Ohanami consists of a deck of 120 cards that are numbered from 1-120, with each card having one of four symbols on it. The game lasts three rounds, with players scoring at the end of each round, in addition to bonus scoring at the end of the game.
At the start of a round, each player receives a hand of ten cards. Each player chooses two cards, then passes the remaining cards to the left. All players reveal their cards at the same time, then decide whether to use 0, 1, or 2 of them in personal rows of cards. When you start a row, you can use any card; to add a card to an existing row, that card must be higher than the row's highest card or lower than the lowest one. A player can have at most three rows of cards. Discard any cards you don't use.
Players repeat this drafting, passing, and playing process until they have played ten cards. The first round ends, and players now receive 3 points for each blue card in their rows.
Players then receive a new hand of ten cards to start round 2, once again choosing two cards and passing the rest, but now to the right. Players continue building on the rows that they already have, scoring 3 points for each blue card and 4 points for each green card at the end of round two.
For round three, players have ten more cards and pass cards to the left once again. At the end of this round, players once again score for their blue and green cards, while also receiving 7 points for each gray card in their rows. Additionally, each player scores for their pink cherry blossom cards, with these cards having a pyramidal scoring structure: one card = 1 point, two cards = 3, three cards = 6, etc. Whoever has the highest total score wins!
- tight decision space with diminishing placement options
- high tension and replayability for a small box game
- may require careful planning and forward thinking
- complex scoring to track across rounds
- planning under pressure with limited space
- Japanese hanami, cherry blossom viewing
- elegant and tense
- Arboretum
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- 10-card drafting — draft cards and place them into three rows
- multi-round scoring — blue cards score all rounds, green in rounds two and three, grey/pink with distinct scoring per round
- row-based placement — cards must be placed above or below numbered cards, cannot fit between them
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just a simple nine card puzzle game
- it's fine for what it is
- it's not going to be a deep game that holds Brass's attention
- it's actually surprisingly fun
- oh hanami is a great game
- small box games can be great games
References (from this video)
- elegant twist on pick-and-pass drafting
- clear escalation across rounds
- rules-light but with non-obvious scoring nuances
- drafting and placement to build columns with evolving scoring across rounds
- Japanese Hanami (flower viewing) theme
- abstract-light
- Sushi Go
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- drafting and pass — Players pick two cards, pass the rest; you draft again with two new cards each turn.
- multi-round scoring — End-of-round scoring shifts colors’ scoring weights across rounds; third round changes again.
- placement constraints — Each card played into a column must be either the highest or the lowest in that column.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a really neat mechanism
- an AB sucker in German is like the final drink of an evening
- this is a pick and pass drafting game a bit like Sushi Go
- it's a cooperative limited communication speed game
- it's a really nice twist on memory games with a nice speed element
- the second player is really influential in every round
- a murder variant on golf
- it's really funny as well
- this is a roll and write which is perhaps a little more complex than things like Quicks and Quinto
References (from this video)
- Such a cool card game
- Does it much much better than similar games
- Building columns of cards
- Japanese gardens
- Card game
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card placement — Place cards in three columns
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a series where I take a look at reviews I did last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 20 years ago
- I know it's hard to believe people were arguing about board games
- Seven Wonders Duel came out and changed gaming - now we have dual games everywhere
- This game's thematic because it feels like the Joker's making you play this at gunpoint
- No Thanks keeps getting better for me the more I play it
- Undaunted - such a fantastic game and series - I love it
References (from this video)
- beautiful art and theme, accessible to color-blind players (iconography)
- requires spatial planning and forward thinking
- garden placement, scoring by color and layout
- Japanese cherry blossom viewing and garden design
- floral/zen
- Welcome to Moon/Las Vegas family
- Other flip-and-write garden games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting / deck indexing — cards are color-coded and numbered to guide placement
- grid/garden construction — three gardens built with vertical stacking constraints
- scoring by color tracks — round-by-round scoring on blue/green/gray/pink tracks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- our goal is just to make this world a better place, one board gamer at a time
- empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
- co-op games allow me to talk with other players, plan together
- it's amazing; they came hard
- this is a game built by people from that heritage
References (from this video)
- Accessible drafting with clear scoring progression
- Beautiful component art and tactile garden-building concept
- Some players may prefer more thematic narrative
- Publisher/designer details unclear in the transcript
- Aesthetics, garden layering, color synergy
- Symbolic garden-building and season progression
- Abstract drafting and scoring
- Lost Cities
- Lost Worlds (conceptual similar drafting/garden progression)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting / hand management — Draft cards to build and score a vertical garden with multiple layers.
- Passing or swap mechanics — Drafted cards are passed or exchanged to shape opponents' gardens.
