The story
Fiction and adapted settings written by Akitsora Gaming for this title, including invented dialogue and events. This is not a historical or folklore reference. The rules and specification tables define the gameplay and math.
A yellowed treasure map handed down from the last days of the shogunate,
bearing one line beside its vermilion seal: the gold lies at the finish of the sugoroku.
I. The Old Map and the Loyal Kai Dog
From the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate comes a weathered washi treasure map, stamped with a vermilion seal and a single cryptic line: the hidden gold rests at the finish of the sugoroku board. With his brindled Kai dog trotting faithfully at his side, a seasoned treasure hunter sets off into the mountain passes to follow the trail. Campfire embers flicker along the rocky pass as the hunter studies the faded ink strokes of the aged washi scroll.
The tall reel grid is that unrolled treasure map, filled with gold nuggets, brass compasses, old Edo coins, iron spades, pickaxes, and bamboo flasks, while the alert Kai dog acts as the wild symbol across the reels to connect winning ways from left to right. With his keen nose and steady stride, the loyal mountain dog is always ready to bridge the trail toward the next clue.
II. Rolling the Dice Around the Loop
Landing enough wooden dice anywhere on the map opens a traditional loop of sugoroku squares around the outer border. On each turn, two dice tumble inside a lacquer wooden bowl with a brisk clatter, and the hunter's pawn hops forward square by square with the dog close behind. Woodblock illustrations of gold-ingot squares, mountain checkpoints, and dig sites line the winding path around the board.
Every stop along the loop holds its own reward: cash squares pay on the spot, multiplier squares double future finds, rolling a double grants a free extra roll without spending a turn, and passing the starting square or landing on a checkpoint doubles the entire running total. Every throw of the bone dice brings a new twist to the journey as the multiplier climbs higher around the loop.
III. Three Mounds Waiting for the Spade
Scattered around the loop of the board are special dig sites marked with a spade. Whenever the pawn comes to rest on one of these squares, the mountain trail opens into a quiet forest clearing where three fresh mounds of earth sit waiting under the trees. Loose soil and mossy stones mark the spot where the shogunate's retainers hid their chests generations ago.
All three prizes are already buried underneath the moment your pawn stops; you choose one mound to dig up and multiply its treasure by your current board multiplier, before the remaining two mounds are uncovered to show what lay beneath them all along. Seeing all three mounds opened side by side proves that the mountain's treasures were waiting beneath the earth all along.
IV. A Mountain of Gold at the Finish
The greatest secret of the map awaits on the very last roll of the journey. Stopping on the finish square while rolls still remain in your hand awards a rich scent-of-gold prize multiplied by your board multiplier as the pawn continues around the loop. Every step closer to the final square heightens the suspense as the last dice roll tumbles inside the wooden bowl.
Yet if your final roll of the dice lands the pawn squarely on the finish, the shogunate's riddle comes true: the Kai dog barks and digs furiously, the ground splits wide open, and the buried treasure — even a mountain of golden ōban coins — rises into the light. Under the torchlight of the mountain pass, the centuries-old promise written beside the red seal is fulfilled in gleaming gold.