Unità di Soccorso Giapponesi (Japanese Rescue Teams) is a cooperative game portraying the aim of the Japanese Rescue Teams to save and protect the Japanese population from the dangers which can occur in the Japanese cities, like earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and nuclear pollution. This game is in memory of all the people died during the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Each player represent a Japanese Rescue Team and will try to solve the problems ariring in the Japaed on the map.
The objective of the players is to reach the level 8 of the Level of Saved Lifes Track (LSL) depicted on the map, which means having saved most of the affected population and thus avoiding to reach the level -7, which would mean the loss of too many lives.
Each player chooses its set of Japanese Rescue Teams (JRT) and deploy the Team 1 in a city on the map. All the Problem Tiles are put in a cup and shuffled together.
The Sequence of play is like the following:
The playing player rolls the d12 die: if the result is 1-6 a new Problem arises (go to c); if the result is 7-12, no new Problems! (go to e.)
c. Roll the d12 die to see in which city the Problem occur (each city has a name and a reference number)
d. Take one Problem Tile form the cup, see which kind of problem is shown and put it near the city rolled during c.
e. Every Player can move his/her JRT in any city shown in the map, normally where there is a Problem or Ruins; there he/she tries to solve a Problem, starting from the playing Player.
A JRT can try to solve one Problem per turn, so if there is more than one Problem Tile in a city, the playing Player must choose which one will be tried by his/her JRT.
If the JRT manages to resolve the Problem, raise by 1 level the LSL Track, turn the Problem tile on the Ruins side.
If the JRT does not manage to solve the Problem, the Problem remains and at the start of the next turn, will decrease the LSL:
The players have to clear Ruins in order to avoid negative DRM in solving the Problems.
A nice small cooperative game!