Nakasendo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Flow
• Player Turn
  • Action 1. Play a Path Tile or Discovery Token from Your Personal Supply
    • Path Tile
    • Discovery Token
    • Starting Tile
  • Action 2. Play a Tile or Token from Another Player's Supply
  • Action 3. Play a Previously Reserved Tile or Token
  • Free End-of-Turn Action: Reserve
• End of Turn
• End of Round & Intermediate Scoring
  • Intermediate Scoring
    • Path and Composition Scoring Tokens in Detail
• Event Cards
  • Snow Tokens
  • Bear Tokens
• End of Game & Final Scoring
  • Final Scoring Steps
• Discovery Token Scoring Conditions
• End-Game Scoring Summary

Components

• 60x Path tiles
• 4x Starting tiles
• 10x Event cards
• 45x Discovery tokens: (10x Juku, 10x Samurai, 10x Observation Point, 5x Temple, 5x Wheel, 5x Bell)
• 1x Game board
• 16x Extra Action tokens
• 5x Path Scoring tokens
• 6x Composition Scoring tokens
• 3x Intermediate Scoring tokens
• 4x Wooden Score markers
• 1x Wooden Round marker
• 20x Wooden Bear tokens
• 74x Wooden Snow tokens
• 4x Wooden Hiker Meeples

Setup

Example setup for 2 players (diagram in the rulebook).

1. Place the Game Board in the center of the table.

2. Shuffle the 5 Path Scoring tokens. Randomly place 2 of them face up in spaces A and C on the board. Shuffle the Composition Scoring tokens and place 1 of them face up in space B. Return the unused tokens to the box.

3. Randomly place the 3 Intermediate Scoring tokens face up on the spaces next to the Round Track.

4. Place the Round marker on the space of the Round Track corresponding to the number of players (on the first space in 2-player games and on the second space in 3/4-player games).

5. Each player chooses a color and takes 1 Score Marker and 1 Hiker Meeple. Place your Score marker on space 0 of the Score Track. Keep your Hiker meeple in your personal area.

6. Each player receives 1 Starting tile of the chosen color and places it in their play area.

7. Shuffle the Path tiles and Discovery tokens separately, keeping them face down, forming two distinct piles. Reveal 2 Path tiles and 2 Discovery tokens from these piles to form the shared Market.

8. Each player draws 2 Path tiles and 1 Discovery token from the face-down piles, placing them face up in front of them to form their personal supply.

9. Place the Extra Action tokens, Snow tokens, and Bear tokens next to the board, forming the general supply.

10. Shuffle the Event card deck and place it face up on its space on the Board.

11. The starting player is the one who most recently walked a trail. Alternatively, choose randomly.

Game Flow

A game of Nakasendo lasts 9 rounds (10 in a 2-player game).

At the beginning of each round, except the first, resolve the top Event card of the deck. Then, in clockwise order, each player builds and enriches their own path between Tsumago and Magome, aiming to score as many points as possible.

During the game, 3 Intermediate Scoring phases are triggered, as indicated on the Round Track. At these moments, points are awarded based on the current scoring conditions in play.

On your turn, you may: place Path tiles and add Discovery tokens, using elements from your personal supply or from other players' supplies.

Planning is crucial: the choices you make each round will influence both Intermediate and Final scoring.

Player Turn

On your turn, you must perform 2 actions from those available. You may repeat the same action if allowed. If you have one or more Extra Action Tokens, you may spend them to perform additional actions during your turn.

At the end of the game, each unused Extra Action Token is worth 2 Victory Points (VP).

At the end of your turn, you also have a free action: you may reserve one Path tile or one Discovery token from either the shared Market or another player's supply.

Available actions are:

1. Play a Path tile or a Discovery token from your personal supply.
2. Play a Path tile or a Discovery token from another player's supply.
3. Play a Path tile or a Discovery token that you previously reserved.

Action 1. Play a Path Tile or Discovery Token from Your Personal Supply

Choose a Path tile or a Discovery token from your supply and place it in your play area.

Path Tile

Path tiles must be placed orthogonally adjacent (never diagonally) to a tile already present in your play area.

Note: The first tile you place must be adjacent to your Starting tile.

Alternatively, you may place a Path tile on top of an existing tile. When you cover a tile, discard all Snow, Bear, and Discovery tokens on it, then place the new tile.

Your path may never exceed a 4×4 grid.

