Tatsumi Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Game Turn
  • Fly
  • The Seaboard and Seawells
  • Gathering
  • Holding
  • Offering
• Ending the Game
• Ring Placement
  • Ring Placement Rules
• Elemental Rifts
  • Immediate Scoring
• Island Blessings
• Elemental Mastery
  • End Game Scoring
• Islands and Dragons
  • Asymmetric Islands
  • Asymmetric Dragons
• Solo-mode
  • Solo-mode Setup
  • Solo-mode Gameplay and Turn Sequence
  • Solo-mode Scoring Rank
  • Solo-mode Game End
• Weather Module
  • Weather Setup
  • Upkeeping Sand Dollars
  • Triggering Weather Events
• Summoning Cards
  • Scoring Summoning Cards
  • Lasting Summoning Cards

Getting Started

For the best player experience, we recommend your first game uses only the symmetric Tatsumi Island and the symmetric gathering for each dragon.

Once you understand the symmetric game, the asymmetric dragons and islands will be easier to learn and play.

Components

• 4 Dragons (figure and card). The base dragons are Karyu, Raijin, Fujin and Mizuchi.
• 6 Island boards (symmetric front and asymmetric back)
• 6 Island Reference cards
• 1 Seaboard
• 28 Summoning scales (7 of each color)
• 8 Score trackers (2 of each color)
• 112 Elemental rings (28 of each color)
• 13 Sand Dollar tokens
• 1 Maelstrom token
• 16 Summoning cards
• 4 Wavering Shrine tiles
• 4 Weather cards
• 16 Solo-mode cards

Void Expansion (included for Gamefound backers, purchasable separately):

• 1 Dragon (figure and card)
• 4 Elemental Rings (1 of each color)
• 7 Summoning scales
• 2 Score trackers
• 24 Void Shrine cards
• 1 Rules card
• Adds more content and expands the game to 5 players.

The rulebook pictures two versions of some components to show differences across all editions.

Goal of the Game

1-4 players. About 40 minutes. Ages 10 and up.

In Tatsumi, the islanders celebrate you as their guardian dragon, their Tatsu. Your calling is to restore the elementals on your island and renew good fortune for your people.

To earn the most good fortune and win the game, gather and place elemental rings to heal island rifts, unlocking island bonuses, summon animals, and master the elements.

Setup

1. Give each player one Island board and the corresponding Island Reference card. Each player should independently choose to play with the symmetric or asymmetric side of their island board.

2. Give each player the components corresponding to their player color (Dragon figure and their matching Dragon card, 1 Score tracker, and 7 Summoning scales). Each player should independently choose to play with the symmetric or asymmetric side of their dragon card.

   Each player should place 2 scales onto the scale icons of their island and the remaining 5 scales onto the scale icons to the side of their island as pictured.

3. Place the Seaboard, filled with all 112 Elemental rings, into the center of the table (each of 25 seawells filled to the surface of the seaboard with either 4 or 5 rings).

   With 3 players, remove 1 layer of rings from the seaboard. With 2 players, remove 2 layers of rings from the seaboard. Return the removed rings to the box.

4. Place a Wavering Shrine tile at the center of each edge of the seaboard.

5. Shuffle the four types of Summoning cards together and place one card above each shrine as pictured at random. Return the rest of the cards to the box.

6. Place the 13 Sand Dollar tokens off to the side of the play area.

7. Each player now places their dragon figure on the corner seawell nearest to them to start the game. The starting player is the player who most recently saw a dragonfly. Give the starting player the Maelstrom token (printed as "Malestrom" in the source) and you're ready to play!

   If you're playing solo, see Solo-mode below for additional solo setup and rules. If you're playing with additional modules, perform setup for additional modules.

Game Turn

Each turn, in any order, you will fly and choose either the gathering or offering action.

• Mandatory: Fly
• And (in any order): Choose 1: Gathering or Offering

At the end of your turn, there is no need to upkeep the seaboard as all elemental rings are visible in the depths of the board for the entirety of the game.

Fly

Move your dragon any distance into another seawell in an orthogonal or diagonal direction. Claim the topmost ring from the seawell you exited (if possible).

