We are in the countryside of ancient Japan, surrounded by nature. Our family, like our neighbors, enjoys a measured life without haste, striving for peace, harmony, and tranquility. We dedicate ourselves to growing bamboo, and thanks to our work, perseverance, and offerings we make at the temples for the spirits, we get closer day by day to our cherished goal – to make our family happy.
In the board game "Bamboo", players take control of one of the families. Over the course of four in-game years, they will grow bamboo, prepare food, manage their finances, maintain harmony in their homes, and much more. All of this is to accumulate as many happiness points as possible.
About the Game:
Don't forget about the change of seasons! For example, in the cold winter, food and tea supplies will be needed, so they must be prepared and stored in advance. And remember the sacred spirits and ancestors – whoever offers the most incense to them will receive a coveted favor from one of the forest spirits. And that will definitely be useful!
Prepare the game board: attach the piece with slots to the bottom left part of it, randomly placing 12 bamboo shoot tokens with symbols (clubs) inside.
Then place 5 random food tokens from the general supply in the center of the game board, and separate the harmony tokens and house tokens into several stacks by symbols. Shuffle the spirit tokens, divide them into 4 stacks of 4 tokens each, and place each stack in one of the four temples on the game board. Players receive a personal home tablet, all components of their color, one random harmony token, 4 bamboo shoot tokens of different colors, and 3 coins. We can begin!
The game lasts 4 rounds, each consisting of four phases – seasons:
-Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter
In the first phase, players receive incense sticks and gifts from the forest: shuffle the gift token stack and draw as many tokens as there are players participating in the game. In turn, they select a gift token and perform the action indicated on it.
In the second phase, players make offerings at temples and perform actions using the bamboo shoots. Move your action token to one of the four temples on your tablet and make an offering: place as many incense sticks in the corresponding temple on the game board as there are bamboo shoots in that temple on your tablet. Then move all the bamboo shoot tokens from the temple area of your tablet that you selected and perform the actions shown on the shoots. When you finish, shift the placed bamboo shoots upward, and arrange the pushed-out tokens on your tablet.
And now autumn has arrived. In this phase, players summon the spirits of the forest: the player with the most incense sticks in a temple takes the spirit token on top of the stack. Check each temple in this manner. If there are no spirits left in one of them, it means the last round is underway. Spirit tokens allow their holders to apply various beneficial effects. Then return all your incense sticks to the supply and begin the next phase.
In the final phase of the round, the spirits of the forest awaken. You can lay any used spirit tokens horizontally, paying the cost indicated on them with coins. After that, the family meal begins: you must spend 1 food for each house token on your tablet. If food is lacking, you lose 1 happiness point (which also counts as victory points) for each missing food. Then pass the first player token to the next participant in clockwise order, refresh the tokens on the board, and begin the next round.
Who Won?
The game ends after the winter phase of the fourth round. During the game, players earn happiness points for various actions and tokens received in the process. For example, each spirit token earned will bring 2 happiness points at the end of the game. The player who has brought their family to maximum harmony and scored the most happiness points is declared the winner!
In the board game Fury of Dracula, 2 to 5 players can play. One of the players assumes the role of Dracula, while the others play as hunters. The game board represents a map of Europe. All players place their figures on this board, while the player controlling Dracula has their own small game board. It has a special screen so that other players cannot see Dracula's movements. This is where the main intrigue of the game lies. Hunters will have to expend a lot of effort to track him down. When Dracula visits a city, he sets a trap for the hunter. And while visiting a city, a hunter can deduce whether Dracula was there or not. However, if he manages to survive, he will be fine. But even a discovered Dracula poses a serious threat.
Fury of Dracula is an interesting board game and should appeal to board game enthusiasts. It combines two types of games. It is an adventure game and simultaneously a detective game. Of course, the elaboration of each moment is not as good as in fully adventure or detective games. But the very combination of two types of games makes this one unusual, fascinating, and completely compensates for that small shortcoming. Moreover, the game has a very beautiful design that fully conveys the spirit of the game.