Path tiles must always remain oriented vertically (top-to-bottom). You may flip them upside down (180°), but you may not rotate them sideways.

Tiles do not need to form a single continuous path.

However, at the end of the game, you will only score (and lose) points for tiles and tokens that belong to the longest single continuous path, with one entrance and one exit.

Discovery Token

Discovery tokens may be placed on an empty space of one of your Path tiles.

You may also place a Discovery token on top of other Discovery tokens, forming a stack. In this case, the covered tokens are not discarded.

Any Snow and/or Bear tokens on that tile remain in place.

Starting Tile

The Starting tile is the only tile that allows your path to cross itself.

It has no color, so you do not gain any points from Path Scoring tokens during Intermediate Scoring.

It contains 2 Bear symbols, and Discovery tokens cannot be placed on it.

You can cover it with other Path tiles.

Action 2. Play a Tile or Token from Another Player's Supply

You may play a Path tile or Discovery token from another player's personal supply.

The same placement rules previously described apply.

The player you took the element from immediately gains 1 Extra Action token from the general supply, which they may use on a future turn.

That player does not refill their supply until the end of your turn.

Action 3. Play a Previously Reserved Tile or Token

You may play a Path tile or Discovery token that you previously reserved from the shared Market or another player's supply. The same placement rules previously described apply.

You may perform this action only once per turn.

Take the reserved element and place it in your path. Then retrieve your Hiker meeple and return it to your personal supply. At the end of your turn, you may use the meeple again to reserve another element.

Note: This is the only action that allows you to play tiles or tokens directly from the shared Market.

Free End-of-Turn Action: Reserve

At the end of your turn, as a free action, you may use your Hiker meeple to reserve one Path tile or one Discovery token from either the shared Market or another player's supply.

Note: It is never possible to reserve from your own supply.

Important: Multiple players may reserve different elements from the shared Market, but the same element cannot be reserved by more than one player. Each player's supply may contain only one reserved element at a time. If a Hiker meeple is already present there, no additional reservations can be made from that supply.

The reserved element may be played on a future turn at the cost of 1 action (see Action 3. Play a Previously Reserved Tile or Token).

To reserve an element, place your Hiker meeple on the chosen tile or token. The meeple remains there until the element is played or taken.

Other players may play the element you reserved from another player's supply. In this case, immediately take back your Hiker meeple and gain 2 VP.

Other players may also take the element you reserved from the shared Market to refill their personal supply. In this case as well, immediately take back your Hiker meeple and gain 2 VP.

Example: The Yellow player wants to reserve an element from the shared Market. They cannot reserve either Discovery token, as both have already been reserved: one by the Green player and the other by the Red player. They decide to reserve the Path tile on the left. They will be able to play this tile on a future turn at the cost of 1 Action. If another player takes that tile to refill their personal supply, then the Yellow player will take back their Hiker meeple and immediately gain 2 VP.

Example: The Yellow player wants to reserve an element from another player's personal supply. They cannot reserve from the top player's supply, because a Hiker meeple is already present there: the Green player's. However, they can reserve from the bottom player's supply, as there are no reserved elements there. They therefore decide to reserve the Path tile. If another player plays that tile, then the Yellow player takes back their Hiker meeple and immediately gains 2 VP.

End of Turn

Once you have completed your actions, check your personal supply. If it contains fewer than 3 elements, refill it up to a maximum of 3.

You may take Path tiles and/or Discovery tokens from the shared Market (among the visible elements), or the face-down piles. You may have any combination of Path tiles and Discovery tokens, but you may never exceed the limit of 3 elements.

If, during your turn, you took one or more elements from other players' supplies, refilling occurs in this order:

1. The affected players refill their supplies from the shared Market, starting with the player to your left and proceeding clockwise.
2. Only after that, you refill your personal supply.

Example: During their turn, the Yellow player played an element from the Green player's supply. When refilling personal supplies, the Green player refills first, taking a Discovery token and adding it to their personal supply. This token had previously been reserved by the Red player, who immediately takes back their Hiker meeple and gains 2 VP. The Yellow player decides to take a Path tile from the face-down piles and adds it to their personal supply. After both players have refilled, reveal a new Discovery token from the piles to restore the Market to 2 visible Path tiles and 2 visible Discovery tokens.

After all players have finished refilling their personal supply, reveal new tiles and tokens from the face-down piles until the market once again shows 2 Path tiles and 2 Discovery tokens.

