GODŌ: The five paths Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents, Concept and Terminology
• Playing and Winning the Game
• Setup
• Initiation
• Tile Placement Rules
• Practicing Virtues (Moving on Paths)
• Improvement (summary)
• Playing the Game
  • 1 Place a Tile
  • 2 Draw a tile
  • 3 Move your Monk
  • 4 Improvement
  • 5 Sharing
  • 6 Mastering a virtue
• End of the Game
• Variant Play: The Sacred Specialties
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Initiation
  • Gameplay
  • Winning the Game

Game Contents, Concept and Terminology

• 60 Sacred Tiles
• 5 Monks (figures in five colors, one for each player)
• 25 Ensō Tokens
• 15 Virtue Tokens (3 of each of the 5 colors)
• 5 Path Journals (one for each player)
• Rulebook in English and Croatian

Sacred Tiles: These triangular tiles reveal the ancient paths of the temple grounds. Each Sacred Tile shows:

• Paths along its edges in virtues' colors
• Virtue symbols and Sacred Markers at corners

Sacred markers:

• Sacred Gates: Allow direct travel from one gate to another
• Fox Shrines: Allow the exchange of one virtue type for another
• Stone Lanterns: Places that require Monks to rest and end their movement

Monks: Figures representing players' presence in the temple grounds as they journey along the paths seeking enlightenment.

Ensō Tokens: Circular markers that represent your spiritual progress. They are used on Path Journals to track advancement and occasionally placed on intersections to close them.

Virtue Tokens: Tokens that represent a Monk's improvement in each virtue. They are kept in the common supply and collected from there during a player's turn. All tokens return to the common supply at the end of a turn. Players can improve each virtue by up to 3 steps in one turn, as there are only 3 tokens of each color in the game.

Path Journals: These personal boards track your improvement in the five virtues. Each Path Journal contains 5 tracks with 6 spaces, one track for each virtue. The leftmost space (zero) is the starting position. Path Journals have two different sides, one for the standard game and one for variant play.

Intersections: Spaces where Monks rest and improve themselves in the five virtues. Intersections are created by one or more tiles and are located at the corners of tiles. Any symbols (virtues and sacred markers) at these corners are considered to be part of that intersection.

Only 1 Monk may occupy each intersection at any time during the game!

Playing and Winning the Game

During the game, players will reveal the temple grounds by creating a maze of Sacred Tiles. They will move their Monks from one intersection to another by practicing a virtue whose color matches the path connecting those intersections. Practicing a virtue requires taking a step back in that virtue's development before you can progress further.

At each intersection, players will improve themselves in virtues by collecting virtue tokens. Each virtue requires 5 steps of improvement to reach mastery.

The first player to master all five virtues wins the game.

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color and receives the corresponding Path Journal and Monk figure.
2. Players place their Path Journals in front of them with the "Standard Side" face up, and 5 Ensō tokens on their Path Journal, one on the leftmost field of each virtue track.
3. Arrange all Sacred Tiles face down in several piles within reach of all players.
4. Place the 15 Virtue tokens (3 of each color) on the table where all players can reach them to form the common supply.
5. Choose the first player. The game is played in rounds, in clockwise order.

Initiation

1. If you're the first player, draw 3 Sacred Tiles from any of the piles. Place one in the middle of the table to start the temple grounds, and expand the temple grounds by placing the other two following the tile placement rules. (See Tile Placement Rules.)
2. Take your Monk figure and place it on any Intersection. For each Virtue symbol present at that intersection, move one Ensō token on your Path Journal one space right. The token must move to a space showing that virtue's symbol.
3. If you're the second player, draw 2 Sacred Tiles, expand the temple grounds by placing them following the tile placement rules, then place your Monk on any unoccupied Intersection. For each Virtue symbol present at that intersection, move one Ensō token on your Path Journal one space right. The token must move to a space showing that virtue's symbol.
4. If you're the third, fourth, or fifth player, follow the same procedure but draw only 1 Sacred Tile to expand the temple grounds.
5. Each player draws 2 Sacred Tiles and keeps them hidden from other players.

Example: Blue player plays first, yellow player second and green player third.

Tile Placement Rules

Sacred Tiles are placed adjacent to one another, with their side edges (Paths) touching. Tiles may never overlap.

At least one side of a new Sacred Tile must touch one or more Sacred Tiles already in play. Corner-to-corner placement is not permitted. All edges touching each other must be of the same color (Path type).

It is also permitted to place a Sacred Tile so that the long edges without colored Paths touch each other.

