It’s tok – eye – dough.
Players are travellers along one of the ancient roads of Japan, from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo), as described in Tokopedia. En route, they benefit from experiences ~ no bad ones. And the worst nasty that you can do to other travellers is something like pushing into the shop before they do.
Tokaido travellers are just like Brits abroad 🙂
They visit shops for souvenirs, relax in hot springs, see panoramic views, and have rewarding meetings with fellow travellers. They need money to buy goodies & meals, and donate to temples. They can earn by doing a bit of work at farms along the way – well, those that don’t mind getting their hands dirty can 😄
The road is displayed as a track, with an attractive design and layout. Travellers advance and take actions, sometimes jostling to be first (and sometimes hanging back). The traveller who is currently last on the road always takes the next turn. Players need to decide whether to advance slowly and try to get more experiences & rewards, or to travel more rapidly to beat other players to opportunities that might be much desired.
The actions in Tokaido are simple enough. But there are lots of choices to be made.
At the outset, players are offered two travellers, and must choose one. Travellers start with different numbers of coins in their pocket, and gain different benefits from their encounters and visits along the way.
So it’s important to try to keep an eye on what specials might be coming up for you, and to make sure you get to them
before others do.
Souvenirs and panorama visits involve trying to collect sets, which bring extra points. Travellers don’t want to miss out, so they need to think about what to buy, and what panoramas to visit ~ and when.
- might need a game or two to get used to the options
- a bit of setting up
- very replayable
- strategic thinking comes with experience
- travellers decide how far they’ll travel each turn
- not driven too hard by luck
- traveller-tactics matter enormously
- competitive, but not combative
- points matter ~ not money