If the piles run out of Path tiles and/or Discovery tokens, the game continues without revealing new ones.

Play then passes to the next player clockwise.

End of Round & Intermediate Scoring

When all players have completed their turns, advance the Round marker to the next space. Before starting the new round, resolve the top Event card (see Event Cards).

Intermediate Scoring

When the Round marker reaches the space next to the Intermediate Scoring token, an Intermediate Scoring is performed at the end of that round.

On the board, three Scoring tokens define the scoring conditions:

• Path Scoring Tokens (A and C): Award points based on terrain type (the colors of Path tiles and Discovery tokens).
• Composition Scoring Token (B): Awards points based on a specific grid composition condition indicated on the token.

During the game, each scoring condition, terrain-type (Path Scoring tokens A and C) and the Composition (Composition Scoring token B), is resolved twice.

Path and Composition Scoring Tokens in Detail

Path Scoring Tokens: Victory Points (VP) for each Path tile and/or Discovery token present anywhere in the grid, by Terrain type (color).

There are 5 Terrain types: Water, Rock, Forest, Field, and Flowers.

Composition Scoring Tokens:

• VP for each Path tile present anywhere in the grid that has at least one symbol and/or a Bear token / a Snow token / a Discovery token on it.
• VP for each Path tile present anywhere in the grid that has no symbols and/or no Bear token / Snow token / Discovery token on it.

When an Intermediate Scoring is triggered:

1. Each player calculates their points according to the active scoring conditions.
2. Update your Score marker on the Score Track.
3. Flip the Intermediate Scoring token to indicate it has been resolved.

After the third and final Intermediate Scoring, all players play one final round before proceeding to Final Scoring.

Example: The Round marker has reached the space immediately before the Intermediate Scoring token (B + C). At the end of the round, each player gains 2 Victory Points (B) for each Path tile without symbols and/or Bear tokens, and 2 Victory Points (C) for each green (Forest) Path tile and Discovery token. In this case, the Red player gains 4 VP for 2 tiles without Bears and 4 VP for two green (Forest) tiles, for a total of 8 VP.

Event Cards

At the beginning of each round, except the first, resolve the Event card on top of the deck.

Each Event card shows one or two terrain types. Each terrain type is associated with an effect (Snow or Bear). Apply each effect only to tiles of its corresponding terrain. If you own one or more tiles of the indicated terrain types, place the corresponding tokens on each tile according to its icon.

Example: Place X Snow tokens (based on the round that is about to begin) on Field Path tiles, and 1 Bear token on the Forest Path tile.

Snow Tokens

The number of snow tokens you must place depends on the current round, as shown on the board:

• Before the first Intermediate Scoring: 1 Snow token
• Between the first and second: 2 Snow tokens
• Between the second and third: 3 Snow tokens
• In the final round: 4 Snow tokens

If you have multiple tiles of the indicated terrain type, you may distribute the Snow tokens among one or more of them. If you do not have any tiles of that type, you do not place any Snow tokens.

A Path tile may contain any number of Snow tokens.

Bear Tokens

If the Event card also shows a Bear, place 1 Bear token on a tile of the indicated terrain type. The number of Bear tokens is always 1, regardless of the round.

If you do not have any tiles of that type, you place no Bear token.

After resolving the effect, discard the Event card, revealing the next one.

Note: Event cards remain face up, so you can preview the effect of the upcoming round.

Reminder: When you cover a Path tile with another tile, all Snow and/or Bear tokens on it are discarded and returned to the general supply.

End of Game & Final Scoring

After all players have completed their turns in the final round, proceed to Final Scoring.

Take your Hiker meeple and move it through your grid to identify the longest single continuous path, with one entrance and one exit. You will score (and lose) points only from tiles and tokens along this path.

Reminder: The starting tile is the only tile that allows your path to cross itself.

Final Scoring Steps

1. Gain Victory Points from Discovery tokens, according to their individual conditions (see Discovery Token Scoring Conditions).
2. Gain 2 VP for each Discovery token placed on a Path tile of the same terrain type (color).
3. Gain 2 VP for each unused Extra Action token in your personal supply.
4. Lose -1 VP for each Bear symbol and/or Bear token on Path tiles, except for tiles with a Temple and/or those under the effect of a Bell.
5. Lose VP for each Path tile with 3 or more Snow tokens, based on the number of tokens, except for tiles with a Temple:
   • 3–4 Snow tokens: -2 VP
   • 5 or more Snow tokens: -4 VP

Each player updates their marker on the Score Track. If the marker passes the 50 space on the track, continue (adding +50 to the score) and keep scoring points.

