Isaribi is designed by <PERSON> and is published by OKAZU Brand. It supports 3 to 5 players and plays in about 45 minutes.
The Game You've Been Herring About
I love fishing themed games. So I think we are looking good. I also love the Japanese games, especially the more involved ones. For OKAZU Brand String Railway: Transportis about as deep as things get and this sits in that dock. Definitely looking good. Isaribi is still very much a light game. The artwork is absolutely beautiful, especially if you are a fan of the more traditional style of Japanese art. The style is consistent throughout the whole package, the box, the board, the cards, they all ooze class.
You Won't Get A Haddock Reading These Rules
The rules are nice and easy to read, and Isaribi definitely has one of the better rule books I've read. Here is a good example why. The Buy A Technology rule section has the conditions under which the rule can applied in bold and at the start of the section. This means the exceptions aren't buried in the rule somewhere, it is clear from the beginning. It is a pet peeve of mine when your either explaining or looking up a rule and you read through the entire rule to then be told at the end, by the way you can't do this when blah blah blah. Additionally, as always for OKAZU Brand the rules are written in very good English, there's no weird Janglish going on here.
Right Plaice and Right Time
For all the rule reading and descriptions of the game Isaribi appears to be a pick up and deliver game. You start the game with one and a half action points to spend each turn. As fishermen you are in your boat out to sea, you can spend points to move, cast your nets and haul in a catch (though clams can only be caught by hand). By and large the more sought after fish are further out to sea, so you have to travel further to get them back to the harbour. Once you have enough fish to sell you head back into the harbour, maybe catching some more as you go. Once at the harbour you can go to the market and hope to sell those fish to the waiting merchants. Additionally, in the harbour you can spend your Ryo to outfit your boat so you can have more action points each turn and bigger nets (you can't buy bigger hands). You can also buy a couple of cards to help you out. 581
One is a client that will always buy one of your fish for four Ryo. The other is a smokehouse that will allow you store three additional fish from one round to another (normally you can only store one). Once bought you'll keep these abilities for the rest of the game.
See, the game appears to be a engine building, logistics efficiency, pick up and deliver kind of thing. While this is true, there are a few rules that put a slight twist on this.
This Scampi Happening
Firstly is the game structure. It is played over 5 rounds. At the start of each round a couple of things happen. First the sea is replenished with fish. This means that old fish are removed from the sea, they have lived happy lives and reproduced to give the fisherman fresh stocks. Cards are turned over for the four available fish types to determine the amount of fish and their distribution in the sea. Then the merchants are replenished. These are represented by cards showing the type of fish and how much they are willing to pay. At the start of the round all but one these are face down, so the players are not sure which fish will be in demand (unless you track the merchants from previous rounds as each merchant is only used once in the game). It takes an all important action point to reveal a merchant, as well as another half or one action point to perform a sales action and gain the all important money.
Another key aspect is knowing when to quit. A round is played until all the merchants have been satisfied or there a no fish left in the sea. Players take turns round and round the table spending their available action points each turn. They can pass on their turn and leave the round choosing a collaborator card from those available. These collaborator cards give players a nice little bonus, that can be strategically very important. Bonuses include things like gaining 3 ryo, or 3 ryo towards gaining a technology, or storing 2 extra fish at the end of this round.
The final key point is that fish not in storage aren't just lost, but you must pay 3 ryo to dispose of each fish. It means you cannot hoard vast quantities of fish for future rounds. This can make that extra 2 storage collaborator card all the more important. Maybe you can still sell some stuff just in time to pass and grab that card.
A Loaf Of Pollocks? 629