In the rare case where you cannot fly at all due to guarded seawells, remove your dragon from the seaboard and place it into any unguarded seawell, continuing your turn as normal.

Example 1: Flying. Mizuchi takes a fly action and claims the topmost ring from the seawell Mizuchi exits, in this case a fire ring. Darkened spaces are not accessible with the fly action and X spaces are not accessible since they are guarded spaces.

The Seaboard and Seawells

The seaboard is a 5x5 grid of seawells. Each seawell may contain up to 4 or 5 rings. Each seawell may contain one dragon, regardless if it contains any rings.

Depleted Seawell: A seawell is a depleted seawell when it contains no rings. When a seawell is depleted, immediately place a sand dollar token to designate it as a depleted seawell. Dragons may enter or fly over a depleted seawell. A depleted seawell does not have a topmost ring that may be claimed.

Adjacent: On the seaboard, adjacent includes both orthogonal and diagonal seawells unless otherwise noted. This applies to ring gathering and shrine offerings.

Movement: Whenever a dragon moves on the seaboard, it must exit one seawell and enter another seawell. Upon exiting a seawell, the dragon claims the topmost ring from that seawell. This applies to flying and any gathering action that grants movement.

Guarded: A seawell is considered guarded if it contains a dragon (or a maelstrom token in solo-mode). While a seawell is guarded, other dragons cannot enter it, pass through it in any way, or claim rings from beneath it.

Gathering

Perform your dragon's gathering action claiming up to two topmost rings from the seaboard.

• Symmetric: Dragons all have the same gathering action, claiming any two topmost rings orthogonally adjacent to your dragon.
• Asymmetric: Dragons all have unique gathering actions inspired by their elemental alignments and explained on the back of their dragon card (and in Islands and Dragons below).

Note: During setup, each player chooses the symmetric or asymmetric side of their dragon granting them access to their player-specific gathering action for the entire game. Players cannot swap between asymmetric and symmetric gathering actions.

Example 2: Gathering. Mizuchi ends the fly action and performs a gathering action, choosing to gather an adjacent fire and water ring from two of the unguarded orthogonally adjacent seawells. The fire ring is placed into slot 1 of Mizuchi's holding because it already contains a fire ring. The water ring is placed into slot 2 of Mizuchi's holding because it does not match rings in an existing holding slot.

Holding

Rings you claim from a seawell as a result of a fly or gathering action should be placed into a holding slot that contains only matching rings at the end of your turn. Each holding slot can hold any number of elemental rings of the same type.

Overflow: Only at the end of your turn, if you have more than 3 element types in your holding, you must choose one element type and transfer all rings of that type onto your island, following ring placement rules. Rings placed from overflow do not score fortune for immediate scoring, but all rings do score fortune during end game scoring.

Offering

Before a dragon takes an offering action, they must meet the necessary conditions to take the offering action and then follow a multi-step process.

Conditions Required to Take the Offering Action:

1. Your dragon has not already taken a gathering or offering action this turn.
2. Your dragon is within range of the shrine you intend to offer rings.
3. Your dragon has the required elemental rings in holding.

If all conditions are met, your dragon may perform the offering action.

The shrine tile callouts in the rulebook read "Ring Requirements of the Shrine" (the front of a shrine) and "Ring Requirements and Summoning Scale Bonus on the backside of a Wavering Shrine".

Example 3: Check Conditions. Fujin is already adjacent to the fire shrine but doesn't have the corresponding rings needed to make an offering. Thankfully, Fujin is guarding a fire ring and claims it as a result of the fly action. Fujin decides to end flight within adjacency range of the fire shrine and then performs the offering action (see Example 4).

Performing the offering action:

1. Place and Score Rings: Transfer rings corresponding to the shrine from your holding onto your island. Follow ring placement rules and score each elemental ring according to elemental rift rules (see Elemental Rifts below).
2. Check for Summoning: Check the shrine for a summoning scale icon. If present, place one of your colored summoning scales onto the summoning card above the shrine you offered rings to, and gain the benefits of that summoning card.
3. Upkeep the Shrine: To upkeep a wavering shrine, flip the wavering shrine tile to its backside.
4. Check for Island Blessing: If you placed rings on your island such that you unlock an island blessing, place the corresponding scale from your island onto any summoning card of your choice and gain the benefits.