If a player cannot legally place any of their Sacred Tiles anywhere on the temple grounds, they must show these tiles to all players, remove them from the game, and draw 2 new Sacred Tiles (if available). The player must then place one of their new tiles if possible.

Illustrated examples: corner-to-corner placement (not permitted); side edges not touching each other; side edges touching each other are of different color; tile is not adjusted to other tiles.

Practicing Virtues (Moving on Paths)

To move your Monk along a colored path, you must move any Ensō token one space left on your Path Journal, so that it covers a virtue symbol matching the path's color. If the space has multiple virtue symbols, you may choose to travel along any of those corresponding colored paths.

Improvement (summary)

At the end of your turn, you may use collected virtue tokens to improve your understanding. For each virtue token you return to the common supply, move an Ensō token one space right, to a space showing that virtue's symbol. (Full rules below under Playing the Game, step 4.)

Playing the Game

Beginning with the first player, the game progresses in clockwise order. On your turn, perform the following actions in this order:

1 Place a Tile

Expand the temple grounds by placing 1 Sacred Tile from your hand, following the tile placement rules.

If you don't have any tiles in hand, skip your entire turn (all steps) and play passes to the next player. If no players have tiles in hand, the game ends – see "End of the Game" section.

2 Draw a tile

Draw a tile from any pile, if available, and keep it in your hand without showing it to other players.

3 Move your Monk

You must move your Monk at least once if possible.

Move your Monk from its current intersection to an adjacent intersection connected by a path. To do this, you must move one Ensō token on your Path Journal one space left onto a space showing a virtue symbol with the same color as the path you wish to travel.

If your Monk is at an intersection with a Sacred Gate, you may instead cover a virtue symbol matching the color of your current gate and move directly to any other Sacred Gate on the temple grounds, regardless of the destination gate's color.

If a virtue track on your Path Journal has no Ensō token (you've achieved mastery), you may move along paths of that color and enter Sacred Gates of that color without moving any tokens on your Path Journal.

You cannot move to an intersection occupied by another Monk.

If you cannot make your first required movement, your Monk remains at its current intersection, move any one Ensō token on your Path Journal 1 step to the right, and skip to step 6 "Mastering a Virtue".

Example: Blue Monk can't move because: A) The intersection is occupied by another Monk. B) The player can't move an Ensō token one space left onto a red or purple virtue on their Path Journal, and therefore can't use red or purple paths and sacred gates. C) The intersection isn't connected to the blue Monk's current location by a path.

You may move your Monk to an intersection with an Ensō token just as if there was no token there - place the Monk on top of it. If no other moves are possible for your mandatory first move, you must move to an intersection with an Ensō token.

Example: Player has to make a first move. A) The player can't move an Ensō token one space left onto a red virtue on their Path Journal, and therefore can't use red paths. B) The intersection isn't connected to the blue Monk's current location by a path. C) The only permitted intersection, so the player must move their Monk there despite the presence of the Ensō token.

After moving to an intersection:

1. If an Ensō token is present at the intersection, your movement ends immediately and you skip directly to the Improvement step.
2. For each virtue symbol at the intersection, you must take one matching virtue token from the common stock (if available).
3. For each Fox Shrine on the intersection, you may exchange 1 virtue token that you've collected during your current turn (from this or previous moves) for any other available type in the common stock.
4. At Stone Lanterns, your movement ends immediately and you proceed to the Improvement step.

Example (Fox Shrine): After the first move, the player collects Purple, Green and Red virtue tokens. After the second move, the player collects Purple and Blue virtue tokens. The intersection contains a Fox Shrine, allowing the player to trade any virtue token collected during this turn. The player exchanges the Blue token for another Green token. The player may now end the movement phase or continue moving.

After your mandatory first move, you may continue moving along other paths following the same rules as above.

You cannot move along the same path twice in a row. However, you may return to an intersection after traveling through at least one different path.

Examples: Return not allowed; Return allowed.

Example: Blue Monk's Turn (Movement Phase in which multiple moves are possible):

1. Blue Monk moves along the green path. Player moves an Ensō token left onto a green virtue. Player collects red and green virtue tokens.
2. Blue Monk moves along the purple path for free, since there is no Ensō token on the purple track of the Path Journal. Player collects a blue virtue token.
3. Blue Monk uses a Sacred Gate, entering through the red gate. To do so, player moves an Ensō token left onto a red virtue. Player collects 2 yellow, 1 red and 1 blue virtue token.
4. Blue Monk moves along the blue path. Player moves an Ensō token on the red track one space left, covering three virtues including blue. Player collects one yellow virtue token (would collect 2, but only 1 was left in the common supply).

