TOKYO TSUKIJI MARKET
TOKYO TSUKIJI MARKET Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 6 - Harbor boards
- 12 - Port Coverings (6x Small / 6x Large)
- 15 - Custom resin Fishing Boats (6x One-slot Ships / 4x Two-slot Ships / 3x Three-slot Ships / 1x Four-slot Ship / 1x Six-slot Barge)
- 18 - Market boards (9x Fish / 9x External)
- 64 - Wooden discs (63x Fishing Barrels in 9 Fish types / 1x Value marker (natural-colored))
- 119 - Custom-shaped Fish tokens (In 9 Fish types)
- 42 - Fishing Licenses and other tokens (33x In 9 Fish types / 2x Shares / 3x Loans / 2x Freezers / 2x Carts)
- 60 - Yen tokens (35x ¥100 / 10x ¥500 / 15x ¥1000)
- 1 - Auction bag
Setup
1 Place the Mackerel Fish Market and Ships External Market boards face up on the table.
2 Separate the other Market boards into two piles: one for the Fish Markets and one for the External Markets. Turn each pile face down and shuffle them separately. Randomly select a number of additional Markets based on player count, as per the table below, and place them face up in the center of the table with the Mackerel and Ships Markets, with all Market boards oriented the same way up.
Notes on Market selection:
- Spider Crab, Eel, and Red Snapper are good first Fish Markets for new players.
- The Tuna Fish Market is not recommended for new players, as it requires strategic timing.
- Do not use the Auction External Market with fewer than 3 players.
| Player Count | Fish Markets (in addition to Mackerel) | External Markets (in addition to Ships) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | +3 | +2 |
| 3 | +4 | +2 |
| 4 | +4 | +3 |
| 5 | +5 | +3 |
| 6 | +5 | +4 |
3 For each Fish Market board on the table, place on it the number of matching Fishing Licenses, Fish Barrel discs, and Fish tokens as indicated on the board itself, returning any surplus pieces to the box. Some quantities shown on the Markets depend on the number of players in the game, represented by P.
Example: For a 3-player setup of Eel, place all 13 Eel tokens, 6 Eel Barrels, 3 Eel Licenses, and the Value marker on the Eel Market board.
Notes on specific Fish Markets:
- Set aside a number of Mackerel Fishing Licenses equal to the number of players, before placing the required P Licenses on the Mackerel board from those remaining. Since there are at most 8 total Mackerel Licenses available in the game, in a game with 5 or 6 players there will only be 3 or 2 remaining Licenses available to place on the Mackerel board.
- Place the Spider Crab and/or Tuna tokens in the Auction bag instead of their respective Market boards.
- Place a Value marker on the 1 space of the Value track on the Eel Market board.
- Place a Red Snapper token on each of the outlined spots on the Red Snapper Market board.
- The Octopus Market comes with two different token types (Octopus and Takoyaki); place both, as depicted, on the Octopus board.
4 Set aside a number of One-slot Ships equal to the number of players. Place a number of the remaining Ships and the Barge on the Ships Market board, as indicated on the board itself (as for the Fish Markets, P represents the number of players in the game). If there are not enough of a given type of Ship remaining, place as many as are available. This means placing the following quantities of each type on the Ships Market for each player count:
| Type | 2 players | 3 players | 4 players | 5 players | 6 players |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-slot Ship | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Two-slot Ship | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Three-slot Ship | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Four-slot Ship | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Six-slot Barge | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
5 If they are in play, some other External Markets have specific components placed on them as follows:
- The Bank board comes with the Share and Loan tokens.
- The Rentals board comes with the Freezer and Cart tokens.
6 Return all unused Market boards and their pieces to the box (including the Auction bag, if you are not playing with the Spider Crab or Tuna Fish Markets).
7 Each player takes 1 of the Mackerel Fishing Licenses set aside in step 3, 1 of the One-slot Ships set aside in step 4, ¥2,000, a Harbor board, 1 small Port Covering tile, and 1 large Port Covering tile. Each places their Ship in the leftmost Port space on their Harbor board, their small and large Port Covering tiles (with the numbers face up) over the central and rightmost Port spaces respectively, and their Mackerel License in one of the four License spaces on the right of their Harbor board. Return any unused Harbor boards and Port Covering tiles to the box.
8 Place all remaining Yen tokens in a general supply in reach of all players.
Example setup for a 3-player game: Each player has ¥2,000, a Mackerel Fishing License, a Harbor with the two righthand Ports blocked by Port Coverings, and a single One-slot Ship in their open Port.
