Goita

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Goita

Goita ( Japanese ご い た ) is a traditional Japanese game that is particularly popular in the fishing town of Noto within Ishikawa Prefecture . The process works on the principle of trick play .

Goita's roots go back to the 17th century. The game itself has formed from Uke Shōgi out, also an old trick game, which in short breaks with Shōgi was played ™ stones.

In 1999 the "Goita Preservation Society" was founded. This has set itself the goal of preserving this local tradition and promoting its spread. Since 2007, the Japanese game manufacturer Japon Brand has also been selling Goita in a card version. This is designed for the international market, it contains instructions in English, and the cards have been provided with letters for easier differentiation.

The Goita stones in detail

Goita used to be played with shogi stones. However, due to the evolution of the classic board game Shogi, the game pieces differ in many ways. Typical Goita stones are made of wood or bamboo, they are approx. 2 cm × 1 cm in size and therefore fit nicely in the player's palm. The stones are only labeled on one side, and the labeling of the stones differs from the Shogi variant that is common today. A play set consists of a total of 32 stones in eight different types.

number symbol Name and translation value
2 pieces. 王 O Ō (king) 50 points
2 pieces. 飛 H Hisha (tower) 40 points
2 pieces. 角 K Kaku (runner) 40 points
4 pcs. 金 k Kin (Golden General) 30 points
4 pcs. 銀 G Gin (Silver General) 30 points
4 pcs. 馬 B Bakko (jumper) 20 points
4 pcs. 香 g gon (lance) 20 points
10 pcs. ﾚ ​​F Fu (foot soldier / farmer) 10 points

Rules of the game

The game is for four players, with the two players diagonally opposite each other forming a team.

Required material

In order to be able to play Goita, the following material is used:

  1. A game board. In the original, a Go or Shogi board is used. The card variant can be played on any table.
  2. White and red markers to count the points. White markers are worth 10 points, red markers are worth 50 points. Otherwise, go stones or poker chips are also suitable.
  3. The 32 game pieces or a set of Goita cards.

Goal of the game

The aim of the game is to be the first to put all cards in hand and thus collect points for your team. The first team to score 150 points wins the game.

Determine the grouping

Of course, the players can simply agree in advance on who will play together on a team and which player will start. Traditionally, however, the pairing is determined by fate.

Choose two pieces of two different types of cards (e.g. two Ō and two foot) and place them face down on the table. Each player takes a card, the players with the same card form a team. In the first round, the team that drew the higher value card starts (Ō). In each of the following rounds, the winner begins.

Game start

At the beginning of each round, all cards are shuffled well and evenly distributed to the players. Each player now has eight cards. The dealer is called “Oya” in Japan and he is traditionally the first player. It is also common in Japanese games that the cards are dealt counter-clockwise and also counter-clockwise.

The first player now picks a card from his hand and places it face down on the table in front of him. Then he chooses a second card and places it face up below the first card on the table. This ends his turn and it is the player to his right that it is his turn.

The game principle

Goita is about defense and attack. Only those who have defended or do not have to defend may attack. Usually with Goita you can only fight fire with fire. If I am attacked with "Bakko" (Springer), I also have to defend with "Bakko". The exception here is the king "Ō": He can parry almost anything, except the pawn "Fu" or the pawn with the lance "gon". A king is too good for that.

Attack and defense are done by placing cards in two rows on the table in front of you. The defenders are in the first row, the attackers in the second row. Every time a player gets his turn he starts a new column.

Defend

The current player's turn can defend if he wants. To do this, he simply checks which card the previous player attacked with and places a card that can parry in the defensive row. If the player cannot or does not want to defend, he simply says “pass” or “continue”. His turn is over. It is the next player's turn, who can now also try to repel the same attack.

There are two major exceptions in defense.

  1. The first player does not have to defend himself against any attack. So he puts his first card face down on the table. Their value or type is irrelevant.
  2. A player does not have to defend himself against his own attack. This happens when all other three players pass. In this case he also places any card face down on the table as a defender.

attack

If a player has defended, he must attack. To do this, he chooses a card that he believes his opponent cannot defend himself against and places it under his defender. A lot of tactical skill is required here.

Win

As soon as a player has played his last card from his hand, he has won that round. His team is credited with the value of the last card as points and he is the new "Oya" or card dealer and thus also starts first in the next round.

Exception : If the last defender - whether played face down or face down - is of the same type as the last attacker, the team receives double points.

Example : The player defends with “Gin” and discards “Gin” again as the last card. This card would normally be worth 40 points. But since it was played twice in the end, the team gets 80 points.

In order to maintain a better overview, only one player should ever collect the points for his team. If the team has collected 150 points (or more), it has automatically won.

Attack regulation at Ō

The King is a special card at Goita. As already mentioned above, Ō can parry almost all other attackers, just not the common infantry “Fu” and “gon”. To do this, however, he may not attack, unless one of the following three situations applies:

  1. The other "Ō" has already been played.
  2. The player has both “Ō” in his hand.
  3. “Ō” is placed as the last card.

Hand combinations with foot

If a player has 5 or more Fu cards in hand, he must immediately inform all other players. The following special rules come into force:

5 feet

If the teammate has the remaining 5 feet, this team has automatically won the game with 150 points. Otherwise the second teammate can decide whether the cards should be reshuffled or whether the team will still play with these cards.

6 feet

The player has automatically won this round. His team gets the points of the most valuable card in his hand.

7 feet

The player has automatically won this round. His team receives double the points of the most valuable card in his hand.

8 feet

The player has automatically won this round. His team receives 100 points.

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