Takenoko is a bamboo cultivation game where players must grow bamboo and grow their land, while taking bamboo and growing it while trying to get the emperor’s favor to win.
- Was it fun?
- I enjoyed it, the cultivation and growing of land, but having it be in a collective sense was fun, just some of the rules/mechanics (mostly irrigation) were a bit confusing.
- What were the player interactions?
- Yep! We had to work together to grow land, but we also were taking and interfering with other players’ goals.
- How long did it take to learn?
- Only 10 minutes, the rules seemed confusing at 1st but we had a video that explained it really well.
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
- Figuring out the irrigation systems, especially since you could only get one bar or irrigation per turn (unless the weather says otherwise) which would be annoying since half of your actions would be just getting water.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
- The whole game and its design was very cute, one of the cutest and well visually designed games i’ve played. The game pieces of the bamboo were cute and same with the artwork, everything seems like there was so much effort put into it, and it turns out really good.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
- I wish the panda and the gardener could move in a different direction instead of just straight, since it makes it take 3 turns minimum to move to a diagonal square, and any other player could mess that up.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
- I would change the movement of the gardener and panda, just so it could move diagonally and be used more often. I found myself avoiding options that had to use the panda due to the annoying movement pattern.
- Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
- I would, it was fun to play and took up a good amount of time to play. However the age rating says for 8+, I feel that’s a little too low, as it seems a little difficult for an 8yr old to understand.
- Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
- Learning it (Act 1) was pretty easy, we had a video to teach us how to play and set up things. Act 2 of actually playing was fun, and Act 3 of ending the game was easy, since it immediately ended after a player got all of their objectives done.
- What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
- Player could use each other land to grow bamboo and use it claim objectives, and competitively take and add upgrades to change the game in their favor
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
- The metaphor is growing bamboo for an emperor, which is prevented as those cards are claimed within the game, also the visuals helped push that point. The mechanic of irrigation made the game really unique, while annoying at times, brought a new level of challenge to it.