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Description
GAME SYSTEM
This entry is to allow for discussion/rating of the game system as a whole. It is not for a specific product or release. Versions will appear on the individual item pages.
Yomi is a card game that simulates a fighting game. It tests your ability to predict how your opponents will act and your ability to judge the relative value of cards from one situation to the next. Also, it lets you do fun combos and be a panda. There are 10 characters to choose from, each with their own deck, abilities, and style. Each deck also doubles as a regular deck of playing cards with beautiful artwork (the complete game features a whopping 120 different character illustrations).
Yomi is the Japanese word for “reading”, in this case as in reading the mind of your opponent. Yomi: Fighting Card Game is a simple competitive card game that simulates a fight between two characters. Each deck in Yomi represents one character, with 10 decks in the first release.
Champion fighting game tournament player and tournament organizer David Sirlin designed the game to test the skills of Valuation and Yomi. Valuation refers to your ability to judge the relative value of moves (or cards) as they change over the course of the game. Yomi, the game's title, refers to your ability to guess which moves your opponent will make. There is more to it than guessing, though: some players have the uncanny ability to “guess” right almost every time, no matter the game.
The core mechanic is a paper-rock-scissors guessing game between attack, throw, and block/dodge (sometimes modified by special ability cards). Attacks and throws usually let you follow up with combo cards from your hand, while blocks let you draw a card. While it first seems "just random," you soon discover that the unequal and uncertain payoffs in this guessing game allow you really read what the opponent will do. Yomi captures the kind of mind games that occur during the high level in fighting game tournaments.
Reimplemented by:
Yomi (Second Edition)
Year Published
2011
Featured Videos
Review
Yotei Board Game Review
Playthrough
Tom's Boring Unboxing Video - September 30, 2025
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 1 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–5 of 5
Video fhdVQEJMbd4
Unknown Channel playthrough at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 62704 · mention_pk 155399
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Clear potato economy and resource flow
- Engaging bidding mechanism
- Tiered card progression adds strategic depth
- Thematic flavor of farming/town-building
- Two-player setup with compact components
Cons
- Potential complexity for new players due to multiple phases
- End-game triggers can be tricky to manage or anticipate
- Bidding can be tense in tight potato economies
Thematic elements
- building towns and earning charm points through card progression
- Hokkaido towns built with potatoes as currency
- placement and bidding-driven development with mystery cards
Comparison games
- Hamlet
- Fate Forge
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction / Bidding — Bids use boxes; ties are resolved by who acted first, with the loser reclaiming their potatoes.
- auction dynamics and tie-breaking — Bids use boxes; ties are resolved by who acted first, with the loser reclaiming their potatoes.
- card drafting — Players select and bid on cards to claim central display cards for their town.
- Card drafting / selection — Players select and bid on cards to claim central display cards for their town.
- card tier progression — Cards come in levels 1–3, with higher levels providing more charm points and costs.
- end game bonuses — Game ends when a player achieves two star symbols on tier-3 cards, or when tier-1 deck runs out and the round ends.
- End-game condition — Game ends when a player achieves two star symbols on tier-3 cards, or when tier-1 deck runs out and the round ends.
- Harvest phase — Tokens and attached cards are retrieved; players may qualify for effects or flip cards to gain rewards.
- mystery cards — Hidden, varied effects revealed when a card is taken.
- potato bidding currency — Potatoes serve as the in-game currency to bid for cards, with higher bids winning and losing bids returning potatoes.
- Resource management — Gaining forests, farmland, snow, and potatoes to pay costs and enable future cards.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Hi everyone, I'm Tom and today I'm going to be showing you Yohei, which is a game where we will build beautiful Hokkaido towns using the currency of potatoes.
- The person with the most charm points at the end of the game will win.
- In a two-player game, we have three character tokens each and we start off with five potatoes.
- Ties are broken by whoever went there first.
- The back of the tier two cards will give you two potatoes.
- The back of the tier three cards will need you to pay two potatoes to get a charm point.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Rt5PGW_LFpo
Tantrum House Studio D game_review at 0:00 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 62725 · mention_pk 155424
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Art and components support the cute potato/folk-theming
- Hidden bidding adds tension and strategic depth
- Blend of planning ahead and reacting, with open drafting and bidding
- Simple structure but deep, with meaningful decision-making each round
- Engaging engine-building progression toward higher-value cards
Cons
- Theme doesn't come through as strongly as the presentation suggests; flavor is more in art than in flavor text
Thematic elements
- Shaping a charming town with options like a cozy farming town, tourist hotspot, or snowy ski resort to maximize charm
- Base of Mount Yote in Hokkaido, Japan
- explanatory, with flavor notes about theme conveyed through art and components
Comparison games
- Splendor
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / tableau building — Tokens are placed to claim cards, building a tableau that unlocks future capabilities.
