Tokaido Overview
Tokaido is a relaxing game where you are travelling between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto where your goal is to experience the most amount of Japanese culture as possible. Every time you complete an action that lets you experience the culture of the land, you receive points. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
This game plays quickly because of an innovative game mechanic where it is always the player who is last on the game board’s turn. This saves time in rolling dice or playing action cards. As long as you have one person who is familiar with the game playing, the game flows really well and quickly.
This game is inspiring and I highly suggest it for courses that promote creativity. The artwork is beautiful while remaining accessible.
How to play in class (Difficulty: Medium)
The game time can last from 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how long it takes to set up the game and how comfortable the students are with the game. To run the game, I would play the game with 5 students in the class before the day they play the game. This will allow those students to run the game, you can assess them on an observation rubric to help with triangulation in your classroom.
The game plays 2-5 players, but it works better with 4-5 players. You may also choose to have a pair of students for each player to increase the amount of students engaged in the game. The game could also run as a carousel with other games/ activities.
I don’t suggest playing this game over a document camera, the board is really long and there are so many beautiful cards that it serves students better to have those right in front of them so they can see them and play with them.
Courses you may consider for this game
- Art
- Food and Culture
- History
- Travel and Tourism
Assessments Exemplars
- Grade 9 and 10 Visual Arts
- Grade 11 Food and Culture
- Grade 11 Travel and Tourism: A Geographic Perspective
Teaching With Board Games 