There are 5 Fish Markets (including the mandatory Mackerel Market) and 3 External Markets (including the mandatory Ships Market) in play. Because there are 3 players, the Markets are stocked as follows:
- Mackerel: 15 Barrels / 30 Mackerel tokens / 3 Fishing Licenses
- Eel: 6 Barrels / 13 Eel tokens / 3 Fishing Licenses / 1 Value marker on the 1 space
- Fugu: 3 Barrels / 7 Fugu tokens / 1 Fishing License
- Salmon: 4 Barrels / 10 Salmon tokens / 4 Fishing Licenses
- Tuna: 6 Barrels / 5 Tuna tokens (in the Auction bag) / 3 Fishing Licenses
- Ships: 1 One-slot Ship / 3 Two-slot Ships / 2 Three-slot Ships / 1 Four-slot Ship / 1 Barge
- Rentals: 2 Freezers / 2 Carts
- Trading: N/A
Objective
To have the most Yen after endgame scoring. Your final score is a combination of your total Yen tokens and the value of your Fish tokens.
Note: Fish tokens are each worth a number of Resources, depending on the type of Fish token (see the Fish Markets section for details). The value of 1 Resource at the end of the game is ¥100.
Gameplay
Before the game begins, all players must decide together whether to play with open money (where it is visible to all players) or closed money (where each player keeps theirs hidden).
The player who last drank water goes first. Beginning with the start player and continuing clockwise, players take turns, with each player performing a number of actions per turn. Play continues until the end of the game is triggered by either or both of the following conditions being met by a player at the start of their turn:
- The player has at least ¥5,000 and does not have the outright lowest total number of Resources of any player.
- The player has 50 or more Resources worth of Fish tokens and does not have the outright lowest amount of Yen of any player.
The player who triggered the end of the game takes their turn as usual, then all other players have one final turn before the game ends and scoring is calculated.
Player Turns
At the start of your turn, any Fish Barrels remaining on your Harbor board will degrade, after which you must perform a number of actions. How many actions you perform will depend on which actions you choose, and the cost of taking those actions.
There are three types of actions: Fishing, Purchasing, and Markets. Most actions cost 1 or 2 Action Points, and each turn you have 2 Action Points available to you, which you must spend. Some Markets actions require or permit you to spend Yen or Fish tokens instead of Action Points. You may perform actions in any combination among the three types of action, but note that after spending your last Action Point you cannot perform any further actions this turn. You must fully resolve one action before starting another.
Fish Degradation
At the beginning of your turn, first remove all Fish Barrels from the lower selling row on your Harbor board, returning them to their corresponding Market boards. You will not receive any payment for these Barrels. Then move all Fish Barrels from the upper selling row down to the lower selling row, maintaining the column each Barrel is in; these Barrels are now "degraded".
Actions
Opening additional Ports
At any time on your turn, and in addition to your actions, you can open up a blocked Port in your Harbor by paying the ¥500 cost shown on its Port Covering tile. Additional Ports must be opened in order from left to right, as shown by the numbers 1 and 2 on the Port Coverings. The rightmost "2" Port can hold 2 Ships at the same time, or 1 Barge.
Fishing
Cost: 1 Action Point
When you perform this action, you may:
- Activate all or part of your fleet; and/or
- Adjust the prices of the Barrels on your Harbor board.
1 - Activate all or part of your fleet
You may activate one or more of your Ships and/or your Barge. Each activated Ship may perform 1 of the following activities: Undocking, Catching, or Docking. The Barge may only Undock or Dock (it cannot Catch).
You may activate your boats in any order, and they do not have to perform the same activity as each other.
Undocking: Move a Ship or Barge from a Port on your Harbor board and place it below your Harbor board, to indicate that it is now "at sea".
Catching: A Ship performing this activity may Catch 1 Fishing Barrel. To do so, it must be at sea, and you must have a Fishing License available for it to use (one that has not yet been used to Catch Fish during this Fishing action). Take any Fish Barrels you Catch from the corresponding Fish Market boards; if none of a given type are available you cannot catch that Fish type for the rest of the game (see the Overfishing section).
- If the Ship is empty: With an empty Ship you may only Catch Fish of a type for which you hold more Licenses in total than you have Ships at sea holding the corresponding type of Fish Barrel (the Barge does not count for this purpose). Choose the type of Fish you want to Catch and add a single Barrel of that type to one of the Ship's slots.
- If the Ship already has at least one Fish Barrel on it: With a partially loaded Ship (provided it has at least one empty slot), you may only Catch Fish of the same type as the Fish Barrel(s) already on the Ship, and for which you hold at least 1 corresponding License. Note: in this case, the number of Ships you have at sea holding the same type of Fish Barrel is irrelevant. Select a Ship that already holds at least one Barrel, and add one Barrel of the same type to it (exception: a Ship using a Salmon License can only hold 1 Salmon Barrel at a time; see special rules for Salmon).
Example: You have 1 Ship at sea with a Mackerel Barrel on it. In order to Catch a Mackerel Barrel with a second (currently empty) Ship while that first Ship remains at sea, you must hold at least 2 Mackerel Licenses. With only 1 Mackerel License, you must either Dock the first Ship or discard its Mackerel Barrel before you may use the second Ship to Catch Mackerel. However, 1 Mackerel License is sufficient to Catch another Mackerel Barrel with the first Ship, so long as it has at least 1 empty slot.
