Asmodee | Takenoko | Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2-4 Players | 45 Minute Playing Time

Product Information

Takenoko blends a nice combination of fun, excellent components, great theme and flexible play styles into an award winning game. The game scales perfectly from 2 players to 4 players so you can enjoy it equally when its just the two of you. While it won’t be a game where you will play over and over trying to discover new strategies, it does make for a game that is fun and enjoyable that can be played with almost anyone.

Move the gardener in a straight line (thus increasing the bamboo to grow in that plot as well as on adjacent tiles of the same colour).

Takenoko ( Japanese: タケノコ, which means bamboo shoot in katakana) is a board game created by Antoine Bauza and published by Bombyx and Matagot in 2011. Matagot also produced a Collector's Edition which features deluxe, over-sized pieces and game board. [1] Premise and Gameplay [ edit ] Fertiliser - This increases the growth of bamboo on that tile. So each time the bamboo grows you add two sections to it instead of one up to the maximum of four. Fertilizer increases the growth of bamboo on its plot. Each time the bamboo grows, two sections are added instead of one (subject to the usual 4 sections maximum). Watershed At the start of the game, the board consists only of the central pond of the bamboo garden - players take turns to plant new hexagonal bamboo plots (three colours green, yellow and pink), as well as to add irrigation and improvements to the plots, move the gardener to grow bamboo, and move the panda who eats the bamboo.

Warning: a watershed cannot under any circumstances be used as the beginning of a new irrigation system. Takenoko, from top to bottom, is visually arresting on the table. The tiles are a beautiful blend of green, pink, and yellow with vertically sectioned wooden bamboo shoots to match. The garden grows wildly from its small beginnings in the pond to engulf the table in a landscape of color. The cards adopt shades of blue, red, and purple to add a spectrum of splashes all over the place. The game even includes two utterly useless but delightful panda tiles to lay out for style. The Gardener and the Panda are painted minis of the characters from the comic. Regardless of game outcomes, it is impossible to walk away from a session without admiring the aesthetics. In fact, you’ll likely be inclined at some point during the game to snap a pic of the garden. Next time you are in your friendly local game store (FLGS), take a look at Takenoko. The box visuals and weight should give you a great idea of what’s in store for you at your gaming table. Give this gem a try today and watch out for the panda.

“Bamboo sprout”

The broad but lightweight collection of mechanics makes Takenoko a wonderful gateway game—a title that is fit for introducing young and new gamers to the ins and outs of the hobby without setting their thinking caps ablaze. From opening the box to scanning the finished product, Takenoko dips the player’s toes in the pond of what is possible in the heavier fare with modular maps, changing landscapes, resource management, and a few enjoyable low-consequence decisions. This is a game that suggests there is more to be done in tabletop gaming.

The panda normally eats 1 bamboo from any plot that they move to either using the Panda action or the Storm weather action. However, the panda can NOT eat any bamboo from a plot with an enclosure improvement. If after taking their actions the player has completed any of their Objective cards, they may lay them down as complete. The game continues in this fashion until a specific number of Objectives have been met based on the player count. The first to reach this count receives a small blessing of points from the Emperor as scoring ensues. Scoring is then entirely in the value of completed Objective cards. The player may place a Bamboo section on the irrigated plot of his choice, up to a limit of four sections per plot. Wind Final Score: 4.5 Stars – A high thematic, light euro game that’s accessible to just about everyone. What’s not to love? Gardener objective cards require certain colours of bamboo (sometimes with certain improvements) to be grown to various heights.This is the most random aspect of the game, which is good for players who like to have more control over their experience. Perform Two Actions

The player keeps this Bamboo section on his individual board. It can be used to fulfill a Giant panda objective. Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you. Irrigation channels are placed at the boarder of two plots and form a network from the corner of the pond plot. The sides of the pond tile do not need irrigation channels. Irrigation is important because without it the bamboo cannot grow! Once a plot is irrigated for the first time it grows one piece of bamboo of the corresponding colour. This only happens to each tile once. A plot is irrigated if it is adjacent to the pond tile or if one of its six edges has an irrigation channel or if it has the watershed improvement. If an irrigation channel irrigates two plotsat once then both plots would receive a section of bamboo. I think it’s fair to say that designer Antoine Bauza has another hit on his hand with Takenoko. He created one of my favorite game of all times in 7 Wonders and I think he has done an amazing job with Takenoko. If I’m looking for a light euro game, this will probably be my new go to game.

The key to Takenoko is completing those Objectives. They range from feeding certain types or quantities of bamboo to the panda (there are common green tiles that grow green bamboo, less-common yellow, and rarer-still pink), to having certain alignments of garden terrain (such as a row of 3x yellows, for example), to having a certain amount of bamboo grown in a certain tile. Rather deliciously, these objectives clash somewhat; while Player A is trying to grow bamboo using the gardener, Player B might be more interested in feeding it to the panda! If you’d like to read more about Takenoko, we have a How to Play blog available here. We also have Takenoko Chibis– the version with even more pandas! If he gets the "?" face, the player chooses what conditions they wish to apply this turn: Sun, Rain, Wind, Storm or Clouds.