IKI Solo Variant V1.

1 (Dec 2021)
Game designed by Koota Yamada
Solo variant designed by dusk2dawn

Introduction
This solo variant mirrors the experience of playing against a human opponent in a 2-player
game of IKI. To win the game, player must beat the bot in IKI points when the game ends.

Special rules
Player follows the standard rules of the game. The bot is less constrained by resources
and has a few rules exceptions:

1. The bot does not collect/spend resources during the game. Resources in this variant
are: Mon, Sandal, Rice, Wood, Koban.
2. The bot does not have to pay for hiring characters and doing business at the shops.
3. The bot does not have to feed its Kobun.
4. The bot has unlimited sandals at its disposal to make its Oyakata’s movement less
hindered.

Setup
1. Arrange the game board for a standard 2-player game so that the Calendar is
facing the correct side up, similar to the board illustration on page 3 of the rulebook.
2. Choose a color for the bot and give the bot all the game components of its color – 1
player board corresponding to the 2 player game; 1 Ikizama meeple; 1 Oyakata
meeple; 4 Kobun meeples; 2 markers (Score and Firefighting power).
3. The bot does not start with any resources.
4. Player sets up his player board and starts the game with 1 Sandal, 1 Rice, and 8 Mons
as per the standard game.
5. On the Firefighting track, place the bot’s firefighting marker on zero space, stacked
above player’s marker.
6. On the IKI track, player and bot each place the score marker on the zero space in
any stacking order.
7. Randomly assign the sun and moon tokens to bot and player.
8. From the 4 starting characters, player picks first, then randomly assign one from the
remainders to the bot. The unused characters are returned to the box.
9. Player places his starting character on the outer space of any Nagaya. Then bot
places the starting character on the outer space of the first available Nagaya
following counter clockwise order: Yellow -> Red -> Purple -> Blue.
Note: each Nagaya is identified by a unique color according to the fire zone.
10. Player and bot each places his Kobun on the first Experience space of their starting
character card.

Turn order
Bot goes first, thereafter turn order is decided according to the standard rules.

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Bot’s general behaviour
The game board is divided into 4 Nagaya. Each Nagaya is identified by a unique color
according to the fire zone. Starting at the Yellow Nagaya, the bot will move its Oyakata
continuously in a rondel fashion round the board in counter clockwise direction, visiting
each Nagaya per month until game ends. The diagram below shows the Oyakata move
sequence and preferred shop space destination at each Nagaya:

Each Nagaya has two shop spaces the bot’s Oyakata has the option to land on. The
preferred shops are shown in green indicated by the number 1 to 4, meaning the bot will
attempt to visit shop 1 on the first month, 2 on the second month, 3 on the third month, 4
on the fourth month, and back to 1 on the fifth month, and so on. The secondary shops
1A to 4A are backups in case the preferred shops are not available due to move
constraint.

Noticed that at each Nagaya, the bot prefers the shop space closest to the center of the
street except for Blue Nagaya where it prefers the fish shop.

Start of each month

At the start of each month, player carries out two actions:

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Reveal a blocking tile
Randomly reveal a blocking tile and place it on the corresponding space of the Ikizama
track as per standard 2-player rules.

Reveal Character cards

Randomly reveal 4 Character cards using the deck corresponding to the current season.

Phase A – Way of Life: Place Ikizama on Ikizama track

In turn order, bot and player each places the Ikizama meeple on the Ikizama track as per
standard rules.

The bot’s Ikizama work in tandem with its Oyakata in an attempt to secure the preferred
space on the Ikizama track to enable the Oyakata to reach the preferred shop space
destination. There are 5 spaces on the Ikizama track: 1-4, 1, 2, 3 and 4. The bot will always
prefer the 1, 2, 3, or 4 space over the 1-4 space, spending the minimum number of
sandals to secure enough movement points required by its Oyakata.
As a last resort, the bot will occupy the secondary shops using any viable Ikizama space.

