Arigatō
Arigatō Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components and Setup
Shuffle all artisan cards and place them in a face-down pile in the middle of the table: this is the artisan draw pile.
100 artisan cards, split into 5 types: 20 origamists, 20 botanists, 20 blacksmiths, 20 sculptors, 20 fireworks makers.
During the game you will place artisan cards in a shared discard pile in the middle of the table.
Place all of the item tokens in a general supply.
60 item tokens, split into 5 categories: 12 origamis, 12 bonsai, 12 katanas, 12 statues, 12 fireworks.
Place all of the favor tokens in a general supply.
39 favor tokens: 16 tokens of 1 favor, 12 tokens of 3 favor, 11 tokens of 10 favor.
The supply of item and favor tokens is considered unlimited. If you run out of tokens, write something down or use components of your choice to keep track.
Place the 2 calendar tiles next to each other. You can choose which side of the tiles to use, but keep them in ascending numerical order. These 2 tiles form the calendar. Place the day marker on day 1 of the calendar.
Place all of the objective tokens in a general supply.
Components: 2 double-sided calendar tiles (with different objectives), 1 day marker, 50 objective tokens.
Each player takes: 4 offering tokens, 1 village board, and 1 palace gate board.
The village board has 4 workshop slots, each of which can hold 1 artisan. Place any items you gain next to your village, in a personal supply.
Description of the Artisan Cards
The artisan cards contain various elements:
- Village placement restriction — a legal-placement checkmark icon or an illegal-placement bar icon, top center of the card.
- Favor points (victory points) — top left.
- Item produced by this artisan — top right.
- Items required to prepare the offering — left side.
- Type of artisan — right side.
- Condition to trigger the effect — bottom left.
- Card effect — bottom right.
Solo Mode
Solo mode works in the same way as the regular game, with some exceptions. Before trying the solo mode, we encourage you to read the regular rules first. The only differences are:
- At the start of each round, draw 5 cards instead of 3.
- During the game, keep all of your traveler artisans (which you would normally pass to your neighbor) face down to the left of your player board.
After 12 rounds, the game ends. Separate the 22 traveler artisans you kept by their type again. For example, keep all of the sculptors together, even though their illustrations are slightly different.
Count the favor points for each of the 5 groups of artisans of the same type.
Add up the favor points of the 4 highest scoring groups: this is the score you need to beat in order to win the game (here for instance 92 points, from example groups scoring 19, 24, 23, and 26 — the lowest-scoring group of 15 is dropped).
Goal of the Game
In Arigato, each player is in charge of their own village. The Shogun's birthday is coming up in 12 days, and you want to win as much of his favor as possible. To do so, your artisans will have to prepare the most exciting offerings for him. It's your job to help them before you send them off to the palace.
How to Play
The game consists of 12 rounds, as indicated by the 12 spaces for the day marker on the calendar.
Each round consists of 3 phases, which the players carry out simultaneously.
Note: make sure all players have finished the current phase before moving on to the next one.
- Dawn: Assigning roles. In secret, all players assign a role to each of the 5 artisans in their hand. You must send 2 travelers to the village on your left. You must keep 2 craftsmen, who will produce items during the next phase, and assign 1 resident to your village to create offerings with beneficial effects. Your village only has 4 workshops, so you'll have to strategically choose which residents you want to assign.
- Day: Managing your village and preparing the offerings. Reveal your artisan cards and gain the items produced by your craftsmen. Trigger the effects of your residents, if any. Manage your items and try to gather the ones requested by your residents, so they can prepare offerings for the Shogun.
- Dusk: End of the round. Check whether or not you managed to fulfill the objective of the day.
At the end of the 12th round, the player with the most favor points — gained from offerings, cards' effects, and objectives — wins the game.
Phase 1 – Dawn: Assigning Roles
At dawn, the artisans split up to help the various villages with their birthday preparations.
In the first round, create your starting hand by drawing 5 artisan cards. Do not advance the day marker yet.