Docking: If your Ship or Barge is at sea, you may Dock it at an available space in one of your Ports (remember that only the rightmost "2" Port can hold a Barge). Immediately after Docking, unload any Fish Barrels that are on the Ship or Barge. For every 2 Barrels you unload at your Ports during the same Fishing action, take ¥100 from the general supply. Then, assign each unloaded Barrel a sale price by placing it in the upper selling row of a column of your choice on your Harbor board (exception: Spider Crab and Tuna Barrels are not placed on your Harbor board, and will instead trigger an auction; see the special rules for these boards in the Fish Markets section).
The "???" selling column on your Harbor board allows you to set any multiple of ¥100 you wish as a sale price for your Barrel/Takoyaki. The price you set must be declared when you place the Fish in that column (whether when first placing the Fish for sale, or when subsequently adjusting prices in a Fishing action).
Rules for Fishing Licenses:
- When used, a License permits 1 Ship to Catch 1 Barrel of the corresponding Fish type.
- Each Fishing License may be used at most once per Fishing action.
- A License is only required for the Catching activity. It is not required for Undocking or Docking.
- You can hold at most 4 Fishing Licenses (as shown by the 4 License spaces on your Harbor board). If you have 4 Licenses and wish to acquire another, you must first return one to its corresponding Market board. Returning a License is free, does not count as part of an action, and may be done at any time during your turn.
Transferring Fish Barrels to the Barge: The Barge cannot perform the Catching activity. However, you may transfer any number of Fish Barrels from any number of Ships to the Barge at any time during your turn, as long as the Barge has sufficient empty slots, and both the Ship(s) and the Barge are at sea. This is free and does not count as part of an action. The Barge may hold any combination of Fish Barrel types (exception: at most 1 Salmon Barrel; see Salmon in the Fish Markets section). Barrels cannot be transferred from the Barge back to Ships.
Discarding Fish Barrels: In some instances, you may wish to discard Fish Barrels from your boats while they are at sea. Throwing your catch back into the sea like this is allowed, but only at the start of your turn, before you perform any actions. Place any discarded Barrels back on their Market boards.
2 - Adjust the prices of the Barrels on your Harbor board
When you perform a Fishing action, you may adjust the prices of Barrels (and/or Takoyaki, if you are playing with the Octopus Market) in both the upper and lower selling rows on your Harbor board (but not the row each one is in). You are allowed to perform a Fishing action solely to adjust these prices, and not perform activities with any of your fleet.
Example: Naomi performs a Fishing action for her first action this turn. She has two Ships, which may each perform one activity. Her Two-slot Ship is at sea, so she uses her Mackerel License to perform the Catching activity with it, adding a Mackerel Barrel to one of its slots. Her One-slot Ship is in a Port, so she decides to perform the Undocking activity, moving it below her Harbor board.
Naomi chooses to use her second action this turn for another Fishing action, and performs the Docking activity with her Two-slot Ship, placing it back in the open Port on her Harbor board. As soon as that Ship is docked, she removes the Mackerel Barrel and assigns it a sale price of ¥300 by placing it in the upper selling row of the third column on her Harbor board. She is now able to use her Mackerel License to perform Catching with the One-slot Ship, and does so, adding a Mackerel Barrel to it.
Purchasing
Cost: 1 Action Point
When you perform this action, you may buy as many Fish Barrels from as many other players' Harbor boards as you like. For each Barrel you buy, pay the owning player the amount that Barrel is listed for sale at, return it to its corresponding Market board, take 1 of the available Fish tokens from the same Market, and place it in front of you (see special rules for the purchase of Red Snapper and Salmon Barrels in the Fish Markets section). Each Fish token is worth a number of Resources, as indicated by its Market board.
If you are playing with the Octopus Fish Market, you may buy Takoyaki tokens from other players' Harbor boards. For each Takoyaki token you buy, pay the owning player the amount it is listed for sale at and place the Takoyaki token in front of you.
Notes: With the exception of degraded Fugu (see special rules for Fugu in the Fish Markets section), you may never purchase Barrels from your own Harbor board. You cannot purchase Takoyaki tokens from your own Harbor board either, but they may be used to enter the Octopus Market (see special rules for Octopus in the Fish Markets section). Any Barrels or tokens remaining for sale on your Harbor board at the end of the game will be worth nothing.
Markets
Cost: Varies with different Markets
When you perform this action, choose one Fish or External Market to visit, paying the cost indicated on the left hand side of the Market board. Markets may require spending a number of one of the following to enter:
- Action Points (1 or 2 of the 2 you must use on your turn, denoted by "1a" or "2a").
- Yen, paid to the general supply.
Some Markets offer more than one cost option; in these cases you choose one of them to pay. Some Markets have no entry cost shown: these cost nothing to enter but each such Market may only be entered once per turn.
If you have entered a Fish Market, once you have paid its entry cost (but before you interact with it any further), all players, including you, with at least one License from that Fish Market immediately take ¥100 from the general supply for each matching License they hold.
If you enter a Market, you must interact with that Market at least once, but unless otherwise stated, you may do so any number of times in as many ways as you like and are able to. Each Market board is unique, containing different abilities and information.
