2018 · Travel
Gùgōng
Set in 16th-century Ming China, players represent powerful families navigating court politics and provincial influence. Each turn players draft and play gift cards to curry favor with imperial officials, ensuring offered cards outrank those received and balancing immediate gains against long-term strategy. Movement sends envoys along the Grand Canal and across China to buy jade, contribute to the Great Wall, enact decrees, and pursue intrigues that grant advantages and victory points. Play culminates in audiences with the emperor; players who secure court favor compete for the highest standing to determine the winner.
- Players
- 1–5 best 4
- Playing time
- 60–90 min
- Age
- 12+
- Complexity
- 3.1 / 5
About the game
- Design
- Publisher
Expansions
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Where to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 259
- Plays logged
- 346
- Players
- 1h 29m
- Average play
- 91
- In collections
- 11
- On wishlists
7.0/10
from 48 Ludoya reviews
Mestremuten8.0 Rating: 3/5 Production value: 4/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 1/1
First impressions · 1 play
Garfield2.0 Another themeless workerplacement game. The +3 VP are very important during the game, this is pretty imbalanced. [c] Theme: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not really --> Gameplay: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Place your worker here, here, here, here... --> Interaction: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> Artwork: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok, nothing special --> Luck: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Cards, tiles --> Strategy: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Yes --> Components: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]I played the deluxe... --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Easy to teach: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]A lot to teach --> Rules quality: not yet read Setup time: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Replay value: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> [/c]
No plays logged
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
When I exchange a Gift Card, do I get the card’s action, the location action, or both?
After you exchange, you may perform the Gift Card action (if any), the location action where you placed the card, or both; if you do both the Gift Card action must be resolved before the location action (pages 5–6).
My card is equal or lower value than the board card — do I have to pay anything to exchange it?
If your card is lower or equal you may only exchange it by either returning 2 Servants from your Servant Pool, discarding another Gift Card from your hand, or choosing to exchange but skip performing any action; note the special value‑1 ↔ value‑9 exception and that some Decrees can modify exchange rules (page 5; see Decrees on page 11).
What happens if I collect a Travel Token but have no room above my player board?
If you would place a Travel Token and have no free slot, you must immediately exchange Travel Tokens (for Servants, VP, or Jade) until you have space to place the new token (page 7).
Can I use my Double Servant everywhere (Great Wall, Ships, Decrees, Harbour rewards)?
The Double Servant can act as 1 or 2 Servants on the Great Wall and on Ships (even occupying two spaces), and may be used to pay for two‑Servant costs or gained via the Grand Canal, but you may NOT use your Double Servant to place by a Decree or to claim a Harbour reward on your Player Board (page 13; Grand Canal rewards on page 12).
How is the Great Wall scoring resolved and how are ties broken?
When a wall section is completed the player with the most Servants on that section scores 3 VP and moves their Envoy 1 step, then returns their Servants; ties are broken by the Intrigue Track order (top/forward marker wins), and afterwards players present may take Intrigue Benefits in order from the lowest Intrigue marker (pages 8–9).
How do the Destiny Dice matches work at Night — who gains Servants and who gets the 3 VP/Envoy bonus?
During the Night Phase each Gift Card in your discard pile that matches a Destiny Die value grants you 1 Servant (if a die value appears twice, matching cards yield 2 Servants each), and the player with the most matches gains 3 VP and moves their Envoy 1 step (ties are decided by the Intrigue Track) (page 14).
Free, on web, Android and iOS
Play Gùgōng with Ludoya
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.