Kano

About this board game

Kano is a 2026 board game for 2–4 players that takes about 40 minutes, challenging artists to create traditional Japanese painted handscrolls called Emakimono. Players collect vibrant paint pots from a shared central mat and arrange them on their personal boards to form valuable patterns.

Each turn presents a careful balance of positioning and collection. Players may swap adjacent paint pots on the central mat before taking at least one pot. Multiple pots can be collected when they are the same color and adjacent in a single row or column.

• Gravity matters: Paint pots always fall to the lowest available space in a column when placed.
• Manage dry paint: Ending a turn with more than four visible paint pots requires the excess to become Cloud tiles, which occupy space but score no points.
• Complete patterns: Once a pattern is formed, replace its paint pots with Artwork Tiles.

Artwork Tiles reward more ambitious creations, with larger pieces scoring more points and 3-space artworks worth 7 points. Secret Masterpiece cards provide another major scoring opportunity, awarding 12 points each when completed.

The shared Red and White goal sheets introduce changing objectives from game to game, encouraging players to adapt their plans while managing limited space. In Kano, efficient collection, spatial optimization, and timing all contribute to building a strong Emakimono.

The game ends when one player completely fills their board, triggering a final round of scoring. The artist with the most prestige becomes the Master Artist.