Takenoko Review – The Most Colourful Bamboo You’ve Ever Seen

Reviewed by: Fwooshe

The sun was already setting when the gardener finally lay down his tools for the day and gazed upon the fruits of his labour: colourful fields of tall, vibrant, gorgeous bamboo. Satisfied with the day’s work, the gardener removed his hat to wipe his brow.

Abruptly he froze. Tell-tale rustling sounded from behind. Stomping. Snapping. Chomping. Clumsy footsteps getting closer. The gardener, flooded with dread, reluctantly spun around.

“No! Not again… No no no…” The gardener’s arm dropped helplessly to his side. Just beyond the nearby pond, the voracious giant panda feasted upon his prized pink bamboo, leaving a wake of destruction as he went.

I played this game for the first time on September 12, 2013. It was the very first game Karujin and I ever played together, on our very first date at a board game cafe. In between rounds of growing bamboo, eating bamboo, and irrigating plots, we got to know each other. We discussed important matters like our favourite colours and what mythical animal hybrids we would want to be. But enough of that. Let’s talk about Takenoko!

Let’s Play Takenoko!

Takenoko is a cute, colourful game that is quick to learn and easy to play. You win by scoring the most points. You score points by completing objectives.

There are three categories of objectives: plots, gardener, and panda.

• Plots: Lay tiles in a specific configuration, paying attention to colour, spacing, and irrigation
• Gardener: Grow bamboo stalks of the correct colour to a specific height, adhering to any required (or banished) improvements
• Panda: Eat bamboo sections of the correct colours

Takenoko Gameplay

Players choose two actions to take every turn. Actions include growing bamboo, eating bamboo, placing a tile, drawing a new objective card, and taking an irrigation channel to place immediately or later on as a free action. (Plots must be irrigated to grow bamboo and meet plot objectives!)

You also roll the weather die to determine how the weather will affect your turn. For example, a sunny day allows you to take an extra action, while a rainy day grows more bamboo.

One of the challenges of the game is balancing progress towards different goals. Maybe you have an objective to grow pink bamboo but there are currently no pink tiles on the board. So you need to place one, but doing so would mess up the configuration of the plot objective you are working towards. Further, it is a frequent occurrence that another player will send the panda to eat sections of a bamboo stalk that you have been so patiently tending to.

On the other hand, sometimes you draw an objective card and immediately complete it. Sometimes there will already be the exact configuration of tiles in the bamboo garden that the objective asks for. Serendipity!

Once a player has completed a certain number of objectives (either 7, 8, or 9, depending on player count) the final round is triggered, after which the game ends and players total the points found on each of their completed objective cards. Different objectives are worth different amounts of points, so the winner is not necessarily the player who completed the most objectives.

Our Thoughts on Takenoko

Takenoko is a fantastic game for what it is. There are quite a few mechanics involved for how light the gameplay is. During each turn there are enough opportunities for decision-making so that the game doesn’t grow stale before it ends, but the pool of choices is simple and manageable. Furthermore, turns are quick.

Takenoko is a great option for:

• When you’re in a board game mood but low on brain power
• A “warm-up” game for game night
• Board game newbies
• Kids (note: there is no reading involved)
• When you just feel like playing a feel-good low-pressure game

I think that the game is visually beautiful, albeit cutesy. The tiles are gorgeous. The coloured wooden bamboo sections are adorable and give the game a 3D effect as they grow. The little gardener and panda minis are cute as heck, too.

The individual player boards (where you mark your actions and store your consumed bamboo sections) are colourfully illustrated and serve as reference sheets for the actions and the weather die effects. This is super helpful!

My favourite part of the game is watching garden expand into a beautiful colourful bamboo-filled oasis.

Potential Caveats

• Cutesy theme can seem “childish” and may be a turn off for some
• Every game of Takenoko plays similarly, which some people will find boring