Tokaido Review

When I wrote up last week’s list of great summer vacation games, I dug into the archives for a past review of Tokaido. Alas! There was none, which is an injustice to one of the better light games of the last few years. Let’s fix that now with a little trip down the Tokaido Road.

Tokaido takes its inspiration from Japan’s “East Sea Road“, one of five major roads that connected the Japanese capital of Edo (now Tokyo) with the rest of the country during the time of the shoguns. It was used for communications, trade, and — what was still a fairly unusual idea — tourism. If you wanted to see Japan, this was the way to do it, and designer Antoine Bauza set out to capture that experience in his game.

Most board games need a hook to pull in players, and Tokaido does it with its graphic design and board. True to the Japanese theme, the look is clean, minimalist, almost abstract. The background depicts the coastline of Japan as whitespace against a light grey sea. The road is shown as points on the line, with colorful icons hanging off the points.

This visual design extends through the cards and other components of the game, giving a sense of lightness and simplicity. It’s easy to get new players to try Tokaido, especially if they have an interest in Japan.

Setting Off Down the Tokaido Road

If you’re a competitive player, Tokaido isn’t quite as easy as it looks. It’s a set collection game, and there’s a lot of jockeying for position. Focus too much on paintings, and your opponents will steal points away from you in temples or hot springs. If every player in the game is competitive, there’s a satisfying challenge here.

However, the game plays very differently for casual players. Turns are dead simple: when you’re at the back of the line, pick up your traveller and move her to the next place you want to go. Whoever’s at the back of the line goes next. This combination of choice and simplicity will be an eye opener for anyone who has ever been frustrated by bad die rolls in a roll and move game.

Once you arrive at a space, you get a few coins or a card. Players collect painting cards in a sequence. They choose from several options to get shopping or meals cards. Hot spring and encounter cards are just drawn from the top of the deck. (The temple donations are a little more complicated, and casual players tend to avoid them as a result.) The mix of choice and randomness gives the players both variety and a sense of control over the game.

Tokaido is a reasonably popular game with casual players, but it’s no Settlers of Catan juggernaut. Some of that is due to Catan’s unique position in game history, and some of that may be because building a business empire or civilization has a more lasting appeal than taking a stroll down a road.

Don’t underestimate the appeal of a light, beautiful game, though. As I type this, my four-year-old has grabbed the board and pieces out of my reference copy, put the cards in all the appropriate spots, and is moving her meeples down the track. If that’s not proof of Tokaido’s attractiveness and easy of play, I don’t know what is.