IKI

To set up the game, place the main game board in the center. Distribute the season tokens (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) and place the corresponding resource tokens (tobacco pipes, fish, etc.) on their designated stalls. Each player selects a color and takes their Oyakata meeple (the largest one), four Kobun meeples, and a starting character card. The Oyakata meeple is placed on the movement track on the player board, and the Kobun meeples are placed next to it. Each player then places their chosen starting character card in one of the four corner stalls on the main board.

The objective of IKI is to accumulate the highest number of victory points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by strategically hiring and promoting artisans, collecting and managing resources, and making wise decisions during market movement and fire events over the course of four seasons.

A player's turn involves several steps. First, players determine their movement for the round by placing their Oyakata meeple on a space on their player board indicating how many spaces they will move. In the first round, a starting player is chosen, and subsequent rounds use the firefighting track to determine turn order. Players then move their Oyakata meeple counter-clockwise around the market, stopping at a stall to perform an action. Actions can include hiring a new artisan, collecting resources (like rice, pipes, or fish), or promoting an existing artisan by moving their Kobun meeple up the promotion track on their character card. Promoting artisans increases their salary during payday months.

Scoring occurs at the end of every three months (seasons). Players collect salary from their active and retired character cards based on their promotion level. Additionally, players earn Nagaya Harmony Bonuses: for each group of stalls (either one of the four main Nagayas or the four corner stalls) that contains at least two characters of the same type, players multiply the number of their Kobun meeples in that group by the number of cards of the same color in that group to determine victory points. Corner stalls can belong to two groups, potentially scoring twice.

The game concludes after the fourth season (12 months). A final scoring phase then takes place. Players tally victory points from various categories: character variety (based on the number of different character types hired), fish collected (depending on the number of different fish types), tobacco pouches (based on the number of pouches collected), buildings constructed, and any remaining resources. The player with the highest total victory points wins the game.