# Samurai

Samurai is a board game for 2–4 players. It plays in 30–60 minutes and is meant for ages 10 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 7.9 out of 10 by 85 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $57.00 (United States).

- **Players:** 2–4 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 30–60 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 10+
- **Complexity:** 2.4 out of 5
- **Year published:** 1998
- **Categories:** Medieval, Abstract Strategy
- **Mechanics:** Once-Per-Game Abilities, Tile Placement, Hand Management, Area Majority / Influence, Set Collection, Hexagon Grid, Variable Set-up, Enclosure, Hidden Victory Points
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.9 out of 10, from 85 reviews
- **Owned by:** 111 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 577
- **Unique players:** 517

**Designers:** Reiner Knizia

**Artists:** 李小娜 (LI Xiaona), 徐昀享 (Xu Yunxiang), 杨静雯 (Yang Jingwen), 谢有鑫 (Xie Youxin), Miguel Valenzuela Beltrán, 陈杰 (Chen Jie), 郭紫颖 (Guo Ziying), Franz Vohwinkel

**Publishers:** Fantasy Flight Games, Hans im Glück

## Similar games

- [Hanami](https://www.ludoya.com/games/hanami)
- [Kingdom Builder: Big Box (Second Edition)](https://www.ludoya.com/games/kingdom-builder-big-box-second-edition)
- [Iliad](https://www.ludoya.com/games/iliad-2)
- [Element](https://www.ludoya.com/games/element-2)
- [Through the Desert](https://www.ludoya.com/games/through-the-desert)
- [Huang](https://www.ludoya.com/games/huang)
- [Winter Kingdom](https://www.ludoya.com/games/winter-kingdom)
- [Small Samurai Empires](https://www.ludoya.com/games/small-samurai-empires)
- [Azure](https://www.ludoya.com/games/azure)
- [Joraku](https://www.ludoya.com/games/joraku)
- [Rumble Nation](https://www.ludoya.com/games/rumble-nation)
- [Kingdom Builder: Big Box](https://www.ludoya.com/games/kingdom-builder-big-box)

## Rules questions

### How many tokens can I play on my turn?

You may play any number of tokens that have a Japanese character, but only one of the 15 tokens without Japanese characters per turn; you may combine both groups in the same turn (e.g. 1 non-character token + 2 character tokens). (p. 2)

### When is a figure captured?

A figure is captured immediately when all land spaces adjacent to it are filled with tokens; the player with the strongest influence captures it, and if there is a tie for strongest the figure is placed beside the board and belongs to no one. (pp. 2–3)

### How is influence on a figure calculated, and what happens on ties?

Each player totals the strength numbers of their adjacent tokens that affect that figure; the highest total wins the figure (placed behind the screen, or in front for 2 players); if two or more players tie for the strongest influence the figure is removed beside the board. (p. 3)

### Where may I place tokens — can I put them on cities, villages, land or sea?

Ships may be placed only on empty sea spaces and other tokens only on empty land spaces, but tokens may not be placed on empty villages or cities; the Figure Exchange and Token Exchange are exceptions to the placement restrictions. (p. 3; p. 2)

### How do the Figure Exchange and Token Exchange tokens work?

Figure Exchange lets you swap any two figures on the board regardless of distance (cities must still have two different figures), while Token Exchange replaces one of your already-deployed non-character tokens with the Token Exchange (strength 0) and you immediately redeploy the replaced token. (p. 2)

### How is the winner determined at game end?

If a player has the most figures of 2 or 3 types they immediately win; otherwise only players who hold the clear 'most' of at least one type are eligible and among them the one with the most other figures wins, with further tiebreakers using total figures and shared victory if still tied; if no one holds any 'most', the player with the most total captured figures wins. (p. 4)

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/samurai)
- [Samurai in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/samurai)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-23. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._