Once both bot and player have decided on the Ikizama space, the game turn order is
determined in this order: 1-4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Example
On the first month of the game, the bot’s Oyakata will attempt to visit shop 1 on the
Yellow Nagaya. With this objective in mind, the bot’s first option is to secure the ‘1’ space
on the Ikizama track. However, that space is blocked by a blocking tile. Moving first on
turn order, the bot has no chice but to place its Ikizama on the ‘1-4’ position on the
Ikizama track.

On the second month, the bot’s Oyakata will attempt to visit shop 2 on the Red Nagaya.
It needs to move 3 spaces to get there. Going second on the turn order, space ‘3’ on the
Ikizama track is blocked by a blocking tile, while space ‘2’ is blocked by player. The bot
will place its Ikizama on space ‘1’ spending 2 sandals to boost its movement to 3. It could
also have use the ‘1-4’ space but it will only exercise this option if the regular space
options have all been exhausted.

On the third month of the game, the bot’s Oyakata will attempt to visit shop 3 on the
Purple Nagaya. It needs to move one space to get there. However, spaces ‘1-4’ and ‘1’
are not available due to blocks. The bot has no choice but to occupy space ‘2’ to send
its Oyakata to shop 3A.

Phase B - Income or Hiring

Income
The bot does not receive income.

Hiring
For the bot to hire character card, the following 3 conditions must all be true:

 The bot has at least one available Kobun.

 The bot’s Ikizama is not occupying the ‘1-4’ space of the Ikizama track.
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 There is at least one empty stall space on the main board.
The bot buys one character card (without spending Mon) using the following priority:

1. Highest character retirement IKI

2. Highest character Firefighting hiring bonus
3. Character’s skill in this preferred order: IKI -> Firefighting -> Upgrade experience level
4. Highest residual Mon on character card (Mon left there from previous month)
5. Player choose

After a character is selected, if applicable, adjust the bot’s Firefighting power according
to the hiring bonus on the card.

Here are some examples showing how the bot selects a character card from a row of 4
on the market. In each of these examples, the green tick marks the selected card.
(Note: Cards are numbered 1 to 4 from the left)

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Character card placement
With the purchased of a new character card, the bot uses the following priority to decide
card placement:

1. Enhance card type harmony to maximize bot’s Nagaya Harmony Bonus during
payday.
2. Follow Nagaya order: Yellow -> Red -> Purple -> Blue

Place the character on a vacant stall starting from the center of street out towards the
edge to avoid fire destruction as much as possible.

For placement on the center of each Nagaya, the bot does not have to pay additional 1
Mon.
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Once the character card is placed, place one of the bot’s unused Kobuns at the first
Experience space on the card.

Phase B – Moving Oyakata and doing business

Moving Oyakata
Move the bot’s Oyakata to the preferred spot as described in the bot’s behaviour
section, spending sandals when necessary.

Doing business
Depending on the shop the Oyakata lands on, the bot may do one of the following:

 Activate a character in the stall

 Do business at tobacco/fish shop
 Both of the above
 Do nothing

Activating character
The rules for the 2 player game dictate that the center stall of each Nagaya may be
activated by the 2 adjacent shops. When presented with the option to activate a
character card from multiple cards including neutral, the bot uses the following priority
(player will decide if multiple options available at each priority evaluation):

1. Any card (bot, player or neutral) with highest IKI skill

2. Any card (bot, player or neutral) with Firefighting skill
3. Any card (bot, player or neutral) with Upgrade experience skill
4. Any neutral card regardless of skills
5. Any player’s character card regardless of skills

Activated card (bot, player or neutral) that rewards resources or resource exchange
(example, pay one Mon to get 1 Wood) have no effect.

Designer’s note: One has to pay 1 Mon to get one Upgrade experience level so this skill is
technically a resource exchange but the reward is too good to ignore. In this variant,
Upgrade experience skill is NOT a resource exchange skill. See Upgrading character
experience section below.