The player with the most Victory Points (VP) wins the game.

If tied, the player with the fewest Bear symbols and/or Bear tokens on their longest path wins. If still tied, the player with the fewest Snow tokens wins. If still tied, victory is shared.

Discovery Token Scoring Conditions

• JUKU: Gain VP based on the total number of Juku on your path. (1: 2 VP, 2: 5 VP, 3: 8 VP, 4: 11 VP, 5 or more: 15 VP)
• SAMURAI: Gain 3 VP for each Samurai with a different terrain type (color) from the other Samurai tokens.
• TEMPLE: Gain 2 VP for each Temple. In addition, on the Path tile where it is placed, Bear symbols, Bear tokens, and/or Snow tokens do not subtract VP. Reminder: Snow tokens on Temple tiles may still provide points to Wheels on adjacent tiles.
• WHEEL: Gain 1 VP for each Snow token on the tile where the Wheel is placed, and all orthogonally adjacent tiles.
• OBSERVATION POINT: Gain 2 VP for each Path tile and/or Discovery token of a different color beneath this token. (The top token itself is not considered when counting the different colors).
• BELL: On the Path tile on which the Bell is placed, and on all orthogonally adjacent tiles, whether directly connected to the path or not, Bear symbols and/or Bear tokens do not subtract VP.

Example: The Blue player has identified their longest path, with one entrance and one exit, and will gain and lose VP only from the tiles on this path. During the game, they scored 22 VP, to which they add: 5 VP for the 2 Juku, 6 VP for 2 Samurai with different Terrain types (colors) (the Samurai with Water terrain does not count, as it is outside the path), 2 VP for 1 Temple, 7 VP for the Wheel (2 VP for the 2 Snow tokens on its tile plus 5 VP for the 5 Snow tokens on adjacent tiles), and 6 VP for the Observation Point (under it there are 1 Path tile and 2 Discovery tokens, all of different colors). To these points, they add: 8 VP for 4 Discovery tokens on Path tiles of the same color (the Samurai token with Water terrain on a tile of the same color does not count, as it is outside the path) and 4 VP for 2 unused Extra Action tokens in their personal supply. From these points, they subtract: -6 VP for Bear symbols and/or tokens (the 2 Bear symbols on the Starting tile and the one on the tile with the Bell do not count, as they are under the effect of the Bell, and the Bear token on the Water tile is outside the path) and -2 VP for one Path tile with 3 Snow tokens (the Snow tokens on the tile with the Temple do not count because they are under the effect of the Temple). The Blue player scores 52 Victory Points. Not bad for their first game!

End-Game Scoring Summary

1. Gain VP from Discovery tokens:
   • JUKU: VP based on the total number of Juku. (1: 2 VP, 2: 5 VP, 3: 8 VP, 4: 11 VP, 5 or more: 15 VP)
   • SAMURAI: 3 VP for each Samurai with a Terrain type (color) different from the other Samurai.
   • TEMPLE: 2 VP for each Temple. In addition, on the Path tile on which it is placed, Bear symbols and/or Bear and/or Snow tokens do not subtract VP. Reminder: Snow tokens on tiles with a Temple still provide VP to Wheels on adjacent tiles.
   • WHEEL: 1 VP for each Snow token on the tile on which the Wheel is placed and on orthogonally adjacent tiles.
   • OBSERVATION POINT: 2 VP for each Path tile and/or Discovery token of a different color beneath this token (the token on top is not counted when determining colors).
2. Gain 2 VP for each Discovery token that has the same Terrain type (color) as the Path tile on which it is placed.
3. Gain 2 VP for each unused Extra Action token in your personal supply.
4. Subtract -1 VP for each Bear symbol and/or Bear token on Path tiles, except for tiles with a Temple and/or those under the effect of the Bell.
5. Subtract VP for each Path tile with 3 or more Snow tokens on it, based on the number of tokens, except for tiles with a Temple token:
   • 3–4 Snow tokens: -2 VP
   • 5 or more Snow tokens: -4 VP

The player with the most Victory Points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the fewest Bear symbols and/or Bear tokens on their path wins. If still tied, the player with the fewest Snow tokens wins. If the tie persists, victory is shared.