Some games evoke real care and attention. Whilst many games have passionate designers and artists, some stand head and shoulders above the rest. Games of history like Wingspan and Tenby have this feeling of real love and affection poured into them. And from the Kickstarter page of Yotei, I think it might be true for this little game. A watch of the brief overview has videos of the people and places inspired by the place of Yotei, Japan.
In Yotei, you’ll be building your own mountain village complete with people, places, and potatoes too. Picked as a fantastic project on Kickstarter, it’s not hard to see why. A deluxe edition, for a reduced price, with wonderful artwork and components lovingly celebrating the theme. Each village card requires you to buy them using the currency of potatoes; sometimes you’ll be bidding on cards, placing boxes on them, securing them for yourself. Players can choose how much (or nothing) they want to fill their box with behind their own screens.
Each card gives you resources or elements, plus some give you charm points for end-game scoring. These resources can be exchanged to build your engine to visit higher tiers of cards. The game is played until the two-star symbols are collected (shown on the highest tier 3 cards), at which point the endgame is triggered and players tally points. Points are scored with charms and leftover potatoes, and the highest points scored has the Great Village in the Hills.
A simple but engaging worker placement and card driven game, this game is not to complex but has enough strategy to get people into more complex engine builders. Yotei is sure to have the stickability to be one of the games of 2026.