In subsequent rounds, refill your hand by drawing 3 cards from the draw pile and picking up the 2 cards placed down by the player to your right during the previous round. Advance the day marker to the next day on the calendar.
If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the artisan cards in the discard pile to create a new draw pile.
Then, secretly assign a role to each of the 5 artisans in your hand:
- Resident: 1 artisan will stay in your village.
- Travelers: 2 artisans will travel to the village on your left.
- Craftsmen: 2 artisans will produce items.
The Resident Artisan
Choose which artisan will be your resident. Place this card face down in an EMPTY workshop slot of your village. Make sure you keep its placement restriction in mind.
Emptying a Workshop
At any point during the dawn or day phase, you may empty a Workshop by removing the Artisan card from it. There are two possible cases:
- If there's no offering token on this artisan card, place it on the discard pile. You do not gain any favor points or items.
- If there is an offering token on this artisan card, place it under your palace gate and the offering token next to your village. This artisan's favor points will count toward your score at the end of the game.
Careful: you cannot prepare an offering during phase 1 (Dawn), but only during phase 2 (Day).
Important: You must assign a resident artisan each round. If the 4 workshops in your village are occupied, you must empty the workshop you want to place your next resident artisan in.
The Traveler Artisans
Choose your 2 traveler artisans and place them face down to your left, between your village and that of your neighbor. They will take these cards in their hand at the start of the next round.
The Craftsman Artisans
Choose your 2 craftsman artisans and keep them in your hand. In the next phase, you will discard them to gain the items they produce (indicated in the lantern).
Once all players have assigned a role to each of their 5 artisans, proceed to the next phase.
Final round: The dawn phase works differently in the final round. All players must assign 1 resident, 4 craftsmen, and 0 travelers. See the Reminders for the Final Round section below.
Example: You have 5 cards in your hand. You choose to place the botanist in your village as a resident. You send the 2 sculptors to the next village as travelers. You keep the fireworks maker and origamist in your hand as craftsmen.
Phase 2 – Day: Managing Your Village and Preparing the Offerings
Your artisans gather together to create and prepare offerings for the Shogun.
Start by revealing the face-down resident artisan card in your village.
The effect of this artisan will trigger each time you meet their condition, from now on until they leave your village.
Place the 2 craftsmen artisan cards you have in your hand on the discard pile. Take the 2 items they produced and place them in your personal supply.
Note: all traveler artisan cards stay face down until the start of the next round. However, you may look at the ones you passed to your neighbor in secret.
Final round: The day phase works exactly like in the last round, but you'll produce 4 items instead of 2.
Example: The botanist you revealed as your resident provides you with 2 statues because the 2 traveler artisans you chose are sculptors. These 2 statues trigger the effect of the fireworks maker in your top left workshop, allowing you to score 2 favor. Because the 2 traveler artisan cards are of the same type, the botanist in your top right workshop allows you to score 2 additional favor. Take favor tokens for a total value of 4 points. You chose 1 fireworks maker and 1 origamist as your craftsman artisans, and may therefore take 1 firework and 1 origami from the general supply.
Finally, you must manage your village. You may carry out the following actions as many times as you like, in the order of your choice:
- Discard 2 identical items from your personal supply to take 1 other item of your choice from the general supply.
- Prepare the offering of 1 of the artisans in your village. Discard all of the items the artisan requires from your personal supply, and place an offering token on the artisan's card. Warning! To prepare an artisan's offering, you must discard ALL of the items they require in ONE go.
- Send an artisan to the palace. If an artisan card from one of your workshops contains an offering token, you may place the card under your palace gate and the offering token next to your village. The favors of this artisan will be counted toward your score at the end of the game.
Example: You decide to prepare the sculptor's offering in your bottom left workshop.
- You're 1 bonsai short, so you discard 2 katanas to take 1 bonsai.
- Now that you have all of the necessary items in your personal supply, you discard them all in one go to place an offering token on this sculptor. Because you successfully prepared an offering, you gain 1 statue (thanks to the blacksmith in your top right workshop), and because you gained 1 statue, the fireworks maker in your top left workshop allows you to score 1 favor point.
