Summary
⭐️ Overall 4.5 /5
IKI! Wow! What an awesome 2nd printing!
You get to make agonisingly wonderful
decisions every turn, has high player
interaction and outstanding artwork and
design! Boom! Winner!
📖 Rulebook 5/5
The rulebook makes learning and teaching this game a dream! Well structured and everything
explained…well done!!
🤩Fun Factor 4/5
I’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed both
printings of this game. High player interaction may make this less fun for some but it’s mix of actions, movement and set collection is so well done!
🎲Components 5/5
Personally I LOVE the new artwork over the
original and I know I’m not alone!
The artwork and components are top level and bring the theme and game to life!
🔁Replayability 4/5
With a wide range of characters and buildings each season as well as the threat of fire spreading through the market helps keep a lki feeling fresh.
ℹ️ IKI was given to me for free by
@hachetteboardgamesuk to provide an
impartial and honest review and for coverage on my IG channel, no money was paid to me. My views are always my own.
Final thoughts
In Iki you are looking to acquire the most prestige by playing through 4 seasons and hiring merchants, gathering items from the market and building point scoring buildings…oh and don’t forget you have the threat of fire breaking out across the market at the end of each season!
Each season is broken into 3 months, with fire breaking out at the end of the season. You can choose to hire characters that fight fire or hope for the best that the first doesn’t impact your and ignore it or of course do a bit of both.
At the start of the round in fire fighting order each player will choose which space on the way of life track they will start on which sets how many spaces on the market they can move and the round turn order.
Then each player in turn order can do the following:
🔹Choose either one of the 4 available merchants to hire and place on one of the free market stall spaces or take 4 money.
🔹Move your main meeple around the market based on the space you choose on the way of life track and take the action / merchant. The action can be to build, gain resources or activists a merchant that helps both you and your opponents if it’s theirs.
After the 12th round players will play a final round by using one of the merchants / stalls. You can score points via set collection, merchants, buildings and more.
The components and artwork in Iki are outstanding, the style and design really draws you into the Japanese market theme.
I love the mix of mechanics from set collection to the clever rondel use of going around the market. You are constantly balancing your own needs, watching what other players need to do and deciding what to do about the fire and feeding your merchants.
Iki is an absolutely wonderful game to play both with 3 or 4 players or with the tightened board for 2 players! It’s FANTASTIC!
