Saiju 2020

Saiju is an abstract strategy game for 2 players. Although there are stones for each player, as well as neutral stones, you can place any stone you want! The object is to make groups of same-colour stones that have more stones of your symbol than your opponent’s.

The motif for the 3 symbols is Setsu-Getsu-Ka, a traditional Japanese trilogy of Snow, Moon, and Flower. "Saiju" is a coined Japanese word meaning "coloured pearls", which is named after Renju, a professional variant of Go-Moku.

COMPONENTS

1 gameboard: 36 hexes, arranged as a larger hexagon without a center

36 Colour stones: 3 colours (white, yellow, pink) × 3 symbols, 4 of each combination

3 black Shadow stones: each with one of the 3 symbols

GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW (please refer to rulebook)

Players take turns replacing any Shadow stone with a Colour stone depicting the same symbol, then placing the Shadow stone on any empty space.

At the end of the game, you get 1 point per stone for each group of 3 or more, containing 2 – 3 different symbols, with more of your symbols than your opponent’s; if it contains all 3 symbols, it counts double.

—description from the publisher