List of Japanese Board Games

This is a list of board games invented, developed and/or published in Japan.

Game name Year Publisher/Designer (Japan) Players Gameplay style Similar Games
Go (囲碁, igo?) ? Traditional 2 Strategic territory and surrounding game weiqi in Chinese, baduk in Korean
Gomoku (五目並べ, gomokunarabe?) ? Traditional 2 Strategic abstract game played with Go pieces on a Renju board (15x15), goal to reach five in a row Renju, Four in a row, Irensei
Irensei (囲連星?) ? Traditional 2 Strategic abstract game played with Go pieces on a Go board (19x19); unites elements of the game of Go with those of Gomoku Go, Gomoku
Jinsei Game (人生ゲーム, jin-sei gēmu?) 1967 Takara ? Japanese adaption of The Game of Life The Game of Life
Renju (連珠?) ? Traditional 2 Strategic five-in-a-row game with equal chances for both players Pente, Gomoku
Shadow Hunters (シャドウハンターズ, shadō hantāzu?) 2005 Game Republic 4-8 Supernatural themed, strategic, secret team play Bang!, Mafia
Riichi Mahjong (リーチ麻雀, Riichi Maajan?) ? Traditional 4 Chinese Mahjong with Japanese rules Mahjong
Shogi and variants (将棋, shōgi?, generals' chess) Japanese chess ? Traditional 2 Played on a 9x9 board; can use captured pieces against opponent Chess
Sugoroku (双六?) ? Traditional ? Race game, two variants Backgammon (variant), Snakes and Ladders (variant)

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    Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.
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