A Scenic Walk Through The One Hundred Torii: REVIEW

By Christopher Guyton | April 2nd, 2020 | Categories: Board Game Reviews, Board Games, Product Review

This week’s board game is a feast for the eyes and fulfilling for players! Check out The One Hundred Torii for your home session!

The One Hundred Torii is a one to four-player tile-laying game from designer Scott Caputo. Published by Pencil First Games and features gorgeous artwork by Vincent Dutrait. A typical game can be played in between forty-five to sixty minutes.

The One Hundred Torii: $39.99

Get It For Less At Miniature Market

Life is a Journey, Not a Destination

Find your path in a beautiful Japanese garden. In the Japanese tradition, the torii gate marks the transition into the sacred. Travel from fountains to flowers to shrines passing through as many torii gates as possible, while meeting vendors, poets, and even Samurai along the way.

The One Hundred Torii is a tile placing game played over a series of turns. Earn the most journey points by expanding the garden and walking through as many torii gates as possible as you move between similar landmarks. Earn additional advantages and points by interacting with characters in the garden such as poets, samurai, gardeners, vendors, and geishas.

Ages: 8+
Players: 1-4
Game Length: 45-60 minutes

A Scenic Walk Through The One Hundred Torii: REVIEW

In The One Hundred Torii, you are a visitor to a beautiful Japanese garden. You will collect various sights such as shrines, bridges, stones, lanterns, and flowers. As you gather these things you want to pass through as many Torii arches as possible. These will grant bonus resources based on their color. Red arches give you the same resource you are already collecting. Blue will let you choose any of the resources other than what you are collecting.

You can also meet with various characters who are also visiting the garden. These characters will grant you a bonus action. For instance, the Samurai will guard a path for you preventing anyone from laying a tile there. The merchant will allow you to get rid of an unwanted tile and choose from two new ones. The poet can block a landmark making the path potentially longer for the one you are trying to collect. The Geisha lets you play two tiles although you only score the second one played. Finally, the gardener lets you place your tile on top of a previously played tile anywhere in the garden.

The turn order in The One Hundred Torii is pretty simple. First, you can optionally request help from one of the five visiting characters. This will cost anywhere from one to three resources. Then you may place a tile into the garden. Finally collect resources and score if possible. Now when determining what resources you are gaining you check the tile you placed.

Choose one of the pictured resources on it and trace a path to the nearest matching resource. You will always earn one token of the matching icon. The strategy comes with the Torii arches. You want your path to pass under as many arches as possible. This will be how you earn lots of resources.

Each time you gain five of any resources you turn in the small tokens for a larger five-point one. Earn five more and you flip the five token to its ten-point side. The only drawback to these point tokens is that you cannot use these to request help from a character. But then again, these are the main source of points in the game so it’s better you can’t use them.

Another way to earn points is requesting help from the aforementioned characters. The first time you use one you take the two-point token with the character’s portrait. The next time you use the same character you flip the two token to its four-point side. Finally, the third use will gain you a large portrait token of the character worth three additional points.

Another way to gain points is by being the first player to collect all six level-five resource tokens. Collecting three-level ten tokens first will also net you a special point token. The last token you can get is from making enclosures. Not just any will do however, you have to have at least two of any resource icons within this enclosure.

With so many ways to collect points, The One Hundred Torii has many paths to victory. Sometimes a really strong move from an opponent will open up a fantastic opportunity for you to make a power play. I love how there is so much strategy to this game.

I really enjoyed The One Hundred Torii. The beautiful artwork and lovely theme just really work for me. The gameplay has a lightweight feel yet contains deep strategic elements. Vincent Dutrait’s artwork is just phenomenal and this is no exception. Once all the tiles are laid out it really looks like a garden that you could travel throughout. Creating perfect paths is just so very satisfying.

If you are looking for something lighter but fulfilling then I definitely recommend The One Hundred Torii. I hope you get a chance to give this beautiful title a try at your next game night.