Test // Training to train Japan

Written by Sandra and Tobias Zimmerman on 27. May 2021.

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With ZUG UM ZUG, Alan R. Moon laid the foundation stone for building railroads around the world in 2004. ZUG UM ZUG JAPAN sends 2 to 5 players, as the name suggests, across the Land of the Rising Sun. If you flip the game board, you can start your journey through Italy from Tuscany to Sicily on an additional map. You can find out in the next review if the ride is worthwhile for the players.

ASMODEE made ZUG UM ZUG JAPAN available for us to review.
This does not affect our rating!

Game style

For ZUG UM ZUG JAPAN, the game tour requires one of the core games ZUG UM ZUG, ZUG UM ZUG EUROPA, or ZUG UM ZUG DEUTSCHLAND. The big game board is spread out in the middle of the table. The car’s cards are shuffled and five of the cards are placed next to the game board at the start of the round. Each player receives wagons of his chosen color and five wagon cards.

Training to train Japan

If you choose the Japanese card, bullet trains will also be placed at hand and each player places the express train icon on the development track printed on the game board. Finally, each player receives four target cards from the deck, upside down, of which at least two must be kept.

Move to move Italy

If you want to travel through Italy, then in addition to the cart cards, ferry cards are placed on the edge of the game board. Players are awarded five Goal Cards, three of which must be kept on hand.

Play

The basic rules of the ZUG UM ZUG also remain unchanged in these variants. On the move the player has the opportunity to choose one of the following: Two cart cards can be taken either from the screen or from the deck. If the Joker is selected, one card remains. Alternatively, new destination cards can be drawn from the deck or routes can be constructed with cart cards in hand. Tracks are created by handing over the appropriate number of cards of the same color and placing the player’s vehicles of the same color on the relevant track section of the game board. For building tracks, players receive a different number of points depending on the length of the path. If a player has only two vehicles left after building a road, the last round begins. Each player now has exactly one turn. In the end, the points for completed target cards are calculated and the unfinished orders will be deducted. Whoever has the most points on the scoring track at the end is the winner.

Training to train Japan

In addition to the basic rules, the Japanese variant brings multi-part high-speed line construction. The special thing about high speed train track is that players build this road together. If part of the track is created by one player, then it can be used by all other players to fulfill their special requests. As a reward for helping him build a network of high speed trains, the player can move the player piece placed on the development path at the beginning. At the end of the game, in addition to the goal cards completed, players get additional points for the high-speed roads created. Caution is advised here, because if the player does not or does not contribute sufficiently to the construction of the path, this will be taken into account with a large opponent of points.

Move to move Italy

When creating a road in Italy, in addition to the movement options for the base game, players have the option to choose to take a “Take ferry card”. However, the player should note that the number of ferry cards on hand is limited to two. Ferry Cards allow players to build ferry routes (and this only) in order to get to other areas faster. The construction of the ferry also works with jokers from the base game, but the advantage of the ferry cards is that the card has twice the value of the joker when played. So four ferryboat fields can be built for the road using four clowns or two ferry cards.

ZUG UM ZUG ITALIEN focuses on connecting as many regions of Italy as possible, since in addition to waypoints and destination maps, there are many points to connect regions. Usually several cities form a common area. At the end of the game, the areas of each track network are ranked separately and points are distributed according to the table printed on the game board.

What’s in the box?

In the standard-sized box there is a large game board with a map of Japan printed on one side and a map of Italy on the other. The game’s material design fits seamlessly into the current ZUG UM ZUG universe. Destination maps are clearly laid out so that associated cities can be found after a brief orientation on the game board. For a clearer division, Tokyo and Kyushu Island are enlarged in the Japanese version and shown separately on the game board. In addition to the game board, the box contains 16 plastic express trains, seven wooden counters for expanding Japan, and 10 ferry cards to connect to Italy. The size of the game box is mainly due to the game plan it contains. If you leave the liner outside, there will be a lot of air in the box after packing the game material.

Extension rules appear in instructions in DIN A4 format on approximately two pages each. If the basic rules of the game are known, then everything else will be explained in a very short time.

Tags: Trains, 30-60 Minutes, Expansion, Group Gathering, Family Game, 2-5 Players