At Fish Markets, possible interactions are as follows:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase up to as many Licenses as there are available on the Market board (so long as you have space on your Harbor board for them), by paying Yen to the general supply. Place each License you purchase in an empty License space on your Harbor board. Exception: at the Mackerel Market you may buy at most 1 Mackerel License per entry.
- Sell Fish tokens: If there is a "SELL" price shown on the Market board, you may sell the corresponding Fish tokens back to the Market. Unless otherwise specified, move as many Fish tokens as you like from your supply to the Market board, and take the indicated amount of Yen from the general supply.
- Other interactions: Some Fish Markets have other special interactions available; see the Fish Markets section for details.
The External Markets all work differently, allowing you to sell or trade Fish tokens, buy or sell boats, and more. See the External Markets section for details on how to interact with each of them.
Fish Markets
Eel
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: Barrels = players x2 (max 8). Fish tokens = 13. Unload -> 1 Barrel. Sell <- 2 Fish tokens. Ports (P, max 4). License cost 500¥. Value track numbered 1 to 13. Sell price: 1 Eel token = ?R x 100¥ (? = current Resource value from the Value track).
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Eel Licenses for ¥500 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You may sell Eel tokens to the Market for ¥100 x the combined Resource value of the tokens sold. After receiving this Yen, reduce the Resource value by 2 for each Eel token sold (see below).
Resource value: Each Eel token is worth the number of Resources indicated by the Value marker on the Value track in the middle of the Market board. Each time an Eel Barrel is unloaded and placed for sale (not simply Caught) on a player's Harbor board, advance the Value marker one space on the track for each Barrel unloaded, thereby increasing the current Resource value of all Eels. After a player sells Eel tokens to the Eel Market, move the Value marker back 2 spaces on the track for each token sold. Ignore any movement that would move the Value marker above 13 or below 1 on the track.
Example: The Value marker is at 6 when a player sells 2 Eel tokens to the Eel Market. They take ¥1,200 from the general supply, and move the Value marker from 6 to 2 on the Value track.
Fugu
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: Barrels = 3. Fish tokens = 7. "FISHER CAN BUY DEGRADED". One-time use: 1, Free. Sell all: Fugu tokens x Resources x ¥100.
Fugu — Special rules for Fish Degradation: At the start of your turn, before removing degraded Barrels from the lower selling row on your Harbor board, if you have any degraded Fugu Barrels on that lower row, you may purchase them yourself by paying the Yen price listed to the general supply. This is the only time you can purchase any of your own Fish Barrels. Any degraded Fugu Barrels you do not purchase at the start of your turn will be removed and returned to their Market as usual. Note that if you use a Freezer (see Rentals in the External Markets section), the Fish Degradation step doesn't happen and so you cannot purchase your own Fugu Barrels that turn; you can only purchase your own Fugu if it would otherwise degrade off your Harbor board that turn.
Special rules for Docking during a Fishing action: Whenever you unload a Fugu Barrel at one of your Ports (whether from a Ship or a Barge) and you hold the Fugu Fishing License, the License is returned to the Fugu Market immediately.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may take the Fugu License for free, if it is available.
- Sell Fish tokens: You may sell Fugu tokens to the Market for ¥100 x the number of Fugu you are selling multiplied by itself. You do not have to sell all of your Fugu when doing this.
Resource value: The combined Resource value of all the Fugu tokens you own is the number of Fugu tokens you own multiplied by itself.
Example: A player sells a group of 4 Fugu tokens to the Market and takes ¥1,600 from the general supply.
Mackerel
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: Barrels = players x6 (max 15). Fish tokens = 30. Limit 1 per entry. Ports (P, max 8). License cost 100¥. Sell price: 1 Mackerel token = 1R. Sell: 2 Barrels/tokens (any combination) / ¥100.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase a maximum of 1 Mackerel License for ¥100 each time you enter.
- Sell Fish tokens: As an exception to the normal rule that Fish Barrels can only be sold to other players when they perform a Purchasing action and buy them from you, you may sell Mackerel Barrels from your Harbor board as well as Mackerel tokens to the Market. Take ¥100 from the general supply for every 2 Mackerel Barrels and/or tokens (in any combination) which you return to the Mackerel board.
Resource value: Each Mackerel token is worth 1 Resource.
Octopus
Entry cost: ¥200, OR 2 Action Points, OR 1 Takoyaki token.
Board data: Barrels = players x2 (max 6). Octopus tokens = players x2 (max 6). Takoyaki tokens = 12. Ports (P, max 3). License cost ¥300. Sell price: Octopus = 3R, Takoyaki = 5R. Trade: 1 Octopus = 3 Takoyaki.
Special rules for the Market's visiting cost: If you choose to pay 1 Takoyaki token to enter the Octopus Market, you may use a Takoyaki token you have previously purchased from another player or one you have for sale on your Harbor board.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Octopus Licenses for ¥300 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You cannot sell Octopus (or Takoyaki) tokens back to the Market.