- Two-stage scoring across rounds — Scores accumulate across rounds with garden layers contributing at different times.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a memory game i mean if you say it's not
- barbarians adds a whole new element to it you've got all these different expansions
- the production is top notch
- two actions you can do on your turn
- the board is basically a map and the map shows you how elections will be resolved with arrows
- rise of red skull came out and the reason why we're so excited about this was because this is it was introducing campaign elements
References (from this video)
- tight, approachable optimization puzzle
- short playtime (~15 minutes) with meaningful decisions
- clear, satisfying scoring risk/reward dynamics
- small-box design may feel bland to some
- replay variety depends on card pool and drafting luck
- card drafting with multiple scoring columns
- Small box card drafting in an abstract garden scoring system
- abstract, puzzle-like
- No Thanks
- Six Nimmt
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- drafting — pass-and-draft system to select cards for your column strategy
- restricted placement — you must place cards higher than your highest or lower than your lowest, squeezing options as the game progresses
- set scoring per card — cards score in different rounds (round 1, 2, or 3) or based on a sliding scale
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- an absolute blast to play
- this is up there with those classics
- clearly elegant and tightly designed
- it’s a pure two-player gem that should hit higher on the radar
- the box art is a little bit misleading and it makes it look boring, but the gameplay is far from that
- the game hits so many checkpoints
References (from this video)
- tight, solvable puzzle with satisfying tension
- compact playtime and high engagement
- beautiful, accessible presentation
- box art may underrepresent the depth
- scoring rules can be a bit fiddly for new players
- three-column scoring with unique numbers on each card
- Japanese-style garden card drafting
- clear, tactical, compact
- No Thanks
- Six Nimmt
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- drafting — pass-and-draft with restrictions on placement relative to your current high/low cards
- multi-column scoring — cards score across multiple rounds with different timing for points
- restricted card placement — you must fit cards into columns with increasing or decreasing constraints
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- an absolute blast to play
- this is up there with those classics
- clearly elegant and tightly designed
- it’s a pure two-player gem that should hit higher on the radar
- the box art is a little bit misleading and it makes it look boring, but the gameplay is far from that
- the game hits so many checkpoints
References (from this video)
- clean dice drafting with tight decision space
- compact filler with meaningful choices
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Mandala blew me away this year
- Chinatown is the best negotiation game out there
- barrage is a 10 out of 10 game for me
References (from this video)
- Beautiful components and themed feel
- More substantial than sushi-go style games
- Somewhat heavier than light filler games
- set collection in a Japanese garden aesthetic
- Sushi Go
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting and placement — Draft numerical cards and arrange them into three Gardens, with placement constraints.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's like Scrabble on methampetamine
- mindblowing just how much game is jammed into this very, very tiny Gloomhaven box
- Scout is a phenomenal Spa box game
- it's a great filler game
- you can't see your own cards
References (from this video)
- beautiful thematic coherence
- accessible entry point for new gamers
- clear appeal for garden/creative players
- explanation could be complex for some
- less interaction in two-player setups
- garden design and zen-focused planning
- Calm gardens; seasonal cherry blossoms and garden aesthetics
- concept-driven, peaceful strategy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — select and place card-based garden elements
- garden building — arrange cards into ascending order of value
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm very interested. I want to back if only I had time to play a game by myself.
- The minis are really beautiful and they did a great job with it.
- The art is sick. The tracks are configurable and you can build 80 tracks from a few boards.
- Distilled down to a two-player game, which is exciting.
- 81 different endings to this game.
- Deck of cards here is one through 120. We've already shuffled it up.
References (from this video)
- Really cool little filler game
- Surprisingly enjoyed it for a 6 pound purchase
- Tight scoring
- Clever game design
- Original turn order rule based on who played first is pointless and fiddly
- Turn order rule creates unnecessary complexity
- Collecting cards in columns with numerical constraints
- Flower arrangement
- Number-based card placement and collection
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Color Collection — Collecting different colored cards for points
- Column Placement — Cards placed in three columns, cannot fill gaps between numbers
- Simultaneous Card Flip — House rule for simultaneous card placement instead of turn order based on play sequence
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- no game is Flawless everything can be improved there is no such thing as a flawless game
- I don't like to say to other people like look I do it with a house rule you should use it no no no that's not the way I'm talking here
- it's this artificial way to try and introduce humor into a game that's not how you do humor
- everything can be improved
- these little tweaks make it better but that's a personal thing it's always subjective when it comes to house rules
- this is a house rule that basically is so good it needs to be in more games
- I don't get why it has to go in sequence
- the designer still did a lot of great stuff it's not like I'm saying Your Design sucks I'm just saying that I think your design is great because I love your game but maybe just this one little tweak
- padding out the content by ways of grinding is annoying
- I will actively take measures to try and convince the person teaching wingspan that it should be in the game