When you are learning the game, it is recommended to talk through each part of the offering action to help all players understand.

Important: If you took the offering action before taking your flying action, then you still get to take your flying action.

Example 4: Performing the Offering Action.

• Step 1: Fujin transfers two fire rings and two wind rings from holding onto their island and in this example scored 2 fortune from elemental rifts.
• Step 2: The shrine receiving the offering does not contain a summoning scale.
• Step 3: Flip the wavering shrine to perform upkeep.
• Step 4: Rings placed on the island unlock an island blessing. Fujin places the unlocked scale from the island blessing anywhere (onto any summoning card in play) and gains the benefit of the summoning card as a result.

Example 4b: Alternate ring placement. Alternatively, Fujin may instead place rings to maximize elemental rift scoring and would score 4 fortune in this example.

Ending Your Turn: After performing a fly action and either a gathering or offering action, your turn is now complete and it is the next player's turn.

Ending the Game

The game ends in one of two ways:

• The 13th sand dollar token has been placed into a depleted seawell.
• A player cannot legally place a ring onto their island.

Important: A sand dollar token is placed into a depleted seawell as soon as the final ring has been claimed from the seawell.

If necessary, end the current round so that all players have played an equal number of turns (first player is marked with the Maelstrom token). At the end of the game, each player tallies the fortune for Elemental Mastery on their island. The player with the most fortune wins!

In the case of a tie, the player who has placed the most rings matching their dragon's element wins. In the event of another tie, players share the victory.

Ring Placement

When placing rings onto your island, you must always follow ring placement rules while strategically maximizing the following three types of benefits:

• Heal the Elemental Rifts to amplify your immediate scoring.
• Unlock summoning scales from your Island Blessings.
• Restore your island's Elemental Mastery to maximize end-game scoring.

Ring Placement Rules

1. Island spaces that contain elemental rifts may only be encircled with element-matching rings.
2. The first ring placed onto the island must be placed onto an elemental rift.
3. All subsequent ring placements must be adjacent to a previously placed ring (but not necessarily adjacent to other rings placed during the same offering action).

Elemental Rifts

Immediate Scoring

Each and every time you place an elemental ring, immediately score fortune equal to the number of corresponding elemental rifts you have encircled on your island. The first ring you place on an elemental rift scores 1 fortune corresponding to the one elemental rift you have just encircled. Each subsequent elemental ring you place anywhere on your island may score 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 fortune depending on the number of corresponding elemental rifts you have encircled.

Important: Advance your score tracker immediately after every ring placement since the number of corresponding elemental rifts you have encircled on your island may change during subsequent ring placements. Scoring aloud is helpful for learning.

Example 4 continued: the rulebook shows the island after the offering as a picture only, with no further text.

Island Blessings

Unlockable Bonus: Island Blessings are ring placement goals found on your island, which if satisfied, grant you a summoning scale. Each Island Blessing requires one ring of any color, and two other supporting rings in specific positions. For example, the island blessing above requires two yellow rings in specific positions and one ring of any color on the island blessing space itself, placed in any order. The island blessing is unlocked once three rings satisfy the placement goals and as a result you gain the scale that may be placed anywhere.

Tatsumi island is the symmetric island which does not require two specific supporting elements but instead requires any two matching elements to the left and right of the blessing.

Important: All rings on your island may unlock an island blessing, including rings from overflow or moved from weather events.

Elemental Mastery

End Game Scoring

For each elemental ring on your island, score fortune according to the elemental mastery reference card (found on the back-side of the island reference card).

1. Score 2 fortune for each ring within your largest group of connected water rings. Any water rings not in your largest group score 0 fortune.
2. Score 2 fortune for each separate group of lightning rings, no matter the group size.
3. Score 0, 1, 2, or 3 fortune for each wind ring corresponding to the number of different unique elements it is adjacent to.
4. Score 5 fortune for each set of 3 fire rings found anywhere on your island. No adjacency is required for fire ring scoring.

Whenever scoring fortune (non-overflow ring placements, summoning scale placement, or elemental mastery), advance your score tracker. If you reach 50 fortune, flip the scoring tracker to reveal the +50 side and continue advancing your score tracker around the island. If you exceed 100 fortune then take another score tracker (+50).

