Genji

About this board game

Genji is a 2008 board game for 2–6 players that takes about 45 minutes, placing you among the courtiers of Imperial Kyoto as you compete through poetry and romance.

During each of the four seasons, twelve ladies are arranged in a circle. Each lady is associated with one of the four seasons and one of three courtly fashions: melancholy, nature, or romance. A fashion card reveals which style of poetry is currently in vogue.

Every player begins with a home lady and travels around the circle in either direction, moving 1–3 spaces on a turn. When you arrive at a lady, you can study by discarding poetry cards and drawing new ones, or attempt to woo her by presenting a poem.

• Poetry cards show the top or bottom of a classic five-line Tanka.
• A poem may use one card or combine two cards, following the Tanka’s 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllable structure.
• If another courtier has already presented a poem, you may complete it or challenge it with a more beautiful contribution.
• Players can earn points for poetic achievement, seasonal majorities, and wooing at another player’s home.

Challenging a rival can expose an inferior poem while leaving part of the verse available for later use. But courtly affection is never secure: other players may compete for the same ladies and steal hearts away.

A season ends when a player returns home and takes one final study or woo action. Players then score for having the most poems in that season, presenting its most beautiful poem, or successfully visiting another player’s home. In Genji, careful movement, timely poetry, and audacious romance all have a place beneath Kyoto’s moonlit sky.