Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road “Everything Hanamikoji Pledge” Bundle (Kickstarter Special) EmperorS4

Board Game Geek Rating: 5.56
Board Game Geek Avg Player Rating: 7.20
Players: 2 to 2
Published: 2022
Content Notes: Kickstarter Edition of Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road “Everything Hanamikoji Pledge” Board Game by EmperorS4. Includes Hanamikoji board game, Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road, Collector’s Bookcase, Hanamikoji: Action Tiles Expansion, and all unlocked stretch goals. Please note: unless otherwise stated paid add ons from the Kickstarter Campaign are not included.

Lanterns dance softly overhead as Iroha peers gracefully over her fluttering fan, her eyes briefly connecting with two shadowy figures in the small audience.  As everyone else is transfixed by the new maiko’s elegant artistry, her two rival patrons plot away.  The tension thickens.  The next move will be discrete, yet decisive.

On Hanamikoji, Kyoto’s most renowned geisha street, there is no lack of talented maiko, but only the favored can stay long enough to become artists of the highest order.  How far will Iroha’s star climb?  Whose name will she favor as her benefactor?

Enter the subtle, intriguing world of Hanamikoji and experience its emerging drama as a patron manipulating the road geisha travel to ascend to fame and mastery.

“Yoko… What lies ahead for us?” asked her friend Tomoyo. Yoko stared out into the sea, calm and serene. “Today we are just maiko. But one day, we will complete our training and become known as geisha.” “Yes, artists of the highest order. But then what?” “Okaasan said that one day, perhaps some of us may be lucky to inherit the teahouse… if fortune favors us and our hard work.”

Welcome to Hanamikoji! In Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road, a 30-minute two-player, competitive strategy game full of implicit intentions, veiled messages, and hidden actions, players represent rival but friendly patrons supporting Yoko, Tomoyo, and others along their journey from apprentice (maiko) to full geisha (artist) and perhaps even the owner (okaasan) of their own establishment. To do so, players help their favored geisha advance and build prestige through performing their art at different teahouses.

Geisha start as apprentices (maiko) but become full geisha and score prestige points after accruing the necessary patronage to return to their original teahouse (ochaya) for the graduation ceremony (erikae). Some geisha may continue their path further and eventually inherit the teahouse (upon a second return) to become the new okaasan, recognized with more prestige points. At the end of the game, the player who provides the most support to each geisha is recognized. The player who has supported the most prestigious group of geisha wins the game.

–from the publisher

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