How to play Okuribito

What is Okuribito?

A round-the-board sugoroku of 72 squares through the eight towns around Edo Castle, with the give and take of trade on top. Each firm has a town and an industry (cloth, grain, seafood or tools), and which firm sits on which square changes every game. Seasons change what each industry earns, and every round a national festival comes to one town. Whoever reaches a fortune of 100 million ryō wins; if nobody does, the greatest fortune when the last festival comes wins.

Playing Okuribito at Kirakuken

• Firms are shuffled every game; which towns and industries you gather shapes your game
• Seasons change what industries earn, and fees rise in the festival town. Festival offerings come back with a bonus when the festival reaches that town
• Gather each town's experience to gain wisdom (foresight, keen eye, master builder) and grow from apprentice to master
• Meet on a square and you may duel. The fortune teller may grant a straw doll, a charm, a lucky cat or a curse
• A gentle table (no tax or booked sales, duels or fortune teller) is also available
• Playable on a phone too: one town at a time fills the screen, and the full map and the fortune ledger open from buttons

Rules of Okuribito

These rules always apply at our tables.

Board

eight towns (Nihonbashi, Kanda, Ueno, Asakusa, Honjo, Fukagawa, Shinagawa and Yotsuya) surround Edo Castle, and each town has nine squares (six firms, one experience and two special squares). The roads between towns are not squares. The 48 firms (12 per industry) are placed on the firm squares at random every game.

Castle shortcut

the exits of Nihonbashi, Ueno, Honjo and Shinagawa are forks. After rolling, choose whether to go on along the road to the next town or through the Castle Gate (one square) to the entrance of the town opposite (four towns on). Passing or landing on the Gate costs a 500,000 ryō toll. Land exactly on the Gate and you may invest, and your next turn starts from the town opposite.

Start

everyone begins at the Money changer (the first square of Nihonbashi). The starting funds are 10 million ryō, 3% more for each later turn order (the second player gets 10.3 million ryō).

Your turn

roll two dice and move the total (doubles mean nothing special). Things happen on the squares you pass and the square you land on. Once everyone has rolled once, that is a round, and each round is one season (spring, summer, autumn, winter).

Firms

land on an unowned firm and you may buy it at a price set by its town (from 3 million ryō in Nihonbashi down to 1 million ryō in Yotsuya). Land on someone else's firm and you pay its owner a fee: 40% of the price for a stall, the same as the price for a shop and twice the price for a big store, multiplied by the industry set, the season and any festival.

Building

land on your own firm and you may build it up one level (stall → shop → big store). It costs 60% of the price to become a shop and the full price to become a big store. Landing on the Money changer lets you build up any one firm by one level.

Industry sets

for each extra firm you own in one industry, the value (the firm's price) and fees of your firms in that industry rise by 10%.

Seasons

each industry earns differently by season (cloth sells best in winter, grain in autumn, seafood in summer and tools in spring).

National festival

at the start of each round a festival is held in one town. For that round fees in that town are 1.5 times, and three times on the firms of anyone who owns all six firms there.

Season's takings

at the start of each round, every firm you own earns 3.5% of that season's fee (with the industry set, season and festival applied). The more firms you own and build up, the more you earn.

Money changer

passing or landing on it, you collect your dues: an allowance of 250,000 ryō plus 20% of the value of the firms you own.

Industry stakes

passing or landing on the Exchange, or landing on an experience square, you may buy up to 10 stakes at a time in each industry. Their price moves with the total value of that industry's firms and with the economy. Every sale is taxed on the full amount: 20% if you sell at once, 4% less for each round you wait after booking a sale, and tax-free after five rounds. A booked sale can't be cancelled and goes through at the price on the day it is sold.

Offerings

whenever you can invest, you may make offerings to a town's festival in units of 500,000 ryō (up to 5 million ryō per town). At the start of a round in which the national festival is held in that town, they come back 1.3 times over. Offerings can't be sold or withdrawn.

Experiences

each town has one experience square. Pass or land on it and you always collect it. When you reach an experience square you may choose to pass or stop. Stopping throws away the rest of your roll and lets you invest. Collect four and you choose an insight and go up one rank (apprentice → clerk → head clerk → master). The next four must include at least two towns you didn't collect last time (you can't just collect the same towns again).

Insights

Foresight (you alone see the festival towns for the coming year), Keen eye (your next firm costs half) and Master builder (your next building is free). As a master, their effects are doubled.

Matches

when you arrive on a square where someone already is, you may challenge them to a match (they can't refuse; with two or more, one after another). Once challenged, a number from 12 to 23 is shown, and the challenged player chooses whether the total of five dice will be higher or lower. If the challenged player wins, they take 10% of the challenger's starting funds; if the challenger wins, they take 30% of the challenged player's starting funds. Exactly equal is a draw.

Fortune teller

when you land on it, or stop by as you pass, you may have your fortune told for 250,000 ryō. Great luck gives you a Curse, good luck a Charm, middling luck a Lucky cat and small luck a Straw doll; bad luck gives you nothing (one of each at most, and everyone can see what you hold).

Belongings

the Straw doll doubles what you receive once, when you win a match you were challenged to. The Charm wards off one disaster to a firm. The Lucky cat, used before rolling, lets you roll three dice that turn. The Curse, used before rolling, makes the firm you land on that turn be sold (its owner gets its value, and you can't buy it that turn).

Other squares

at a Shrine you pay 50,000 ryō as an offering and draw a fortune slip (great luck 1 million, good luck 300,000, small luck 100,000 ryō; bad luck loses 250,000 ryō). Landing on a Barrier costs a 150,000 ryō toll. A News sheet draws an event card (an industry boom or slump, a fair day, a fire, a lucky find or a pickpocket). A fire takes one of your firms down a level (a stall goes back to being unowned; a Charm protects you).

Bankruptcy

if you can't pay, first your industry stakes are sold with 20% tax (unbooked stakes first), then your firms are given up at half their value. If that still isn't enough you go bankrupt: you lose your firms, industry stakes, offerings and experiences, miss a turn and start again with your starting funds. Insights, rank and belongings are kept, and whatever you couldn't pay never reaches the other player.

Winning

the moment your fortune (cash, firm values, industry stakes and offerings together) reaches 100 million ryō, you win. If nobody reaches it, whoever has the largest fortune when the last festival of the time limit comes wins.

Optional rules

You choose these when opening a table.

Time limit, starting funds and winning fortune

choose the number of festivals (40, 64 or 96; 96 by default), the starting funds (5 million, 10 million or 20 million ryō) and the fortune that wins (50 million, 100 million or 200 million ryō).

Gentle table

you can also open a table without the industry-stake tax and sale booking, matches or the Fortune teller (its square becomes a teahouse).

FAQ

How many players can play Okuribito?

4-6 players. If you're short of players, the host can add CPU players, so you can start a table on your own.

What age is Okuribito suitable for?

We suggest 10+. There's no age check, so treat it as a guide.

Does it cost anything?

Nothing at all. No account and no app to install: enter a name and you're straight in.

How long does a game take?

About 90 min.

Can I play on a smartphone?

Yes. It runs in the browser, so the same URL opens on iPhone and Android alike.

How do I invite friends?

Open a table and press "Invite link" to get its URL. Anyone you send it to comes straight to your table.