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Onitama Reviews

4.7 Rating 20 Reviews
Read Zatu Games Reviews

Onitama is an elegant head-to-head game. published by Arcane Wonders. that you can learn in a couple of minutes. Through well-designed, abstract gameplay, players will quickly be able to start matching wits and enjoy its deep strategy. Fans of chess will undoubtedly appreciate the similarities between the two, but Onitama is a quicker, simpler game that will never end in a stalemate. Onitama plays out in its entirety on a shared 5x5 board, with each player controlling four wooden pawns and one king. The objective of the game is to either remove your opponent’s king from the board or to move your king on to their king’s starting spot. Onitama is, therefore, not only a matter of attrition between two warring sides but also a game of clever movement and foresight. The game’s standout feature is its card-driven movement. At the start of the game, each player will be dealt three movement cards that they leave face-up in front of them. Each turn, they choose one of these cards and carry out its movement with any one of their available pieces. The card then goes to their opponent and will remain in their possession until they use it. In this way, there are only ever a handful of possible moves available and you can always see the options available to your opponent. This clever feature of Onitama’s design means that it never gets old. You can never ‘solve’ the game. As long as you have a human to play against who is capable of changing their behaviour, there will be life in this game for you to draw out and enjoy. The simplicity of Onitama is such that you can teach it to anyone, including children who are old enough to grasp a set of rules. It is a very visual game with no language involved, making it tremendously accessible. There are very few abstract games out there that could give two people a more compelling head to head experience than Onitama. Player count: 2 Time: 15-20 minutes Age rating: 8+

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Previously played this game at a cafe and always wanted one. Really love it, chess players enjoy it too!
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Posted 11 months ago
Christopher C
Verified Reviewer
I'm not a great fan of Chess myself, but my son is and we bought this as a Christmas present for him. We played a couple of times, but he didn't seem that enthusiastic about it. I thought it was better than Chess though :-)
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Posted 1 year ago
A tactical game of not only planning where to move your pieces, but also how to manoeuvre your opponent into giving you the cards you need to accomplish that goal. This is a game for people who enjoy tactical depth and thinking several steps ahead, with a lot of similarities to chess (but with no set movement for each piece). You can play it casually, not worry too much about the future moves, but only if your opponent does too. Otherwise prepare to stare down your opponent in a duel of wits. Production wise I really like the box and mat design, very different and cool. Cards are good too, but not a big fan of the pieces, could have been higher quality.
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Posted 1 year ago
Intriguing game with hundreds of game play possibilities.
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Posted 1 year ago
There aren’t many abstract games that I enjoy but this simple game of moving your leader to the opposite side adds an interesting twist. Each player gets two cards showing a movement option for your pawns. Once you have used one you place it in the middle and take the one that is currently there. This means you have to be careful as you know that your opponent will get the card you have just discarded. Very clever! And with so many cards, the replayability is great.
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Posted 2 years ago
I can’t play chess but this game is simple to understand and uses the basic moves of chess but with cards deciding your moves, plays quickly and is becoming addictive ( still haven’t won yet!)
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Posted 2 years ago
Fantastic game if you like chess-like strategy games. The mat is stunning and the pieces and movement cards are well made, can't recommend it enough.
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Posted 2 years ago
Bought as a father's Day gift, arrived quickly in immaculate condition. Incredibly priced as always. A great game for chess lovers to travel with
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Posted 2 years ago