Learn Nippon: Zaibatsu

Welcome to Nippon: Zaibatsu

Japan, after the Meiji Restoration. The country is racing to catch up with the West, and each of you runs a zaibatsu — a family of companies. You build Factories and fit them with Machines, produce Goods, sell them across Japan for Influence, send Ships abroad to bring back experts, lay railways and fulfil Contracts.

The player with the most victory points wins. Points come from two main places:

• Influence — at the end of each of the 3 Periods, each Region pays the players with the most Influence there. Later Periods pay more.
• Your Zaibatsu — Favor tokens on your Personal Objectives score at the end, the further you have got.

1–4 players (solo against the Automa), about 60–120 minutes. Ready to set up? Open the setup checklist — it adapts to your player count.

The boards

• Hiring area — nine actions along the top, each below a Hiring space with 3 Workers. The Worker Queue beside it refills a Hiring space that runs empty.
• Round track — three Periods; the points for each Influence Scoring are printed below.
• Japan — four Regions with Local Markets (a City, its Demand tile and four Influence spaces) and Train spaces.
• Iwakura Mission — six Destinations abroad, each with an Expert Worker to win with a Ship.

Your own Zaibatsu board holds your Workers, Departments, the R&D, Mining and Finance tracks, your Ships, Machines and Trains, six Factory spaces and eight Contract spaces.

More detail: Teach the Game.

Your turn

On your turn, do one thing:

1. Act. Take a Worker from above an action and put it at the bottom of your Workers area. Pay for 1–3 activations of that action — build a Factory, add Machines, produce Goods, send Ships or Trains, sell Goods for Influence, fulfil Contracts, or climb your R&D or Mining track.
2. Consolidate. Take a Favor token, lose all your Money and Coal, collect Department bonuses and income, then pay 3 Money for each Worker colour you hold. Your Workers go back.

At the end of each turn an empty Hiring space is refilled from the Worker Queue. When the queue can’t refill it, the round ends.

More detail: Gameplay and Consolidation.

Factories and Goods

Your engine runs in a chain:

1. R&D — pay Money to raise your technology level. Factories need level 2, 4 or 6.
2. Factory — pay 6 Money to build one: Cotton or Paper, Bento or Lenses, Bulbs or Clocks.
3. Machines — 5 Money each; every Machine adds a Good to each production.
4. Production — 2, 3 or 4 Coal makes 1 Good, plus 1 per Machine.
5. Selling — Goods buy Influence tokens in the Local Markets, or pay for Contracts and Finance.

Mining raises the Coal and Finance the Money you get at each Consolidation. Iron pays for Ships and Trains; Silk works as Money.

More detail: Actions.

Scoring

• Influence Scoring — at the end of each Period, every Region pays its 1st to 4th places: 10/8/6/2, then 18/14/10/3, then 26/20/14/4. Your Influence is your tokens there plus 2 per Train, if you have a token in that Region. Unclaimed printed values count as Overseas Companies.
• The end — when the Round marker reaches the bright spaces, everyone has 3 more turns. After the last scoring, everyone consolidates once more.
• Final Scoring — each Favor token scores its Personal Objective (up to 20 points), plus 1 point per 3 leftover Goods and Resources and 1 per 5 Money.

The most points wins; a tie goes to whoever took their last turn latest.

More detail: Scoring and the End. Questions at the table? Try the FAQ.