How to Play

Takenoko

2-4 players 45-45 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players compete as Japanese court members tending an imperial bamboo garden to appease a sacred panda. The main gameplay involves cultivating land plots, irrigating them, and growing three bamboo species using an Imperial gardener's assistance. Victory goes to whoever best balances optimal land management with satisfying the panda's voracious appetite for bamboo.

Published 2011

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the pond tile

Put the pond tile in the center of the table as the starting point

Position the figures

Place the gardener and the panda on the pond tile

Create the plot draw pile

Mix the remaining land plot tiles face down to form a draw pile

Organize the reserve

Place irrigation channels and improvements (sorted by type) next to the draw pile

Prepare objective cards

Set the Emperor card aside, then sort remaining cards by category (plot, gardener, panda) and shuffle each to form three face-down draw piles

Distribute player materials

Each player receives their own individual board and 2 action tokens

Deal starting objectives

Each player draws one objective card from each of the three categories, keeping them hidden from other players

Determine first player

The tallest player starts the game

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Step 1: Determine weather conditions

Roll the weather die and apply its effect (skip this step during the first round of play)

Step 2: Perform two actions

Choose two different actions by placing tokens on your individual board, then resolve them in any order

Validate objectives

At any time during your turn, place completed objective cards face up in front of you if their conditions are met

Movement restrictions

The gardener and panda can cross or end on the pond but cannot cross empty spaces between plots; they must move at least one space to gain their action benefit