Okiya

About this board game

Okiya is a two-player strategy game that plays in about 10 minutes, challenging players to arrange tokens in the emperor’s garden.

To begin, shuffle the 16 tiles and lay them out in a 4×4 square. Each tile combines one of four vegetation types—maple, cherry, pine, or iris—with one of four poetic symbols: the rising sun, bird, rain, or tanzaku.

The starting player removes a tile from the border, sets it aside, and places a token in its space. The opponent must then choose from the remaining tiles that share either the vegetation type or poetic symbol shown on the set-aside tile. That chosen tile is set aside in turn, creating the restriction for the next move.

Every decision affects both your own placement and your rival’s options. You are trying to form a winning pattern, while also looking for a move that leaves your opponent unable to place a token.

• Create a line of four tokens in any direction.
• Form a 2×2 square with four tokens.
• Choose a tile that gives your opponent no legal placement.

In any of these situations, the player who creates the condition wins. If a player removes the final tile, the game ends in a tie, so careful control of the shrinking grid is essential.

Okiya can be played as a single game, a best-of-three series, or a point-based match. In the point-based format, the winner scores points equal to the number of tiles remaining when they win, and the first player to reach 10 points takes the match.