- Auction / Bidding — Multiple players secretly bid for cards; highest bid wins if they can meet the card's requirements.
- card drafting — Players draft or claim cards from central market with strategic timing and bidding elements.
- end game bonuses — The game ends when two tier-3 cards with star icons are claimed; players then score charm points and bonuses.
- Endgame trigger and scoring — The game ends when two tier-3 cards with star icons are claimed; players then score charm points and bonuses.
- face-down and top-deck options — Options to take a guaranteed resource by choosing a face-down card or to grab what's on top of a deck.
- guaranteed resource via face-down — Face-down picks provide early resources and can block opponents.
- hidden bidding — Multiple players secretly bid for cards; highest bid wins if they can meet the card's requirements.
- mystery cards with one-time powers — Special one-use powers that can provide bonuses or disrupt opponents.
- Resource management — Potatoes serve as the primary currency to pay costs and bid for cards.
- resource management with potatoes — Potatoes serve as the primary currency to pay costs and bid for cards.
- tableau building — Tokens are placed to claim cards, building a tableau that unlocks future capabilities.
- top-deck grab — Placing a token on the deck to claim whatever is shown there.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- potatoes are the currency here, and you're essentially saying, 'I'm planning to take this card later.'
- There's also bidding cards, where multiple players can go for the same card.
- If you enjoy card drafting games with a bit of competition over shared spaces, the area majority sort of thing going on, some clever timing decisions, this is definitely one to keep an eye on as it has the Kickstarter.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 9_NcqaHe2hA
Adam Porter's Board Game Channel analysis at 18:20:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 12785 · mention_pk 109441
Click to watch at 18:20:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Simple but very fun mechanics
- Creates satisfying physical interaction
- Easy to learn and teach
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Body contortion
- Physical challenge game
- Physical/absurdist
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Physicality - body positioning — Players draw cards that tell them where to place cards on their body; dropping cards results in elimination
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- that sense of destruction sheer destruction of the playing space and you don't get that much in board games
- i think that's a really nice level of interaction in games because it's not mean spirited it's not vindictive but it still means you've got to constantly keep thinking
- i've got my own deck that alone is exciting and different to the vast majority of games that i had played in the past
- the deck is created as we play we're buying cards from a central pool
- everybody's got a bit of the same information a bit of different information and it makes the game really really intriguing
- everybody's running around a table shouting over each other trying to find the people with the same card
- i've played it with my german family and my english family who can't speak to each other because i don't speak the same language but they could all play happy salmon together
- everyone's got their own set of poker dice and they're rolling them all at the same time you're not having to wait for somebody else
- these are just the most fantastic little components that i've i've found in games i absolutely love them
- it takes six minutes to play which is three rounds of drawing one minutes each and three rounds of guessing one minute each
- it's so frustrating it just gets in the way it's not fun
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video kf4cpqpukvk
Adam Porter general_discussion at 7:24 sentiment: positive
video_pk 2259 · mention_pk 104096
Click to watch at 7:24 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Fast to learn, quick rounds
Cons
- Elimination-based may be punishing for some players
Thematic elements
- Body positioning and card-play risk
- Party/social placement game
- Casual, rapid onboarding through play
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- positioning on body — draw a card and place it on your body; if it falls off you are out
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Onboarding is not about just making that first sale; it's about creating a user who continues to engage with your product in the long term.
- Strong promises will motivate players to tolerate the arduous process of learning rules.
- The box size, the price, where it's bought, the artwork, the setting — these are pivotal factors that determine whether that game ever comes off the shelf.
- Brand advocates are everywhere in board gaming; satisfied gamers will share your product with friends and family.
- Kickstarter is a powerful way to create brand advocates through active backer engagement.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video NUgnDEhMAKQ
Dice Tower playthrough at 9:46 sentiment: neutral
video_pk 1174 · mention_pk 3416
Click to watch at 9:46 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
none
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Welcome to the most boring unboxing in the world
- We don't know it's good till we play it
- This is a new way to play the game. A way to suck people into the CCG
- I think boxes are fine
- I've seen every game in the world at this point
- A lot of good games in this one, huh? So many I can't even fit them all in this bag
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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