The movement ends because the Monk has reached an intersection with a Stone Lantern.

4 Improvement

At the end of your turn, you may use collected virtue tokens to improve your understanding. For each virtue token you return to the common supply, move one Ensō token on your Path Journal one space right. The token must move to a space showing that virtue's symbol.

5 Sharing

For each virtue token you didn't use during Improvement, each other player may move their Ensō token 1 space right to a space showing that virtue's symbol on their Path Journal. Then return all your remaining virtue tokens to the common stock.

Example: Blue player ends the movement phase.

1. Player returns a red virtue token to the common supply to move the Ensō token on the red track one space right.
2. Player returns two green virtue tokens to move the Ensō token on the green track two spaces right.
3. Player returns a purple virtue token to move the Ensō token on the purple track one space right.
4. Since the remaining collected virtue tokens (2 yellow and 1 purple) cannot be used to move any Ensō tokens right, the player must share them - returning them to the common supply and allowing all other players to immediately use them to move corresponding Ensō tokens on their Path Journals.

6 Mastering a virtue

Take all Ensō tokens from the rightmost (6th) space on your Travel Journal. Place these tokens on intersections in the Temple grounds of your choice. Only one Ensō token can occupy each intersection.

You may place an Ensō token on a location occupied by a Monk. In this case, place the Ensō token underneath the Monk.

If no free intersections remain, remove any excess Ensō tokens from the game.

After you have placed your tokens, the other players—in clockwise order—will do the same with their Ensō tokens from the rightmost (6th) space of their Travel Journals.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when any player removes their last Ensō token from their Travel Journal. That player wins the game.

End without the complete mastery... If all players still have at least one Ensō token on their Travel Journals, but no one has tiles in hand, the game ends and the winner is determined by scoring:

• Each track without an Ensō token awards the player 10 points.
• Tracks with an Ensō token award points equal to the number of empty spaces to the left of the Ensō token.
• The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the victory is shared.

Variant Play: The Sacred Specialties

For a more dynamic experience, use the "Variant Side" of the Path Journal.

The game is played the same way as the standard game, with these additional abilities that activate when you move an Ensō token left over the following icons:

• Move-Monk icon (a monk figure being moved): You may move one other player's Monk to an adjacent intersection. Do this before finishing your current move, allowing you to potentially move to an intersection where another Monk was standing. The player whose Monk was moved doesn't receive any virtue tokens from this movement.
• Relocate-Tile icon (a tile with an arrow): You may relocate one Sacred Tile from anywhere in the temple grounds to another position of your choice. You cannot split the temple grounds into separate areas, and must follow the normal tile placement rules.
• Move-Ensō icon (an Ensō token with an arrow): You may move one Ensō token from any intersection to another intersection. Do this before finishing your current move, allowing you to move to and interact with an intersection that previously had an Ensō token.

Solo Mode

Setup

Choose a color and take the corresponding Path Journal and Monk figure.

Place your Path Journal with its Standard Side face up. Place 1 Ensō token on the leftmost field of each virtue track.

Arrange all Sacred Tiles face down in several piles.

Place the 15 Virtue tokens and 15 Ensō tokens on the table. These 15 Ensō tokens form the Ensō stock.

Initiation

Draw 3 Sacred Tiles, place one in the middle of the table, and position the other two following the tile placement rules.

Place your Monk on any intersection. For each virtue symbol present at that intersection, move one Ensō token on your Path Journal one space right. The token must move to a space showing that virtue's symbol.

Draw 2 Sacred Tiles and keep them in your hand.

Gameplay

1. Place a Tile – following the same rules as in the multiplayer game
2. Draw a Tile – as in the multiplayer game
3. Move your Monk – as in the multiplayer game
4. Improvement – as in the multiplayer game
5. Mastering a Virtue – as in the multiplayer game
6. Take 1 Ensō token from the Ensō stock and place it on any unoccupied intersection. If there are no unoccupied intersections, remove that token from the game.

If the Ensō stock is empty when you reach step 6, the game ends immediately and you have unfortunately failed to master GODŌ.

Winning the Game

If you manage to master all 5 virtues, you win the game and receive a title based on your spiritual achievement.

Remaining Ensō tokens in the stock	Title earned
> 10	Godo Legend
9	Temple Sage
8	Enlightened Guide
7	Wisdom Vessel
6	Harmony Keeper
5	Path Guardian
4	Virtous Wanderer
3	Dedicated Seeker
2	Temple Disciple
1	Novice Pilgrim