You will soon no longer need to find some friends to amble down the East Sea road.
Funforge is preparing to release Tokaido, its first digital adaptation for one of its board games, on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets “within the next 10 days,” a company spokesperson said over email. The publisher has sold more than 250,000 copies of Tokaido since its debut in 2012, and it’s been nominated for a number of awards. It’s the latest board game to join others in the digital world, such as Talisman — a game that has half a million active players on mobile, PC, and PlayStation 4, according to its developer, Nomad Games.
The digital version includes modes where you can play vs. the AI or others, including local multiplayer where you pass the device from one person to the other.
“Funforge wanted … to discover Tokaido with a new point of view and give the opportunity to larger players to discover the board game and, of course, the app,” Funforge said. “The app also permits [players] to learn the board game rules, as they didn’t change. But Funforge wanted to propose a real video game experience, not just a porting.”
In Tokaido, players walk down the board — the East Sea road — from Kyoto to Edo, and the goal is to make the journey “as fulfilling as possible.” Along the way, you sightsee landscapes, eat food, buy souvenirs, visit temples, and soak in hot springs, earning points. But many players say it’s more about enjoying the journey, not winning the game.