- Trade Octopus tokens for Takoyaki: You may convert Octopus tokens into Takoyaki by taking 3 Takoyaki tokens for each Octopus token you return to the Market. Place any Takoyaki tokens you take in this way for sale on your Harbor board at a price of your choice.
Note that Takoyaki never degrades, so it will remain on your Harbor board until purchased by another player during a Purchasing action. Any Takoyaki tokens that remain unsold by the end of the game will be worth nothing to you.
Resource value: Each Octopus token is worth 3 Resources. Each Takoyaki token is worth 5 Resources (unless still on your Harbor board, as above).
Red Snapper
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: Barrels = players x3 (max 9). Fish tokens = 18. Ports (P, max 3). License cost ¥300. The Market board shows a grid of Red Snapper tokens each with a printed number: row 1 reads 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; row 2 reads 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; row 3 reads 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2. Sell price: R = (number of Red Snapper tokens left on the board) ÷ 3, rounded up. An "X" Red Snapper token = 2R.
Special rules for the Purchasing action: Whenever you purchase a Red Snapper Barrel from another player, return it to the Market and take the next available Red Snapper token, working from top to bottom in each column, in columns from left to right on the Market board. The lowest red number revealed represents the current Resource value of all Red Snapper tokens (see below).
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Red Snapper Licenses for ¥300 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You cannot sell Red Snapper tokens back to the Market.
Resource value: Each Red Snapper token is worth a number of Resources indicated by the lowest red number revealed inside the fish outlines on the Market board (this is equal to the number of Red Snapper tokens remaining in the Market divided by 3 and rounded up to the nearest whole number). Exception: if Red Snappers become Overfished (see Overfishing), they are worth a flat 2 Resources each, even if there are still Red Snapper tokens remaining on the Market board.
Salmon
Entry cost: ¥400.
Board data: Barrels = 1 per boat. Fish tokens = 4 = ¥4 Resources / fish token = 10. Ports (P, max 4). License cost ¥400. Sell price: Salmon (fresh side) R = number owned; Salmon (degraded "4" side) = 4R.
Salmon — Special rules for boats: Salmon Licenses only allow Ships to carry a single Salmon Barrel at a time, regardless of the number of slots on the Ships involved. This limit of 1 Salmon Barrel per boat also applies to the Barge.
Special rules for Purchasing action: Whenever you purchase a Salmon Barrel from another player, return it to the Market and take a Salmon token as usual. Place this Salmon token in front of you with the "fresh" side face up if you bought the Salmon Barrel from the upper selling row of the other player's Harbor board (when the fish was fresh), and with the "4" side face up if you bought it from the lower selling row (indicating that the fish was degraded when you bought it). Which way up a Salmon token is placed determines its Resource value (see below).
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Salmon Licenses for ¥400 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You cannot sell Salmon tokens back to the Market.
Resource value: Each Salmon token with the "degraded" "4" side face up is worth a fixed 4 Resources. Each Salmon token with the "fresh" side face up is worth a number of Resources equal to the total number of player-owned Salmon (both fresh and degraded) currently in the game.
Spider Crab
Entry cost: 1 Action Point. (Spider Crab tokens are drawn from the Auction bag rather than placed on the Market board; see Setup.)
Board data: Barrels = 5. Spider Crab tokens = 10, printed with values 4/4/4/4, 6/6/6/6, 8/8. Ports (P, max 3). License cost ¥800. Sell price: Spider Crab = Resources x ¥100 + ¥400. 2 Barrels = 1 Spider Crab Barrel unloaded trigger.
Special rules for Docking during a Fishing action: When a Ship or Barge holding Spider Crab Barrels Docks in one of your Ports, do not place the unloaded Barrels for sale on your Harbor board. Instead, for every 2 Spider Crab Barrels you unload during the same Fishing action, a Spider crab auction takes place immediately. If this happens before you have completed your Fishing action, perform the auction first and then return to finish your Fishing action afterwards, stopping for another auction for every further 2 Barrels you unload.
When an auction happens, return the 2 Spider Crab Barrels that triggered it to the Market board, and draw 1 random Spider Crab token out of the Auction bag. All players (including you) participate in a blind bid to receive this Spider Crab, secretly placing an amount of Yen in a closed fist and revealing all bids simultaneously. ¥0 is a valid bid. The highest bidder wins the auction and takes the Spider Crab token. If there is a tie for the highest bidder, you decide the winner among the tied players. If you win the auction, pay your bid to the general supply. If another player wins, they pay their bid to you.
At the end of your Fishing action if there is a single unloaded Spider Crab Barrel remaining, return it to the Market board without compensation.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Spider Crab Licenses for ¥800 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You may sell Spider Crab tokens to the Market for ¥100 x the Resource value plus ¥400 for each token sold. Return any Spider Crab tokens you sell to the Auction bag.
Resource value: Each Spider Crab token is worth the number of Resources printed on it (4, 6, or 8).