Example 5: End Game Scoring. Heading to end game scoring, this player already gained 46 fortune through a combination of elemental rifts and summoning scales.

• Water: Largest group size is five rings. 5 x 2 = 10 fortune.
• Lightning: Six separate groups of lightning rings. 6 x 2 = 12 fortune.
• Fire: One set of 3 fire rings found anywhere on the island. = 5 fortune.
• Wind: See how each wind ring scores to the left. = 8 fortune.
• No fortune is scored for the rings leftover in the player's holding.

Islands and Dragons

Island boards and dragon cards each have a symmetric side and an asymmetric side. The symmetric side allows all players to play the same game with the same rules. The asymmetric side allows each player to control a unique island and a unique dragon with a unique set of rules. Players can play with either symmetric or asymmetric islands/dragons or a combination of both.

Asymmetric Islands

Arashima: High-powered winds require that you have already encircled a perimeter ring in the row before placing an inland ring in the row.

Tip: Elemental rifts need attention early and often.

Inyo: For every ring placed, you must maintain the balance of total rings within the light and the dark sections within one of each other.

Tip: The eyes of the Yin Yang may give light in times of darkness.

Isuragi: It is prohibited to place a ring on an obelisk space until you place rings on all surrounding adjacent spaces.

Tip: Prioritize your island blessings to open more flexibility for your ring placements.

Kogasu: Intense heat from the center of the island prevents ring adjacency for both placement and scoring.

Tip: Cooling the volcano or feeding the fire may be worthy strategies but one other element is surprisingly bright on Kogasu.

Mizukame: The flow of the waterfall requires that you encircle all single droplets before any double droplets and encircle all double droplets before any triple droplets.

Tip: The island blessing space offers a necessary break from the current.

Raikou: Lightning storms require that you encircle exactly one lightning bolt if possible every time you make an offering to a shrine.

Tip: It is not required to place a lightning elemental ring on a space with a lightning bolt icon. Ring placement rule #1 still applies.

Asymmetric Dragons

While the gathering action for each asymmetric dragon is unique, there is no difference in the fly or offering actions.

Raijinsama

• Gathering: Claim up to two matching topmost rings in adjacent seawells. It is possible that 2 matching rings do not exist in the surrounding 8 spaces.
• Advantage: Raijinsama's advantage is coverage with a lightning zap gathering action that claims up to two matching rings from the surrounding 8 spaces.
• Weakness: Raijinsama's weakness is the constraint of matching rings which may result in a gathering action claiming fewer than two rings.

Karyusama

• Gathering: Claim the topmost ring from the two nearest seawells in a straight line skipping depleted wells. Gathering action skips over depleted seawells but is blocked by guarded seawells.
• Advantage: Karyusama's advantage is long range with a fiery breath gathering action that spits across the sea skipping all depleted wells in its path.
• Disadvantage: Karyusama's disadvantage is guarded seawells that block the path of the fiery breath gathering action which may result in a gathering action claiming fewer than two rings.

Fujinsama

• Gathering: Move up to two seawells in one direction claiming the topmost rings if possible. Gathering action does not skip depleted seawells and is blocked by guarded seawells.
• Advantage: Fujinsama's advantage is extra mobility with a speed burst across the sea, moving the dragon and gathering the topmost rings along the way if possible.
• Disadvantage: Fujinsama's disadvantage is a suboptimal positioning which may result in a gathering action claiming fewer than two rings when moving through depleted seawells.

Mizuchisama

• Gathering: Submerge and claim the ring beneath you. Reemerge at a matching ring and claim any adjacent ring. Gathering action may not be performed if no matching ring exists to reemerge at.
• Advantage: Mizuchisama's advantage is both in range and mobility with a teleport-style gathering action submerging and reemerging at a topmost matching ring.
• Disadvantage: Mizuchisama's disadvantage is guarding scarce elemental rings which may limit or even prohibit a potential endpoint for reemerging when performing the gathering action.

