The Japanese term "bonsai" means "planted in a pot."
A bonsai is a living work of art, a perfect miniature plant, identical in all respects to its full-size simile, but several times smaller.
In Bonsai, players take on the role of expert bonsai masters intent on growing their own bonsai.
Whoever grows the best plant will be appointed to show their Bonsai at the Imperial gardens.
On your turn, choose and perform one of these two actions: meditate or cultivate.
If you meditate, choose one of the face up cards on the board and take it, along with any Bonsai tiles represented below the card you draw.
If you cultivate, you can place tiles which are in your personal supply on your Bonsai. You can place as many tiles as the total symbols depicted on your Seishi tile and any or all of your Growth cards. Each symbol will let you place one tile of the corresponding type.
During the turn in which your bonsai matches or exceeds the requirements of a Goal tile that is still in the middle of the table (i.e.: the Goal tile has not yet been claimed any player), you must immediately choose whether you want to claim that tile or if you want to renounce it in order to try to achieve a harder Goal tile.
When the last card from the deck is revealed, the game end is triggered. Each tile in your bonsai is worth a certain number of points.
In the solo game you can try the Additional Scenarios that change some rules and goals, and eventually try to beat the Emperor Challenge.
Ready to plant your very own trees? Click on the link below to discover more about this game, and start it right from your browser:
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=bonsai
We would like to thank Philip Davis (pdw3) for the work done by developing this game for our platform: it works great on all devices.
Also let's credit dV Giochi and the game designers Rosaria Battiato, Massimo Borzì and Martino Chiacchiera for their authorization to bring the game online!
And that's it for this Wednesday. Do not forget to bring in your baby trees if they are still outside (and if you are part of the Northern Hemisphere). It is getting quite cold out there!
But we've got you taken care of: a whole list of amazing board games will come soon to Board Game Arena, and we want to make sure your hands will not freeze!
Thanks for your time, see you next week and as always:
Take care and play fair!
