Last weekend I was able to join Miss Merc for a sneak peak at some of the games that will be at the Tokyo Game Market in April 2022. 

First up was an introduction of Umbradeco from Kuji Emi. Kujiradama has previously released Trumpen, Nebuta Beat and CMYK. Umbradeco is a cute little tile placement game where players try to place colored umbrellas onto a grid to maximize scoring. The hex shaped umbrellas, however,  can not be placed adjacent to umbrellas of the same color.  This image is from an online test site.

Players may score when they place their tile for certain situations. 1 point can be earned for moving a different umbrella to legally place their active tile. Points will also be scored if any other umbrellas of the same color are in a straight line with the active tile. Also if an active tile is placed such that umbrellas of 4 different colors are adjacent, the player will score points. Finally if a player places an umbrella in the center of 6 umbrellas that differ in color to the active tile, 5 points will be scored. In this special situation it is also allowable to cover a previously placed umbrella once. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. 

Next we heard from Charles Ward who will have some of his previously published games,  such as Haze Island and Rokoumon, available as well as his game accessory CoinSides. CoinSides is a single metal coin which when spun can be used for multiple dice sizes from D4 to D20 and has other uses such as a life counter. Charles also told us about his upcoming game Sky Tower which will be coming to crowdfunding with the nice idea of having backers contribute ideas to the expansion. Sky Towers is a card game where players try to build the tallest towers restricted by color of the top segment. There will also be plenty of special actions and bonus cards for scoring.

Finally we heard from Ichigoba from ‘@BudaCAFE game circle’ with a few interesting games. ARISAKI DANCE et ballet is apparently a trick taking game for 4-8 players, where the cards have dance positions or moves on them.  Usually the highest number played in a trick wins that trick, but in certain conditions the lowest number could win the trick.  In addition, expansion decks with different dances are available. 

Ichigoba will also have Suikoden Marathon, a solo & co-op card game where the player tries to maneuver the racers (Great masters who have gathered at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty) into the right locations of the race.  Each player gets 1 card.  On their turn they draw a card and play one of their cards.  Cards are placed in rows, starting with 5 cards at the top row, then each row going down will have 1 card less, to form an upside down triangle (which has the appearance of the racers running).  Racers can’t be next to other racers with the same features such as color, number for example.  The player who places the last card at the bottom of the triangle wins (that is the racer who is at the front).