Watch out, friends of village romance: the game of the year 2023 is coming back in a new edition in Far Eastern Japan style! Here’s what you can expect.

Game setup
Connoisseurs of the Dorfromantik universe already know that preparing for the game is very simple and doesn’t take much time. You shuffle the three different types of tiles (landscape, mission and markers) and prepare face-down stacks of them. Only the markers need to be sorted by type, the rest are randomly shuffled together. And you’re good to go.

Gameplay
In the first three rounds, you can now draw the first order tiles and place a corresponding marker on them. There are cherry tree, rice, village, road and river orders. The marker tells you how many landscape tiles you have to place later to complete the order. You can then get started with the landscape tiles. Of course, you have to follow the rules when placing them, which are explained in detail in the accompanying booklet.
As Dorfromantik is a cooperative game, it is worth considering every move together so that you can achieve the highest possible score at the end.
There are also three special tiles marked with flags among the landscape damage tiles. You should pay particular attention to the placement of these, as they can score important points later on.
You can “unlock” new game material and special achievements in the enclosed campaign map by completing the games you play. This means that Dorfromantik Sakura, like the original game, is not just a one-off game, but promises long-lasting fun.

Conclusion
If you already liked the computer game and/or the previous game, you will also love Sakura. Japan fans in particular will get their money’s worth with the lovingly crafted design. An extra treat is the fact that the game can also be played solo.
We recommend Dorfromantik Sakura for persistent fans of cooperative and strategic board games aged 10 and over.