- Next, you decide to place the sculptor with the offering under your palace gate. Thanks to the effect of this Sculptor, this action scores you 2 favor points because there's 1 blacksmith under your palace gate. You take a favor token of value 3.
Phase 3 – Dusk: End of the Round
Each day, the Shogun's wishes change. Fulfilling the objectives grants the villages favor points.
A. Check to see if your village contains artisans with an hourglass icon. If so, their effect triggers now.
B. From the second round onward, take 1 objective token if you fulfill the objective of the day (see objective iconography below).
Symbols used in this phase's conditions:
- any cards
- cards of the same type
- cards of a different type
- cards with an offering token
- cards with an hourglass icon
- any items in your personal supply
- identical items in your personal supply
- different items in your personal supply
Symbols on the cards:
- in your village
- under your palace gate
- in your village and under your palace gate
C. At the very end of this phase, check your personal supply. You cannot have more than 7 items. If you have more, discard the items of your choice.
Example: You have a sculptor with an hourglass icon in your bottom right workshop. Since you have 2 artisans with an offering token, you score 1 favor point and gain 1 statue. The day marker is on day 10. Because you have 5 cards of the same type under your palace gate and in your village (1 botanist in your village and 4 botanists under your palace gate), you fulfill the objective of the day and gain 1 objective token.
Favor Bonuses
Regardless of the phase, each time you reach or cross a 10-Favor threshold thanks to the effects of the artisans in your workshops, immediately gain 2 Items of your choice: the same or different. (i.e., if you reach 10 favor points = gain 2 Items; 20 favor points = 2 items again, etc).
Reminders for the Final Round
The final round starts when the day marker reaches day 12 on the calendar.
During the 1st phase (dawn) of the final round, assign 1 resident and 4 craftsmen. During the 2nd phase (day), discard the 4 craftsmen to gain 4 items. Effects may trigger and you may carry out actions as usual. During the 3rd phase (dusk), the effects of cards with an hourglass icon still trigger, but there's no objective of the day.
End of the Game
Once the final round is completed, take a pen and paper and count your favor points:
- Score a number of favor points based on the number of objective tokens you've gained, according to this table:
| Objective tokens | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Favor points | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 55 |
- Add the total value of the favor tokens you gained throughout the game, thanks to the effects of your artisans.
- Add the total amount of favor points from the artisan cards you placed under your palace gate.
Note: the artisans in your workshops and the items in your personal supply do not score points.
The player with the most favor points wins the game. If there's a tie, those players share the victory.
Iconography
All effects are optional: You may choose not to trigger them. The conditions and effects may differ based on the type of Artisan or Item indicated on the card.
Conditions
- If the traveler artisan you passed to the left is a blacksmith (you may look at them). Can trigger up to 2 times in a round.
- If the 2 traveler artisans you passed to the left are of the same type (you may look at them).
- If the resident artisan you placed in your village is a blacksmith.
- If the craftsman artisan you discarded is a blacksmith. Can trigger up to 2 times in a round.
- If the 2 craftsman artisans you discarded are of the same type.
- When you place a fireworks maker under your palace gate.
- When you place this artisan under your palace gate.
- When you place an offering token on an artisan.
- If you gain a katana. Triggers each time you gain it.
- If you gain an objective token at the end of the round.
- Per origamist with an offering token at the end of the round.
- If you have 2 origamists at the top of your Village at the end of the round.
- If you have 5 or more items in your personal supply at the end of the round.
- Per pair of artisans (the same or different types) with an offering token at the end of the round.
- Per sculptor in your village at the end of the round.
Effects
- Take: item of the indicated type (origami, bonsai, katana, statue, or firework). Favor (point).
- Item produced by the artisan on which you just placed an offering token.
- Item produced by the two artisans of the same type you just discarded.
- 2 favor points per botanist in your village.
- 2 favor points per fireworks maker under your palace gate.