Koinobori - a game about giant carp windsocks
Let's check out 🎏 Koinobori, a small box card drafting game about… well, Koinobori! If you don't know (I didn't either), Koinobori are carp-shaped 🐟 windsocks flown during certain celebrations in Japan. Kind of like kites. This game is all about them!
To best explain the game, I'll start with the central idea: 🧐 players are gathering cards depicting Koinobori in different colors. They'll play some of these cards in secret to their own flagpoles, but also some to the central shared poles. And this is the main twist: ☝️when the game ends, your personal Koinobori will be worth points depending on the central display. So, throughout the game, everyone is trying to influence the values of colors to best suit their plans.
The flow of the game is simple. 👉 On your turn, you either take cards from one end of the card line or play cards from your hand.
When you play cards you choose where you want to place them. How many cards you can draw, hold or play are determined by your abilities, which increase as you play cards to your personal area. 🙂
As an added twist, some cards have extra effects that trigger when you play them to the shared poles.
Finally, I wanted to mention an essential fun rule: When the game ends, you check each central pole to determine which Koinobori color is most represented. However, if two colors tie, then the next highest color wins. 😁 So, if you suspect someone is aiming for a particular color, you can shake things up in a big way! Once a central pole has 5 cards, it is closed for good. If every pole is full, the game ends (and the amount of poles depends on player count). Any color that doesn't win a majority will be worth negative points too! 🙀
💬All in all I would recommend this game if you are looking for something quick and simple for up to 5 players where heavy strategizing is not a requirement. It is playable with 2 players too, but it’s easier to guess for which colors the other player is going for, and the card display can feel unfair sometimes. I think the real fun comes from the indirect interaction through the ever changing color value!