Kihakusama (Void Expansion)

• Gathering: Claim two topmost rings from the edges of your row and column. Ignore depleted seawells on the edges of rows/columns when gathering and instead claim from edgemost unguarded rings.
• Advantage: Kihakusama's advantage is a puzzly range-based gathering action that may bypass guarded seawells if the guarded seawell is not on the row/column edge.
• Disadvantage: Kihakusama's disadvantage is guarded seawells on the edges of rows/columns, which limits the options for gathering from that row/column.

Solo-mode

A new year is approaching, and your island depends on you for good fortune. Hone your skills in the sea during maelstrom season, where the storm manifests Tekitatsu (opponent dragons), tumultuous weather, and impassable maelstroms. The solo-mode cards will control the Tekitatsu, represented by extra dragon figures.

Solo-mode Setup

1. Perform steps 1-7 of the Game Setup section with all 112 rings in the seaboard.
2. Shuffle the deck of 16 solo-mode cards and place the deck facedown. Flip the first solo-mode card faceup.
3. Position two Tekitatsu dragons and the Maelstrom token according to the faceup solo-mode card (oriented towards you).
4. Perform the setup for Weather Module and then you are ready to begin.

Solo-mode Gameplay and Turn Sequence

1. Take your turn as normal, flying and either gathering or offering. Both Tekitatsu and the maelstrom token guard their respective seawells, preventing entering, exiting, movement through, or claiming rings beneath. After taking your turn, perform the following steps below.
2. For each Tekitatsu, simultaneously remove every single topmost orthogonally adjacent ring from the seaboard. Overlapping seawells still only removes the single topmost ring. For each separate Tekitatsu that removes an elemental ring from the seaboard matching a weather card in play, add one sand dollar to the corresponding weather card. Place all removed rings back in the game box.
3. Check to see if the solo-mode card contains an upkeep symbol and if so, perform the necessary upkeep on the corresponding shrine(s) listed on the card. For a wavering shrine tile, upkeep means flipping the wavering shrine tile facedown.
4. Lastly, flip up a new solo-mode card and reposition the Tekitatsu dragons and maelstrom token. Do not remove rings that were guarded when repositioning Tekitatsu.

Important: If your dragon occupies a seawell designated for the maelstrom token or a Tekitatsu, remove the maelstrom token or Tekitatsu from the seaboard for the next round. At the start of each following round, if the seawell is unoccupied, return the removed token or Tekitatsu to the seaboard.

After steps 1-4 are complete, take your next turn as normal.

Solo-mode Scoring Rank

• <70: The islanders go exploring, searching for a new home.
• 70+: The island is safe but the islanders remain fearful.
• 80+: The island is peaceful and bellies are full.
• 90+: The islanders rejoice with a harvest feast.
• 100+: The island radiates with elemental harmony.
• 110+: The sea itself bows to you, Tatsu.
• 120+: The islanders tell legends of you for generations.

Solo-mode Game End

The solo-mode game end is triggered when you place the 13th sand dollar into a depleted seawell, you are unable to place a ring onto your island, or you have exhausted the solo game-play deck. After triggering the game end, finish your turn and then tally elemental mastery to determine your final fortune.

Weather Module

The weather module is an optional addition to multiplayer Tatsumi, but is a critical inclusion for solo-mode Tatsumi.

The raging seas are capable of disastrous weather events that impact rings already placed on your island. Two weather cards will be added to each game representing a minor (●○) and major (●●) weather event. Each weather card has an elemental type and some upkeep may be required whenever claiming rings of the elemental type matching the weather card.

When playing with the weather module, sand dollar tokens take on a secondary purpose of tracking when a weather event will occur. Adding sand dollars to a weather card increases the threat of weather while removing sand dollars from the weather card decreases the threat of weather.

Weather Setup

1. Shuffle the weather cards and randomly select one card turning it to the minor (●○) side and another card turning to the major (●●) side. Return the remaining weather cards to the box.
2. Create a stack of 5 sand dollars and place it next to the minor (●○) weather card. Create a different stack of 8 sand dollars and place it next to the major (●●) weather card.

Upkeeping Sand Dollars

Removing Sand Dollars from Weather Cards: Whenever a player places one or more elemental rings onto their island matching a weather card in play, remove one sand dollar from the corresponding weather card.

