When Panda in garden you have, Confucius says "Check local Wanted Ads for new job"
A review of Takenoko
Imagine if you will it's Heian Period and you have been hired by the Emperor of Japan to cultivate the Imperial Bamboo garden to make it the most beautiful garden in all the land. Imagine if you will the Emperor of China has come on a mission of peace and unity and given the Emperor a very strange gift, a Giant Panda.
Strap on your sandals, grab your amigasa and gardening tools as we push back the black & white menace.
Welcome to Takenoko
Story
You are the Emperor of Japan's personal gardener. Your job is to cultivate the garden's plots in line with the wishes of the Emperor. The only problem is the sacred bamboo munching menace, the Panda.
Game Mechanics
Action Points
Dice Rolling
Grid Movement
Modular Board
Network and Route Building
Set Collection
Tile Placement
Number of Players
2-4
Play Time
45 minutes
Down Time
Action Selection and Planning
How Does It Play
It's an incredibly simple game to play. The rules are short and to the point. The game is easy to set up as it involves shuffling tiles and cards to stores them in piles next to the playing area, as well as creating piles for improvements and irrigation markers. Don't forget to give players a board, actions markers and one of each card.
Once your set up, make sure the Gardener and Panda are on the Water Feature tile, you can begin.
1. Roll the Weather Dice .
The weather dice depicts what happens on your turn. Each face has a different function.
Sun - You can perform up to 3 different actions this turn
Lightning - Scares the Panda to any tile on the board you choose, except the tiles with the No Panda Improvement
Rain - Grows the bamboo by one piece, tiles with fertiliser improvement get 2 pieces. Bamboo can not exceed four pieces in height!
Wind - The player can perform the same action twice
Cloud - The player can gain an improvement tile to place on any tile they wish
Question Mark - The player can choose any face of the dice they choose
2. Perform Actions
In the game you can perform 2 actions, 3 if you rolled a sun, the actions you can choose from are: -
Place Tile - Taking the top face down tile and placing it in the garden. Tiles must either be placed next to the Water Feature or next to 2 existing tiles in the garden, any tile placed next to any irrigation automatically grows 1 piece of bamboo
Draw a Card - Completing the objective on the cards is the only way to win, each card has a different value and objective, see below for card types.
Irrigate - The player can place an irrigation marker next to the tile of their choice. Irrigation markers must be connected to another irrigation marker in order to grow bamboo. Any new irrigated spaces grow 1 bamboo piece
Move the Gardener - The player moves the gardener to a space of their choosing providing it is directly in line with the gardener's current tile, no skipping tiles. The space the gardener lands on immediately grows one piece of bamboo as do the spaces around that tile. The tile has to be irrigated first, any fertilised spaces get 2 bamboo.
Move the Panda - Similar to the Gardener, with the exception of the panda eating the bamboo on the space it lands on. This bamboo piece is stored on your card for scoring objectives later.
3. Pass turn and repeat.
Each player takes it in turn rolling the die and completing objectives until such time as one player triggers game.
4. Endgame
When a player has completed their last objective they get the Emperor's Bonus Card and trigger endgame. Which means all players have 1 turn to score what point they can in order to win. The player with the most points wins
2 Players - 9 Objectives
3 Players - 8 Objectives
4 Players - 7 Objectives
Game Components
46 Card in 4 Types
Emperor Card which grants +2 points to the player that triggers endgame
Gardener Cards which depict how much bamboo is needed to grow on what tiles for the card to be scored
Panda Cards which tell you what bamboo is needed for you to score that panda card
Tile Cards which tell you how what the layout of tile combination should be in order to score that card
1x Gardener
1x Panda
28x Plot Tiles
36x Green Bamboo Sections
30x Yellow Bamboo Sections
24x Pink Bamboo Sections
9x Improvements (3 Each)
20x Irrigation Markers
4x Player Boards
8x Action Markers
1x Weather Die
Theme
A Japanese Gardening Game in the Kawaii Style
Replay Value
Loads. It's fun and the artwork is cute, combined with the strategic elements of the game makes it accessible to anyone. Both adults an children will have fun playing this game.
Favourite Part
The Panda
Least Favourite Part
The number of irrigation markers. You always need an irrigation marker in the late game and there are never any when you need them.
The Bottom Line
This is a fun, simple game that anyone can pick up and play with ease.
I'd recommend this game to anyone wanting a fun lightweight game to play. It's one of the four games I'd recommend for new players along with Pandemic, Catan and Ticket to Ride
I love this game, I give it 10 Bamboo Pieces
About the Creator
Alan Walker
Part-time Avid Gamer, self appointed nerd, and volunteer Karate Instructor
Long time reader, first time blogger
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