As per the standard rules, activated neutral cards are removed from the game. Bot may
not increase Experience level if its own card is activated. Player’s card experience level is
increased by one if activated by bot.

Any resources gained as a result of card activation are ignored. Note that IKI, Firefighting,
Upgrade experience are NOT resources.

Shops
The bot skips doing business with all shops except:

 Tobacco shop
 Fish shop

Every time the bot visits the tobacco shop, it will attempt to buy one pipe and one
tobacco pouch, if available. The bot buys the cheapest of each type available on the
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market. In the event of a tie, player will decide. If applicable, increase the bot’s
firefighting power or upgrade one character experience accordingly when it buys a pipe.

Every time the bot visits the fish shop, it will attempt to buy the cheapest fish available on
the market.

The bot does not have to spend Mon when doing business at the shops. Any resources
gained are ignored.

Retiring character card

When a bot’s character card retires, return the Kobun to its player board and place the
retired character card into the appropriate slot of its player board.

Upgrading character experience

When presented with the opportunity to upgrade character experience from multiple
options, the bot uses the following priority:

1. Character that is closest to retirement.

2. Character that is most vulnerable to fire (closest to the edge of the board).
3. Character with the highest IKI
4. Character card type in this preferred order: Brown -> Red -> Purple -> Blue -> Yellow
5. Follow Nagaya order where card is located: Yellow -> Red -> Purple -> Blue
6. Player decide

End of turn
When the bot is done doing business, return its Ikizama back to its player board.

Completing a full movement round

When the bot’s Oyakata passes the symbol, increase the experience of all its
characters by one.

Phase C
Neutral character
When it is the bot’s turn to select a neutral character card from the market, it uses the
following priority:

1. Character card type to maximize Nagaya Harmony Bonus during payday.

2. Character’s skill in this preferred order: IKI -> Firefighting -> Upgrade experience level
3. Character card type in this preferred order: Brown -> Red -> Purple -> Blue -> Yellow
4. Player decide

If there is no vacant stall space on the main board, none is selected. As per standard
rules, no Kobun may be placed on neutral character and any residual Mons on neutral
character are returned to the bank.

Neutral character card placement

With the selected neutral card, the bot uses the following priority to decide card
placement:

1. Enhance card type harmony to maximize bot’s Nagaya Harmony Bonus during
payday.
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2. Follow Nagaya order: Yellow -> Red -> Purple -> Blue. Once a Nagaya is chosen, find
the first vacant stall starting at the stall nearest to the center of street and work towards
the edge. The reason for this is to avoid fire destruction as much as possible.

Place 1 Mon
As per standard rules for 2 player game, place 1 Mon from the bank on each remaining
character on the market on month 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

Payday
During payday, if applicable, bot collects IKI and special tokens as salary using the
standard rules.
Bot scores Nagaya harmony bonus as per standard rules.
Bot does not have to feed its Kobuns.

Fire
During fire event, regardless of who is ahead on the firefighting power track, player
always randomly draw a fire tile. Resolve the fire as per standard 2 player rules. If the bot
has special fire immunity tokens, it may use them to avoid fire destruction.

New Year’s Day

On New Year’s Day, if available and possible, the bot’s Oyakata will do one or both
actions below:

 Visit the tobacco shop in an attempt to buy one pipe/tobacco pouch or both
 Activate the stall with the highest IKI

If none of the above actions can be executed, the bot will do nothing and forfeit its New
Year’s Day action.

Game end
Game end is similar to the standard game.

Scoring
Scoring is similar to the standard game. Beat the bot to win the game.

Note: any IKI reward that is a multiplier of a particular resource is considered zero since
the bot has no resources.

Adjusting game difficulty

Easy
The bot does not buy pipe/tobacco pouches/fish when it visits these shops.

Hard
The bot buys the most expensive pipe/tobacco pouches/fish when it visits these shops.