Squid
Entry cost: 2 Action Points, OR 1 Fish token.
Board data: Barrels = players x2 (max 7). Fish tokens = 8. Ports (P, max 4). License cost ¥300. Sell price: 1 Squid token = 0R. Sell: 1 Squid token / ¥600.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Squid Licenses for ¥300 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You may sell Squid tokens to the Market for ¥600 each.
Resource value: Each Squid token is worth 0 Resources.
Tuna
Entry cost: 1 Action Point. (Tuna tokens are drawn from the Auction bag rather than placed on the Market board; see Setup.)
Board data: Barrels = 6. Tuna tokens = 5, printed with values 15/15/15/20/25. Ports (P, max 3). License cost ¥1000. Sell price: Tuna = Resources x ¥100. 3 Barrels = 1 Tuna Barrel unloaded trigger.
Special rules for Docking during a Fishing action: When a Ship or Barge holding Tuna Barrels Docks in one of your Ports, do not place the unloaded Barrels for sale on your Harbor board. Instead, for every 3 Tuna Barrels you unload during the same Fishing action, a Tuna auction takes place immediately. If this happens before you have completed your Fishing action, perform the auction first and then return to finish your Fishing action afterwards, stopping for another auction for every further 3 Barrels you unload.
When an auction happens, return the 3 Tuna Barrels that triggered it to the Market board, and draw 1 random Tuna token out of the Auction bag. All players (including you) participate in a blind bid to receive this Tuna, secretly placing an amount of Yen in a closed fist and revealing all bids simultaneously. ¥0 is a valid bid. The highest bidder wins the auction and takes the Tuna token. If there is a tie for the highest bidder, you decide the winner among the tied players. If you win the auction, pay your bid to the general supply. If another player wins, they pay their bid to you.
At the end of your Fishing action if there are 1 or 2 unloaded Tuna Barrels remaining, return them to the Market board without compensation.
Markets action interactions:
- Buy Fish Licenses: You may purchase Tuna Licenses for ¥1,000 each.
- Sell Fish tokens: You may sell Tuna tokens to the Market for ¥100 x the combined Resource value of the tokens sold. Return any Tuna tokens you sell to the Auction bag.
Resource value: Each Tuna token is worth the number of Resources printed on it (15, 20, or 25).
External Markets
Aquarium
Entry cost: 2 Action Points.
Board data — demand and sale price per Fish type: Mackerel: demand 4, ¥300. Fugu: demand 2, ¥500. Octopus: demand 1, ¥500. Eel: demand 1, ¥600. Squid: demand 2, ¥600. Takoyaki: demand 1, ¥700. Salmon: demand 1, ¥700. Tuna: demand 1, ¥2000.
When interacting with this Market, you may sell any number of Fish tokens to it for the prices shown, provided there is still demand in the Aquarium for the tokens you are selling. A type of Fish token is in demand as long as there are fewer matching Fish tokens on the Aquarium than the number shown in the corresponding space. When you sell a Fish token, place it on its space on the Aquarium board and take the amount of Yen shown from the general supply. All Fish sold to the Aquarium stays there for the rest of the game, and once the total number of Fish tokens for a given type matches the corresponding number in that type's space, no more of that type of Fish may be sold.
Auction
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: three lot-size spaces — 2+ (¥200), 5+ (¥300), 10+ (¥500).
When you interact with this Market, you may hold an auction. You may only do this once each time you enter the Auction Market. To hold an auction, select any number of Fish tokens to offer up for auction as one lot, place them on the rightmost space of the Auction board which corresponds to their combined worth in Resources, and pay the fee shown to the general supply (you must pay this fee before the auction starts). All other players participate in a blind bid to buy this lot from you, secretly placing an amount of Yen in a closed fist and revealing all bids simultaneously. ¥0 is a valid bid. You must accept the highest bid, which is also matched by the Market: the highest bidder pays you the amount of Yen they bid, and you take the same amount again from the general supply.
Example: if the highest bid is ¥300, the general supply also pays ¥300, for total proceeds of ¥600.
Bank
Entry cost: 2 Action Points, OR ¥100.
Board data: Loans — 3 available, taking a Loan gives +¥500 (repaid at game end as ¥500 + ¥500 interest, split among Share owners). Shares — 2 available, cost ¥300 each; Share tokens are worth 1 each.
When interacting with this Market, you may take a Loan or buy a Share. No player can do both: if you have previously taken a Loan you cannot buy a Share, and vice versa.
Take a Loan: Take a Loan token from the Bank and ¥500 from the general supply. You may take more than one Loan in the same action, if they are available on the Bank Market board.
Buy a Share: Pay ¥300 to the general supply to take a Share token from the Bank. You may buy both Shares at the same time, if they are available.
Neither Loans nor Shares take up License spaces on your Harbor board; keep any you take beside the board in your player area.
Repaying a Loan: At the end of the game (and not before), Loans must be repaid in full, plus interest of ¥500 per Loan, with total interest paid being divided equally among any players owning Shares, rounding up to the nearest ¥100 (with any additional Yen from rounding being taken from the general supply). If no players have bought Shares, the interest is paid to the general supply instead. If no players have taken Loans, then any players owning Shares receive nothing.
