Sakura
Sakura Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 52 Sakura cards in 4 colours, 13 in each colour, values ranging from 1-13
- 15 Character cards
- 1 Yin-Yang card
- 6 Yin-Yang tokens
- 40 coins, 30 valued 1, 10 valued 5
Setup
Each player is dealt 14-12-10-8-6 Sakura cards in case of a 2-3-4-5-6 player game, then place 2 cards on the table facing up. Put aside the remaining cards, these are not needed in this round. Place the Yin-Yang card in between the other 2 cards on the table and give each player 5 coins and 1 yin-yang token.
Shuffle the character cards and place 5 of them face up next to each other on the table. The other cards form a draw pile which is placed facing down next to the revealed cards. The person who has last seen a cherry tree blossom will be the starting player.
Gameplay
The active player will play a card from hand onto both face-up cards on the table, covering them completely, while observing one of the the following rules.
- The placed card must be the same colour as the card on the top of the pile, and it must be either greater or lesser in value then the covered card, depending on the direction of the yin-yang card. The card values do not have to be consecutive. There is possible continuity between the 1 and the 13 cards. On the increasing side, a 1 may follow a 13, on the decreasing side a 13 may follow a 1. OR
- The placed card is the same value as the covered card on top of the deck. It can be any colour.
When the active player cannot place a card onto one or both piles according to the rules, they must take that pile or piles and place it in front of them. This is their trick pile. The cards in the trick pile have coin values on them, which are added up and the player takes this amount of coins from the reserve. A card is then selected from hand to replace the taken pile.
The player may hire any number of characters during his turn at any time, as long as they can pay the price. The price of a character is dictated by their position in line. The one next to the draw pile costs 5 coins to hire, the next one costs 4, then 3, 2, and finally the furthest character costs 1 coin to hire. The special ability of the hired character has to be used immediately, then the used character goes into the discard pile.
The player may replace all available characters on display at any time by paying 6 coins. All currently available characters go into the discard pile, then 5 new character cards are drawn. The player has the chance to use and then discard 1 character for free from the 5 just drawn. Further characters can be hired as specified above.
Note: Character cards may also be played at the end of one's turn, influencing the placement conditions for the next person.
Example: Its Monica's turn and she placed a card onto both of the piles. In any case she decides to hire a Samurai to turn the Yin-Yang card around and change the status of the piles.
If a character was hired in the current turn, then the character cards are now pushed to the left towards the value 1 card slot, and the remaining empty slots are filled from the draw pile.
If there are not enough cards in the draw pile, the discard pile is reshuffled, forming a new draw pile.
The play passes to the next player clockwise. The round lasts until each player only has 2 cards remaining in hand. These cards are not played. The end of round scoring starts.
General rule: The next player must always consider the top card on the pile at face value when placing a card.
You may not look through a pile!
End of Round Scoring
All players add up the number of shurikens on their trick cards and make note of the value on a sheet of paper. Shuffle the 2 decks using all the cards, deal the cards again, and then a new round starts, beginning with the player to the left of the previous starting player. The money is carried over to the next round; no additional amount is distributed at the start of the new round. If a player doesn't have any coins from the last round, they will start the new round without money. The game consists of 3 rounds. After the last round is completed, the players add up their scores. The player with the least amount of points is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the highest amount of cash is the winner. If the coins are also tied, then the tied players share the victory.
Yin-Yang Card
The Yin-Yang card indicates the value that must be placed on each of the two piles on the table. The side with the (-) indicates a card of lesser value, while the side with (+) indicates a greater value card must be placed on top. The only exception is when a card of equal value is placed.
Characters
Cook
The played card increases or decreases its value by exactly this much.
Example: Its Eric's turn, the top of the increasing pile has a value 13 black card on it. He hires the cook with the value of 2, now he can place a black 12 card on top as if it was a value 1 card. The value of the card will revert back to 12 for the next player. The same rule applies for the decreasing pile, where a value 2 card can be placed as a 13.
Daimyo
Discard a card from your trick cards permanently, gain twice the amount of coins as is indicated on the discarded card's shurikens.
Geisha
Draw a card from each of your neighbouring players, and give them another card from your hand instead. The drawn cards can be passed off again to the neighbour, but not to the same player it was drawn from. If only playing with 2 players, draw just one card and give 1 in return.
Take a card from another players trick cards, gain triple the amount of coins as is indicated on the card's shurikens. The taken card then is added to your trick pile.
Look though the hand of another player, you may take one card. If you take one, another must be given in return.
All players choose a side of their Yin-Yang token in secret, then reveal their choice simultaneously. If fewer players choose the other side as you did, or if it's a tie, you gain double the amount of coins that you spent on hiring this Daimyo. In all other cases you gain half the amount you spent, rounded down. In 2 player games, after revealing, a third token is tossed to decide.
Example: In a 6 player game, Anette and another 3 players have chosen the black side, the other players chose the white. This Daimyo cost 4 coins to hire, therefore Anette gains 8 coins from this action.
Look though one of the piles on the table and change the card order. The played card is placed on top of the new top card.
Konohana
You gain the amount of coins from reserve that are indicated on the cards in one of the piles on the table.
Samurai
Reverse the Yin-Yang card, the decreasing side will now become the increasing one, the increasing will become decreasing. This may be performed during your turn, modifying the status of the second pile even after the first card is already placed.
You change the colour of your card to the colour of a card on top of a pile. Still, you have to keep the rules for the numbers.
A lesser value card can be played on the increasing (white) side.
You may place any card on a pile irrespective of what is on top.
A greater value card can be played on the decreasing (black) side.