みんなのさいたマップ (Minna no Saitamap) társasjáték

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みんなのさいたマップ (Minna no Saitamap) is a co-operative game from Japan, based upon local knowledge of the Japanese city Saitama and the surrounding area.

Saitama lies just a little Northwest of Tokyo. The game was produced by a local game circle Wuerfel (ヴェルフェル) to celebrate Saitama's 150th birthday in 2021. It's intended to delight and inform players of the sites and life of Saitama. Whilst it helps to be a resident and know a bit about Saitama, the game is deliberately designed to be played by anybody. The design includes elements to win by developing unity, and to gain clues by spending points. However, the game is text heavy, so being able to read Japanese is needed.

Players take turns to play through the game, travelling around Saitama while getting to know Saitama's charms. As they do, the mascot characters, municipalities, tourist attractions and companies will appear one after another. To win the game, the players must reveal all the map cards making up Saitama, and to turn up five Unity cards that bring the residents together.

There are several types of cards in the box, map cards (the game title is a portmanteau of 'Saitama map'), Yura-chara cards (the local mascots), discovery cards (quizes on local stuff such as businesses), and Unity cards (which given special abilities). The game has 185 cards including high quality photographs from the region.

The map cards are used to lay out a plan of Saitama with four districts, North, East, West and Chichibu, three cards to each quarter (more for the advanced and demon levels). Players are dealt five Yura-Chura cards to their hand, which are used in gameplay but also have vital local information. By reading the cards, players can discover new things about Saitama which later will help them win the game.

Players start with their tokens in the centre of Saitama and move North/South by discarding one hand card, or East/West by discarding two. This reflects local transport in Saitama being easier North/South than East/West.

After moving, a player can turn over a map card by discarding Yura-chara cards with the matching symbols. But before turning a card over, the player must answer a quiz question on the card. Only the turn player can answer, but players can swap Yura-chara cards around, so passing the correct answer on.

Even if a player cannot answer the question, they turn the card over and read out the answer and other information about Saitama. The cards also have photographs taken especially for the game.

Players move a marker on a quiz qauge up or down if they got the answer right or wrong (they start at 5 out of 10). If the gauge hits zero, the player is eliminated from the game, for knowing nothing about the wonders of Saitama! (A player can also spend 3 points to count as a symbol needed to flip the card.)

After turning the map card and adjusting their gauge, the player turns up a Discovery card. This is another quiz, on local businesses, goods and retailers. Likewise, getting questions correct helps you proceed.

Finally, a player refills their hand to five and the next player goes.

During the game, a player might turn up a card saying "Everyone United!". These Unity cards give special abilities to help players. But all five Unity cards must be revealed to win the game. Players spend hand cards to achieve this, working together.

The game is won by revealing all the map cards and Unity cards. If the deck of Yura-chara cards is exhausted, the game ends.

The game designer playtested the game with Tokyo residents and they had no trouble playing. But the designer also lost the game twice playing on the Intermediary level, despite being a resident and the designer of the game. The illustrator of the game is uncredited, but the designer credits the photographer on their blog.
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