Note: It is possible for players to have a negative amount of Yen after repayment of Loans and interest. In such cases, players owning shares still receive interest as normal, with any shortfall in interest Yen being taken from the general supply.
Example: During the game, player A took 2 Loans and player B took 1 Loan. Players C and D bought one Share each. At the end of the game, the Loans are repaid, with players A and B paying ¥1,000 and ¥500 respectively to the general supply. They must also pay interest: player A pays a further ¥1,000 and player B a further ¥500 for total interest of ¥1,500. This is divided (rounding up to the nearest ¥100) between players C and D, who take ¥800 each (with the additional ¥100 required for this taken from the general supply).
Barter
Entry cost: 1 Action Point. Limit: 1 offer per player.
When you interact with this Market, you may offer a group of Fish tokens for sale. You may only do this once each time you enter the Barter Market. To make an offering, select any number of Fish tokens you wish to offer for sale as one group, and place them on the Barter board. All other players participate in a blind bid to buy this lot from you, secretly placing the amount of Yen they would offer (which may be ¥0) in a closed fist and revealing all offers simultaneously. You may then accept an offer of your choice (you do not have to accept the highest one), or decline all offers made. If you accept an offer, the corresponding player pays you the amount of Yen they offered and takes the Fish tokens from the Barter board. Otherwise, place the Fish tokens back in front of you.
Government
No entry cost. You may only enter this Market once per turn.
Board data: Charity — left space, ¥300 per Fish token, capacity 3; right space, ¥200 per Fish token, capacity 10.
When interacting with this Market, you may give Fish tokens to charity by placing them in the spaces on the board, and taking the amount of Yen shown for each token placed (regardless of the Resource value of the tokens themselves). You may give multiple Fish tokens to one or both spaces at the same time, provided they have space for them: the left hand space can contain a total of up to 3 Fish tokens, and the right hand space can contain a total of up to 10 Fish tokens. All tokens placed on these spaces will stay there for the rest of the game. It is not possible to interact with this Market if both spaces are full.
Rentals
Cost: ¥200 per item rented.
Board data: Freezers — 2 available. Carts — 2 available.
When interacting with this Market, you may rent as many Freezers and Carts as you like for ¥200 each, paid to the general supply. Each Freezer or Cart takes up a License space on your Harbor board while you have it, so you must have an empty space in order to rent one. Each Freezer or Cart can be used twice; place one with the "2" side face up when you rent it, flip it to the "1" side when using it for the first time, and return it to the Market when using it for the second time. You may use a Freezer at the start of your turn to skip the Fish Degradation step for that turn. You may use a Cart during your turn to receive 1 additional Action Point to spend entering Markets that turn. Carts cannot be used for Fishing or Purchasing actions. You may use more than one Cart and/or the same Cart twice in the same turn to gain more than 1 additional Action Point for entering Markets.
Ships
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: One-slot Ship supply = 1. Two-slot Ship supply = players (P). Three-slot Ship supply = P-1. Four-slot Ship supply = P-2 (min 1). Barge supply = 1, costing ¥1000. Buy: ¥500 per slot. Sell: 10% of purchase price, rounded up.
When interacting with this Market you may buy or sell as many boats as you wish and are able to.
Buy boats: In order to purchase a Ship or Barge, you must have space in one of your Ports for it to be placed at the point of purchase (it does not matter how many boats you have at sea when you do this). Remember that the rightmost "2" Port can hold 2 Ships at the same time, or 1 Barge, and that only the "2" Port can hold a Barge. To purchase a boat, take a Ship or Barge of your choice, pay its cost to the general supply, and place it in an available space in one of your Ports. Each Ship costs ¥500 for each slot it has. The Barge costs ¥1,000.
Sell boats: You may sell a boat for 10% of its purchase price at the Ships Market, rounded up to the nearest ¥100. In order to sell a Ship or Barge, it must be in one of your Ports. Return it to the Ships Market and take its sale value from the general supply.
Example: A Three-slot Ship costs ¥1,500 to purchase. You could sell it back to the Ships Market for ¥200.
Trading
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: five lot-size spaces — 2+ (¥300), 3+ (¥500), 4+ (¥700), 5+ (¥900), 10+ (¥1800).
When you interact with this Market you may trade Fish tokens, for Yen or other Fish tokens, any number of times.
Trade Fish tokens for Yen: This is only available if there is at least one empty space on the Trading Market board. Choose an empty space, place on it any combination of Fish tokens with a current combined worth of at least the number of Resources shown, and take the corresponding amount of Yen shown from the general supply. Leave the Fish tokens you have traded in that space on the Market board.
Trade Fish tokens for other Fish tokens: This is only available if Fish tokens have been traded for Yen at least once during the game. Choose a space with Fish tokens on it, and exchange those tokens for any combination of your own Fish tokens with a combined worth of at least the number of Resources printed in that space. Leave the Fish tokens you spent on that space.
