Description
Takenoko is a family game about a bamboo garden at the Japanese imperial court that won the French As d'Or – Jeu de l'Année 2012 award. The Chinese emperor has given the Japanese emperor a giant panda, and the courtiers must set up a bamboo plantation for it. The gardener helps you, while the panda eats whatever it can reach.
How to play Takenoko
At the start of your turn, you roll the weather die: sun gives you an extra action, rain makes bamboo grow, wind allows two identical actions, a storm scares the panda, and clouds bring an improvement. Then you choose two different actions out of five: place a new plot, add an irrigation channel, move the gardener, who grows bamboo on his plot and on adjacent plots of the same colour, move the panda, who eats a piece of bamboo, or take a new objective.
Objectives come in three types: plots in a given pattern, bamboo of a given height under the gardener, and pieces of bamboo eaten by the panda. When someone has completed enough objectives, they take the Emperor card and everyone else gets one more turn. The player with the most points from completed objectives wins.
Why you'll love it
- Beautiful illustrations and figures of the panda and the gardener.
- Bamboo in three colours actually grows on the table.
- The garden is shared, so you can also take advantage of other players' moves.
- The weather die brings different options every round.
Who is Takenoko for
The game is for two to four players aged 8 and up and takes about 45 minutes. The rules are fairly easy, and players like it best with three. The cards and tiles have symbols for colour-blind players. It is suitable for families and friends.
What might you not like?
Which objectives you draw is partly down to luck, and some are easier than others. So the game may not be the best fit for those looking for a strictly planned strategy game.
What's in the box
- 28 plot tiles
- 78 bamboo pieces (green, yellow, pink)
- 20 irrigation channels and 9 improvement tokens
- 46 objective cards
- 4 player boards and 8 action tokens
- weather die
- panda and gardener figures
- rulebook
