/pic3291451.jpg)
Game Info
Year
2016
Players
2-5
Age
13+
Playtime
40 min
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
The forest is growing fast! As caretakers for Kodama, the tree spirits, you must keep the forest a healthy and lush home for your little friends. Over three growing seasons, you must cultivate trees with the right mix of flowers, insects, and branch arrangements to make your Kodama as happy as possible. Whoever cares for their Kodama best will be remembered for generations!
From the designer of the hit game Kigi, Kodama: The Tree Spirits branches out into a fun new way to play! Grow your tree by placing cards in clever arrangements, being careful to leave room for future growth. At the end of each season, one Kodama will award you points for how well your tree suits its needs. With beautiful art and innovative mechanics, Kodama is an inTREEguing game for the whole family.
Featured Videos
Review
Kodama Review
Rules Teach
Kodama - How To Play
Ask a Rules Question
All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–5 of 5
Video xSBrfU7Aktc
Watch It Played Rules Teach at 0:21 sentiment: positive
video_pk 65162 · mention_pk 158786
Click to watch at 0:21 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Can be played with children using smaller Kodama cards.
- Visual appeal of building individual trees.
- Thematic integration of nature and growth.
Cons
- Cannot gain more than 10 points in a single turn.
- Cannot place a card that covers special feature symbols.
Thematic elements
- Guiding the growth of kadama tree spirits amongst trees.
- The forest
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Players choose one branch card from a face-up display.
- hand management — Players manage their hand of Kodama cards, choosing one to reveal and score during the Kodama phase.
- set collection — Players collect feature tokens during setup that match symbols on their trunk card.
- tile placement — Branch cards are attached to a player's tree structure, following specific placement rules regarding connections and table edges.
- variable scoring — Points are scored based on features on played branch cards, chaining back to the trunk, decree cards, and Kodama cards.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- In this video, we're going to learn the two to five player game Kadama, the tree spirits, designed by Daniel Solless and published by Action Phase Games.
- The player with the most points at the end of the game will be the winner.
- The game is played over three seasons or three rounds that are broken into three phases each.
- So visually it should appear that each new branch is more or less naturally growing off of your tree.
- So, it scores nothing. It doesn't matter that there are more clouds down here because the chain was immediately broken.
- So that means by adding this branch this turn, I'm scoring two points for stars, four points for fireflies, and four points for caterpillars for a total of 10.
- You cannot place a card so that it would cause you to gain more than 10 points in a single turn.
- The whole tree matters.
- The player who now has the most points wins.
- And that's everything you need to know to play Kodama the Tree Spirits.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 4N7bYDbqb4U
watch it played Discussion at 3:38
video_pk 65101 · mention_pk 158723
Click to watch at 3:38 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I look back and I always feel a certain sense of satisfaction and I know what a blessing that is not everyone can say that.
- if there's something you like about watch it played you've helped make that happen
- if you've donated to the show then you've played a financially supportive role
- if you've helped us with gameplay decisions commented on our videos or shared them then you've helped other people engage
- you've become part of a bigger community community that I just I can't build on my own
- if you simply watch the content then you've made more people aware of our show
- thank you thank you for that gift that you've given me it really it means a lot to me
- you've helped enable me to keep coming down here into this studio day after day and keep doing this thing that I love doing
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video c30iybiEMgk
Drive Thru Games Review sentiment: positive
video_pk 6491 · mention_pk 19227
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Excellent family/gateway game
- Beautiful artwork
- High replayability
- Interesting scoring mechanisms
- Visually appealing components
Cons
- Less player interaction compared to original Kegi game
Thematic elements
- Tree growth and spirit cultivation
- Natural forest environment
- Whimsical, Studio Ghibli-inspired
Comparison games
- Kegi
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card placement — Players add branch cards to their tree, scoring points for matching features
- hidden objectives — Kadama cards provide secret scoring opportunities
- Seasonal Decrees — Changing rule modifiers each round
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's kind of got that Princess Mononoke feel
- you can definitely sit down and play with kids or new Gamers
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video wF9w1EUwcaQ
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Top List at 0:13 sentiment: positive
video_pk 5062 · mention_pk 15039
Click to watch at 0:13 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Beautiful tree building theme
- Pattern matching mechanic
- Set collection variant
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- nature
- trees
- spirits
- japanese
Comparison games
- Lost Cities
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- board games are diverse but card games really could feature anything
- players are all doing this simultaneously and so you want to be the player that stays in the longest
- if you turn over to many matching cards then you end up with nothing
- auction games are are well served by the sort of card game mechanisms
- play very quickly for three to six players
- an excellent excellent game
- take that card games or I think the most combative sort of card games
- totally silly extremely random but essentially we're playing cards to attack other players
- still one of my favorite games
- each card is a floor on a building
- there's a whole genre of what we call take that card games
- you could place bombs or or murderers into these buildings or the police can then take away a murderer
- Seven Wonders was the sort of figurehead for the cloud drafting games
- sushi go has been an enormous hit
- now the figurehead for the genre is probably sushi go
- deck building was created really by the game of Dominion
- there's something delightful about the simplicity of a game like Dominion
- you can teach to people really easily and play very very quickly
- a form of set collection again
- classic tableau builder would be something like San Juan
- this is a fantastic card game
- buying cards laying them out in front of us and they're going to keep generating us money
- this really is one of my favorite genres
- anybody can play these games and not everybody can play them well
- I love speed games I think it's a fantastic category of card games
- trick-taking games very very straightforward in their basic format
- the basic mechanism can be turned into all these different games
- all tweak it slightly in different ways
- my top ten card game mechanisms
- hopefully I've given you a broad picture of the world of card games
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video qOq0csopC6E
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Discussion at 1:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 1426 · mention_pk 4138
Click to watch at 1:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Beautiful artwork
- Accessible rules
- Satisfying chain-building
Cons
- May be light for experienced players
- Hidden objectives can be opaque
Thematic elements
- Nature, harmony, and growth
- Forest in Japan, tree spirits guiding nature
- Poetic, nature-inspired
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card drafting and branch placement — Players add branches to their trees by selecting cards and adding to their own tree branch network, forming chains with matching symbols.
- Hidden objectives scoring — Players have hidden goals that award extra points for specific configurations at the end.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the artwork was very attractive
- this is a lovely sort of tinned version and deluxe edition of machi Koro
- it's not much heavier than carcassonne by the same designer
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–5 of 5