Happiness, used to be loneliness and loneliness ruled my world. Then along came BAMBOO to allow me to appease spirts, decorate houses and generally make the world right for my family and the world. Well that’s kind of what the box says!
BAMBOO
Age 12+ (the box suggests older) / Players 2-4 (3 is best) / Time 100 mins flat
THE GAME
You have been harvesting bamboo for generations. It made money and then happiness. Some suggest that it is to do with the care you give your home and crops. Others the offerings to the gods. Now you can finally decide what makes your fields flourish and your houses grow. Players have to grow bamboo, then use this to take care of their family and create happiness points. Be warned, you have only 4 years to do this and the seasons change quickly. Spring sees you choose a gift of forest tile, an action tile that can help you gain food, items for your home, balance or fund your world. Summer is all about offering and using those new grown Bamboo. Autumn sees the players collect spirit tiles and finally Winter sees you hanker down, waking up a spirit, feed your family and then move to Spring. Sounds weird right? Well a great (an mercifully short) play through is here https://boardgamegeek.com/video/421646/bamboo/bamboo-how-play-learn-play-10-minutes
THE REVIEW
BAMBOO is clinically described as ‘an action management and tile optimization game’. Sucks the fun out of it right?
BAMBOO is more then just empty labels in our humble opinion. It might not tick off the box of ‘Family’ game, as it has also been promoted but it does add a new note to the Kemushi saga, to which BITOKU and SILK belong. Its visually softer then both but also better rounded for mature cross generational group play. This provided an issue. There was talk in the office, that would we include BAMBOO into the Xmas gift list? We discussed. We played it again and we got to a consensus.
BAMBOO is many things. A work of planning. A series of extrapolations. A way of understanding some of the delicacy of Japanese superstition. But primarily it is of course, a game of family play that is a bit heavier than usual, even though it feels like it is aimed at a broader and younger audience. The problem is that, even with easy-to-learn rules, BAMBOO is too mature for younger player but perfect for say Teenagers and Grandparents. This makes it versatile but maybe not for everyone.