Used Ships
Entry cost: 1 Action Point.
Board data: Buy: ¥300 per slot. Sell: ¥200 per slot. ("*no sales last turn" printed note on the board.)
When interacting with this Market you may sell or buy as many boats as you wish and are able to. You cannot use this market on your last turn (i.e. once the end of the game has been triggered).
Sell boats: You may sell a Ship or Barge, provided it is in one of your Ports when you sell it. When selling a Ship, take ¥200 for each slot on it from the general supply, and when selling a Barge, take ¥400 (in total, not per slot). In each case move the boat you are selling from your Harbor board to the Used Ships board.
Buy boats: In order to purchase a Ship or Barge, you must have space in one of your Ports for it to be placed at the point of purchase. When buying a Ship, pay ¥300 for each slot on it to the general supply, and when buying a Barge, pay ¥600 (in total, not per slot). In each case take the boat you have bought from the Used Ships board and place it in an available space in one of your Ports.
Overfishing
If at any point all of a Fish Market's Barrels or Fish tokens have been removed from that Market (or the Auction bag) for any reason, that Fish is now considered to be Overfished and not sustainable (for the Octopus Market, ignore Takoyaki tokens for this purpose).
When a Market becomes Overfished, immediately remove any remaining Barrels from that Market and place them back in the box. Leave the Market board and any corresponding Fish tokens on it (or in the Auction bag), as well as any of its Fish Licenses, in play; an Overfished Market can still be visited (for its usual entry cost) and interacted with, and players still take ¥100 Yen from the general supply for each matching License they own when it is visited. Any Barrels of an Overfished type that would normally be returned to their Market during play will now be returned to the box instead.
In addition, when a Market becomes Overfished, immediately draw a random Fish Market board from those in the box, set it up as usual as if it were the start of the game, and continue playing with it in play.
Note: You may wish to try and prevent a Market becoming Overfished by discarding corresponding Fish Barrels from your boats while they are at sea. Throwing your catch back into the sea like this is allowed, but if you do so you may only discard Barrels (placing them back on their Market boards) at the start of your turn, before you perform any actions.
Game End
At the beginning of each player's turn, make a check to see if they meet either of the following conditions:
- They have at least ¥5,000 and do not have the outright lowest total number of Resources of any player.
- They have 50 or more Resources worth of Fish tokens and do not have the outright lowest amount of Yen of any player.
If they meet either (or both) of these conditions, the end of the game is triggered. The player who triggered the end of the game takes their turn as usual, and all other players have one final turn before the game ends.
Note: If you are playing with closed money, and you have at least ¥5,000 and/or 50 Resources at the start of your turn, declare this, and check if you have met either of the above conditions (if you have at least 50 Resources, all players must now reveal how much Yen they have in order to perform this check). If neither of the conditions is met, the end of the game is not triggered, and play continues as normal.
Endgame Scoring
After all players have taken their final turn, compare all players' total Resource values. The player with the highest Resource value takes an additional ¥1,000 from the general supply. The player with the lowest Resource value must pay ¥500 to the general supply. In the case of ties for the highest or lowest Resource values, each tied player takes ¥500 or pays ¥300, respectively.
If the Bank External Market was in play, any Loans taken by players must now be repaid with interest, with the interest being shared among players owning Shares (see Bank in the External Markets section for details).
Finally, convert your Fish tokens to Yen, at a rate of ¥100 for every 1 Resource they are worth, and add this to your total amount of Yen. The player with the most Yen wins. In the case of a tie, settle it over fish and chips with a game of Turin Market!
Special Thank You
- To all of the backers that brought this game to life!
- To Andrew Marks, Joe Wiggins, Cole Wehrle, Jeffrey Erikson, Gregory Jones, Scott Marks, Pascal Clarkson, Thomas Looi, Andrew Browne, K Kyhe (Joshua), Andrew Rivett, Ana Dukakis, Freddie Watkins, Craig and Lindsay Taylor, and everyone else who gave play testing feedback and helped with development!
- To all the fish that have to put up with our species.
Overfishing Issues
I want to seriously convey that while this game has a relatable theme and nostalgic connection to the Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market, the oceans cannot sustain our current level of fishing and it is becoming a serious problem. At the time of this printing, 29% of the world's fish stocks are overfished, and 61% of the world's fish stocks are fully fished. (1)
I highly recommend watching the film 'Mission Blue', a feature documentary about legendary oceanographer, marine biologist, environmentalist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, and her campaign to create a global network of protected marine sanctuaries. (2)
I encourage all of us to research the fish we are eating, to ensure they are taken sustainably. According to some estimates, the oceans will collapse completely of fishable food sources by as early as 2048. Japan has a particularly terrible contribution to this issue. (3)
On a final positive note, thank you to the amazing community that encourages me every day! This game is for you.
(1) https://www.fishforward.eu/en/topics/facts-figures/ (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Earle (3) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/climate-change-is-shrinking-essential-fisheries/