![Japanese Game Round-up: Your Secret Mission? Go Right or Left to Avoid Your Taboo Code](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/rsIlyB0f2iUUvCpCTXYjZw__medium/img/NbVZ3h5tyQ07k92CchytF-jB4Gk=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic5356994.jpg)
Even when I attend TGM — and BGG had planned to record video overviews at this event as we've done several times previously — I can take in only a fraction of what's on hand, both due to the volume of new releases and my inability to speak Japanese, but only by sharing what little I know can I hope that others will be inspired to build upon that knowledge in the future.
• Let's start with Right or Left (ライトオアレフト), a self-published design from Kenta Murayama (ムラヤマ ケンタ) for 2-5 players, although in theory the design could be expanded to larger groups, with pairs of players possibly playing at the same time. Right or Left was first released at the November 2019 TGM, and Murayama had planned to make the game available at the Osaka event in March 2020, but that show was also cancelled.
Here's an overview of how the game works:
The game consists of two metal cups and forty wooden cubes, ten each in red, yellow, blue, and black. (In a two-player game, you use only five of each color.) When you're the active player, you take 4-7 cubes from the supply (based on the number of players) and show which cubes you've taken to the guesser, who then hides their eyes. You distribute the cubes as you wish between the two cups, with some cubes (including possibly none!) being hidden underneath each cup and at least one cube on top of a cup. The guesser then opens their eyes, sees (some of) what's being offered, then chooses one of the cups, either right or left, keeping everything on and underneath that cup, while you keep the cubes from the other cup.
After two complete rounds in which each player has been the active player twice, you tally your score based on what you've collected. Some colors increase in value for each one you've collected, but then zero out if you've collected too many; other colors score little to nothing until you've collected a bunch of them. Who will end up with the highest scoring collection?
【大盛況】
— ケンチャンヌ@ネタで人との繋がりを より密にする (@PLEKEN2) November 2, 2019
ありがたいことに昼ご飯を食べる時間は無さそうです!!😆😆😆https://t.co/X1kJcwmqStライトオアレフト/#フォアシュピール2019秋 #ライトオアレフト #空諺 pic.twitter.com/kvCurdaXvT
• On the Game Market website, designer Kenta Murayama notes that they design games that people who don't normally play games would play and say "Interesting!" — in a sense, party-style games that are as much traditional parlor game as something new.
At Osaka 2020, Murayama had planned to introduce Secret Mission (シークレットミッション), a game for 2-8 players that falls into that category of games that you can play while doing something else, such as standing in line at an amusement park or walking around a party with snacks and a drink meeting new people. Here's how it works:
Once time is up, each player takes the role of spy and asks each other player in turn to guess their secret word or phrase. Once each player has guessed, you reveal your secret word or phrase. If anyone guessed correctly, they score points and you score nothing; if no one guessed correctly, then you score points based on how many times you said it!
• In 2019, Murayama also introduced Taboo Code: Red (タブーコード・レッド), the description of which I patched together as best as I could from the descriptions I've run across:
Everyone then starts talking, with you trying to lure the other players into saying what is taboo for them. If they say their taboo code, then they're out of the round.
As for watching the game in action, you might get a kick out of watching the guys below play, with their attitudes matching the spirit of Murayama above and the game being a tool to hang out together and goof around more than anything else. Someday we'll be able to hang out together and goof around, but until then you can watch this:
I hadn't intended to do an entire post featuring game designs from Kenta Murayama, but as so often happens with JP games, the discovery of one that isn't on BGG leads to another, which leads to another. I'll let this stand for now and start working on another...