Adding a Sand Dollar to a Weather Card: Add one sand dollar onto the corresponding weather card whenever any player (or Tekitatsu) claims from the seaboard one or more elemental rings matching a weather card in play.

Placing Sand Dollars into Depleted Seawells: Whenever a player creates a depleted seawell they may choose which sand dollar to place into the seawell. The chosen sand dollar may be on a weather card or next to a weather card.

Triggering Weather Events

Triggering a Weather Card: Whenever all sand dollars corresponding to a weather card have been placed onto the weather card, all players trigger the weather event if possible. After triggering a weather event, remove all sand dollars corresponding to the triggered weather event and stack them to the card.

Neutralizing a Weather Card: If all sand dollars corresponding to a weather card have been placed into the seaboard, then the weather card is neutralized and is returned to the game box.

Example 6: A player collects 3 water rings from the seaboard on their turn and as a result one sand dollar is added to the water weather event. Because all corresponding sand dollars are on the weather card, the event triggers and all players must swap one water ring with an adjacent non-water ring.

The printed effect of each weather event is on its weather card and is not part of this rulebook text. Example 6 shows the Flash Flood event.

Summoning Cards

Dragons may shed a scale at some of the island's most desirable shrines to summon an animal spirit. Each animal spirit grants your dragon an immediate scoring bonus or a lasting benefit. The value of the summoned animals can shift over the course of the game, so timing—and sometimes stacking them—can lead to powerful combinations.

Legend: Your dragon. Opponent dragon. Your dragon's summoning scales. Placed anywhere (the four-arrow symbol). Score fortune immediately (the plus-fortune symbol).

Summoning scales: Each dragon may place up to 7 summoning scales per game: up to 5 at shrines containing summoning scales, and up to 2 unlocking island blessings. The placed anywhere symbol has two purposes: to inform you to place a summoning scale anywhere (onto any summoning card in play), or to inform you to count all of your summoning scales that you placed anywhere.

When counting your summoning scales placed anywhere, do not include scales on your island placed during setup.

Scoring Summoning Cards

Jellyfish: Score fortune equal to double your summoning scales placed anywhere.

Koi: Score fortune equal to all of your summoning scales placed anywhere plus your encircled wind elemental rifts.

Otter: Score fortune equal to all of your summoning scales placed anywhere plus your encircled water elemental rifts.

Salamander: Score fortune equal to all of your summoning scales placed anywhere plus your encircled fire elemental rifts.

Water Strider: Score fortune equal to all of your summoning scales placed anywhere plus your encircled lightning elemental rifts.

Lizard Claw: Score fortune based on the number of unique elemental rings in your holding.

• No unique elemental rings (blank column): 3 fortune
• 1 unique elemental ring: 4 fortune
• 2 unique elemental rings: 5 fortune
• 3 unique elemental rings: 6 fortune
• 4 unique elemental rings: 7 fortune

Turtle: Score fortune equal to the number of rings on the perimeter of your island.

Toad: Score fortune equal to the number of inland rings on your island.

Monkey: Score fortune based on the number of sets of four elemental rings on your island.

• 0 sets: 3 fortune
• 1 set: 5 fortune
• 2 sets: 7 fortune
• 3 sets: 9 fortune
• 4 or more sets: 11 fortune

Dragonfly: Score fortune equal to the number of rings on your island matching your dragon's element.

Lasting Summoning Cards

Mountainous summoning cards grant a lasting ability that increases in strength corresponding to the number of your summoning scales on the specific card.

Editor's note: the printed Butterfly and Blackbird texts show the summoning scale symbol where the number belongs. The value is the number of your summoning scales on that card, per the Mountainous note above.

Butterfly: For the rest of the game, offer to shrines from up to [summoning scale symbol] spaces away.

Swallows: For the rest of the game, you may now fly through guarded seawells and score 2 fortune per summoning scale when you do.

Heron: For the rest of the game, score fortune per summoning scale for every depleted seawell you fly over.

Blackbird: For the rest of the game, transfer up to [summoning scale symbol] rings from your holding to your island on your turn, scoring the rings.

Duck: For the rest of the game, score 2 fortune per summoning scale whenever you end your turn on a depleted seawell.

Flying Fish: Instead of placing your summoning scale at the corresponding shrine, place it anywhere.