Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
70 Ukiyo-e cards ("cards"):
- Moronobu (師宣): 4 cards
- Toyokuni (豊国): 6 cards
- Kuniyoshi (国芳): 8 cards
- Utamaro (歌麿): 10 cards
- Sharaku (写楽): 12 cards
- Hokusai (北斎): 14 cards
- Hiroshige (広重): 16 cards
Overview
Players each collect Ukiyo-e cards as an art dealer in Paris. By collecting 2 or more cards of the same artist, you can reveal them in front of you to hold a solo exhibition of that artist.
At the end of the game, each player receives points for the solo exhibitions they have held. However, it is not quite that simple. If another player collects more cards of the same artist as you do, they will take the right to hold that artist's exhibition from you.
After 3 rounds, the player with the most points wins.
Card Description
- Ukiyo-e: This is an ukiyo-e print created by one of the seven artists. Cards with the same image are the cards of the same artist and score.
- Score: You get these points at the end of the game for holding a solo exhibition that includes this card as the lowest number card. (Described later.)
- Artist: A color is assigned to each artist's name.
- Number of cards: The number in the red frame indicates the total number of cards by that artist. For example, there are 16 Hiroshige cards, but only 4 Moronobu cards. The more cards there are by a particular artist, the wider the range of points you can get.
Round Setup
- Shuffle all the Ukiyo-e cards face down.
- Deal 5 cards face down to each player as their hand. The players each hold their hand, making sure to conceal what is on the cards from the other players.
- Place the remaining cards face down in the center of the table as the draw pile.
- Leave space next to the draw pile for the discard pile.
Round Flow
The youngest person is the start player. Beginning with the start player, take turns clockwise.
On your turn, perform the following two actions in order.
- Draw a card twice
- Discard a card OR hold a solo exhibition
1. Draw a Card Twice
On your turn, draw a card from one of the following two piles and add it to your hand.
- Top of the draw pile
- Top of the discard pile
Draw a card twice in a row. You can draw twice from the same pile or draw each card from a different pile. However, if there is no card in the discard pile at the start of the round or at any other time, or if the draw pile has run out, you can only draw from an available pile.
2. Discard a Card OR Hold a Solo Exhibition
After drawing a card twice on your turn, choose either to "2-a Discard a card" or "2-b Hold a solo exhibition".
2-a Discard a Card
If you cannot (or do not want to) hold a solo exhibition, you must choose a card from your hand and discard it.
Place the discarded card on top of the discard pile. If the discard pile is not empty, place the card on top of it so that the cards below are not so visible.
The cards you discard may be taken by another player in later turns, so choose carefully which cards to discard.
2-b Hold a Solo Exhibition
You can hold an artist's exhibition by placing that artist's cards from your hand in front of you. To hold a solo exhibition, follow the rules below.
Rules for Holding a Solo Exhibition
- Place two or more cards of your chosen artist from your hand at the same time. You can place two or more cards with the same picture (same score). Place these cards on top of each other with part of the bottom cards showing to make visible the number of cards along with the lowest-scoring card.
- If no one has held a solo exhibition of your chosen artist, you can decide how many cards to play at once.
- If someone (including yourself) has already held a solo exhibition of the artist you have chosen, you must play more cards than the number of cards in the artist's existing solo exhibition. If you do this, all the cards in the outnumbered solo exhibition must be immediately discarded face up to the discard pile. (Thus, no artist can have more than one solo exhibition at a time.) The player who discards the cards can choose the order to discard them.
- When playing the cards of your chosen artist, you can choose to play some of them and keep some remaining in your hand.
(Important) You cannot add the same artist's card from your hand to your existing solo exhibition. On the other hand, you can hold a solo exhibition with cards that outnumber your existing solo exhibition. Even if you outnumber your existing solo exhibition of the same artist, you must discard all the cards from the outnumbered solo exhibition into the discard pile.
Important: On your last turn, you cannot hold an exhibition of an artist who has not yet had their exhibition under "2-b Hold a Solo Exhibition". (This applies even if the end condition is met by having the draw pile run out, and the number of existing exhibitions is 5 or less.) It is possible to hold an exhibition of an artist by outnumbering the artist's existing exhibition.
Example 1
Player A is holding a solo exhibition of 2 Kuniyoshi cards. Player B needs at least 3 Kuniyoshi cards to hold a new exhibition of Kuniyoshi. Player B plays 4 Kuniyoshi cards to hold a solo exhibition. The 2 Kuniyoshi cards in front of Player A are immediately discarded.
Example 2
Player A is holding a solo exhibition of 2 Hokusai cards, which scores 3 pt. Player A then draws 1 Hokusai card from the draw pile, but they cannot add this to their existing solo exhibition. Player A has then collected 4 Hokusai cards in their hand. Holding a solo exhibition with 3 of the 4 cards earns 6 pt, so Player A holds an exhibition of 3 Hokusai cards that outnumbers their existing exhibition. Their existing exhibition of 2 Hokusai cards is discarded.
Example of the Last Turn
Player A holds an exhibition of 3 Utamaro cards on their turn. The players are now holding a total of 6 solo exhibitions between them, so the round end condition is met. After that, Players B and C each take one final turn. Then proceed to the scoring.
After Player B draws 2 cards, they have in their hand 2 Toyokuni cards, which have not yet been used to hold an exhibition. However, on their final turn, Player B cannot hold an exhibition of Toyokuni cards that have not yet been used. Player B does not have any cards to outnumber an existing exhibition, so Player B discards 1 card and ends their turn.
After Player C draws 2 cards, they have 5 Hiroshige cards in their hand. Player C is already holding a solo exhibition of 3 Hiroshige cards, but holding an exhibition of 4 Hiroshige cards from their hand earns a higher score, so Player C holds such an exhibition and ends their turn.
End of the Round
Each round ends when one or both of the following 2 conditions is met.
- The players are holding a total of 6 solo exhibitions between them. (Players cannot hold the solo exhibition of the 7th Artist card.)
- The face-down draw pile has run out. (It does not matter how many cards remain in the discard pile.)
After that, everyone except for the player who achieved either of the above conditions takes one last turn. Then end the current round and proceed to scoring.
End of Round Scoring
First, everyone discards their hand to the discard pile. These cards do not count for scoring.
After that, each player picks the lowest scoring card from each of their exhibitions, sets it aside, and discards all of the remaining cards. Keep the cards you have set aside as your score. Place the cards you have acquired face down so as to distinguish them from your exhibitions.
If you have just finished the first or second round, start the next round. Collect all the cards from the draw pile and discard pile, shuffle them face down, and then start the next round from Step 2. When you do this, be careful not to mix in the cards you have acquired as your score. On the second and third rounds, the number of cards of each artist whose solo exhibition was held in the previous round will be reduced by one.
End of the Game
If you have just ended the third round, the game ends. The player with the highest total score of cards acquired over the 3 rounds wins.
In case of a tie, the tied player who has acquired the most cards wins. If that is also a tie, the tied players share the victory.