ZiPANG Portable

So you like Samurai culture? Only have time for a quick game? Then here’s the game for you. ZiPANG portable is a quick casual game with competing Samurai fighting to survive and prove their honor. It’s plays really fast so let’s try to keep up.

The goal of the game is to have the most gold (called Mangoku). If you have more gold that anyone else at the end of a round when any player has no gold remaining, you win. 

The game is played over a series of rounds (called Campaigns) so don’t feel bad if you get knocked out early. You should have a chance to get back in it.

So to start with, everyone is going to get a player’s reference  card (these are going to be important).

Everyone starts with a certain number of gold coins. Then you deal 2 cards to every player. Everyone antes up 1 coin to the middle of the table and then 1 coin is removed from the center, out of the game.

On your turn, you are going to draw 1 card (giving you 3 to choose from) and play 1 card. The cards all have different abilities (see reference  card) and either attack other players, steal gold, or immediately end the round. Any time you don’t have 2 cards in your hand, you immediately draw up to 2.

There are basically three types of cards you can play on your turn:

Some cards are straight up attacks (Commander, Warlord, and Captain) If you attack then you compare your battle power (BTL) against the total BTL in your opponent’s hand (their 2 cards). If their cards’ total is equal or higher than yours they defend successfully, if not, your attack is successful and they are knocked out of the current campaign.

Some cards (Princess, Bandit, and Merchant) allow you to take gold from other players, even if they are already knocked out of the current Campaign.

Some cards allow you to change the effect of other cards (Monk) or take a card from discard and Play it (Kabuki).

Still others allow you to take cards from others or discard their hands

Then there’s the Emperor. The Emperor card allows you to immediately end the Campaign. You then all compare HNR and the one with the highest honor wins the Campaign and takes all of the gold from the center of the table. Sadly the Emperor’s 5 HNR is not calculated in this total since it was already played. The other way Honor can end the current Campaign is if all of the cards from the draw pile run out. Then you calculate HNR the same way, except this time the Emperor would count if it’s still in your hand.

So what do we think?

First thing you notice when you pull out this game is the artwork. It is simply fantastic.  Starting with the box which is very striking, I was very impressed with the entire package. The character cards are what you think of as a classic Japanese style. Each character has a unique piece of art, which is top notch . The cards are larger than normal poker card size which is nice, and they all have their own flavor text.

The only thing that the cards are missing is the action that each character can take. To know what you’re character can do, you have to consult a player aid card which describes what each character’s special ability is. This is helpful when you are trying to remember what characters not currently in your hand can do, but kind of frustrating when you have to consult it for what your cards can do too. 

I feel like the cards were big enough to have the abilities listed. 

I’m sure this was an aesthetic decision, but it slows down the gameplay of a really quick game. I think the flavor text could’ve gone by the wayside in order to simplify and speed up game play. After a couple of plays, you probably won’t need the reference card anyway, but it is challenging for new players. 

There are a number of strategies that will work in ZiPANG, but often it just comes down to surviving a bad hand. Sometimes it’s not the worst thing to be knocked out of a Campaign early. As long as you have some gold, that is. 

Often times you are holding back your high BTL cards to make sure you have enough to defend with, unless you have a Monk that will automatically protect you. 

There is a special rule that if you would be knocked out of the Campaign before you have had a turn, you can pay one gold to the center to avoid attack, that way you are not completely blindsided. This is important since some Campaigns could be over on the first player’s turn otherwise, depending on the cards you are dealt. As in any card game, there is quite a bit of Luck involved.

Some of the cards seem much more powerful than others. If you ever find yourself in possession of 2 Peasants, you are in good shape since you can play both to attack all players with 5 BTL. This assumes you can get back around to your turn though since they only defend with 2 BTL. The Princess steals half of another player’s coins, which works great as a catch up mechanism. The Monk cancels any action but is pretty worthless as an attacker or when calculating Honor. The Kabuki can mimic any other card, so use it as a Monk or Princess or a Peasant for maximum effect. 

ZiPANG is not a super complex game that demands huge table space and multiple hours to play, and that is a good thing. This is one that you will play to start a game night or play to wind down or when you only have a few minutes, but it feels that time really well. This game is going to easily fit into the same category as Love Letter. Its small enough to throw in a bag or a quiver, and it’s really really pretty. It’s quick, and after a little while, you won’t really need to consult the players aid card anymore. The more you play this one, the more you’re going to like it.

 

ZiPANG was sent to us in exchange for an honest review which is exactly what we provided.