitors, hoping for a nice gift to build his collection (but got coins instead). With the additional coins, Bill moved from the farm all the way to the last gift shop to buy just the right gift to add to his collection, denying Craig the chance to complete his set of four. Corietha joined Vince briefly at the spa before proceeding to the mountainside vista. Vince head to the inn first. Craig decided to hit the seaside before going to the inn, and Corietha decided to start the rice paddy panorama since no one else wanted to use the spot. Luckily, I had just enough coins to buy my last meal, but Bill arriving last could afford no food and went hungry this time. As we later learned, he purchased plenty of food in the previous inns.
Achievements
Temple – Corietha (10 points), Craig (7 points), Vince (4 points), Patrick (2 points), Bill (zero donations)
Gourmet – Bill (3 points)
Collector – Tie: Bill, Vince and Patrick (3 points)
Bather – Tie: Vince and Corietha (3 points)
Chatterbox – Patrick (3 points)
Rice Paddy Panorama – Bill (3 points)
Mountainside Panorama – Bill (3 points)
Seaside Panorama – Vince (3 points)
Final Score
Bill – 69 points
Vince – 63 points
Corietha – 57 points
Craig – 55 points
Patrick – 48 points
Everyone really enjoyed the game and have asked for it to be a return game. They all agreed that it was a very beautiful game and they were very respectful of the game by not eating their meals around the game so as to keep it clean and unblemished. Unfortunately, the game can not be played during our normal lunch break, so its return will have to be delayed until the next partial work force day. Several coworkers stopped by and watched our game, enjoying how much we were enjoying the game. I still can’t win this game, but I’ve enjoyed every minute I have played it.
For my other session reports on our Game Lunch Fridays at the Office, see my Game Lunch Fridays at the Office GeekList.