Sangoku
BGG rank
BGG #28,273
BGG rating
5.0

Sangoku

2016

Rules assistance for Sangoku

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–5 players
  • 30 min
  • 10+
  • Complexity 1.7/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Sangoku

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Sangoku is a board game released in 2016 for 2–5 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Mike Elliott and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Set Collection, and Player Elimination.

Similar games

About the game

In a mythic oriental universe, great powers battle for control of Three Realms: The Heavens, The Earth and The Hells. Sangoku (meaning "three realms") is an elegant and thematic card game by renowned designer Mike Elliott. In the game, players recruit warriors – Dogs, Samurais, Oni and Dragons – to their armies by playing poker hands to each of the Three Realms. The best hand in each realm wins, and a Warrior is summoned from the winning cards – but the weakest cards also summon the most powerful Warriors, with the 2 card in each suit (Fire, Metal, Earth, Water, Wood) summoning a mighty Dragon. With these recruited Warrior tokens, players advance on their opponents to gain ascendancy in the Realms. They can also wager and collect Legend cards, which when combined into sets can be used to powerful effect, including bringing forth uniquely damaging Warriors.

Questions and answers

Sangoku supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.