Koi review: beautiful pond-building game with depth
12.6.2026
Translation: Elicia Payne
Pictures: Lorenz Keller
The charming game pieces in Koi make it look simple. But inside the box is a strategic board game that requires concentration. Read on, to find out what else makes this a great game.
Getting started was far from quick and easy. I had to painstakingly pop over 250 tiles, coins, and decorations out of the cardboard discs and assemble them. Although the 21 colourful fish printed on transparent acrylic plates are what I enjoy most about the game, for each individual koi I had to peel off the protective film from the front and back. Annoying.
Just getting ready for the first game takes me at least half an hour. It takes just as long to read through the 15-page manual.
I realise that despite its playful design, pond scenery and koi, this game isn’t exactly simple – it’s for experienced board game players ages 12 and up.
A life of meditation or work
Fortunately, the gameplay’s much less complicated. The goal is to build your pond so that it yields more points than my fellow players’ projects. To do this, you choose between two actions on every turn: meditation or work.
Meditation: You take one of the action cards lying on one of the five spaces. Depending on where it is, you get coins, pond tiles or the chance to use your money to buy a koi fish. The cards themselves also have an impact on the game. Some expand your inventory, others give you resources. The cards with workers on them are also important, as they come in handy in the second move variation.
Work: The pond tiles you get while meditating end up in your inventory. With this move, you can expand your pond, which initially consists of five spring tiles. But you can only place one tile, unless you have workers. Each of these allows for an additional action. In the best-case scenario, you can clear out the entire inventory in a single turn by using several workers.
Earn points for everything
The essence of this seemingly simple game? Every action ultimately earns victory points, but you have to decide which strategy will make you the winner.
For example, you could focus on a pond with as many koi as possible. Then you could place these next to the water lilies and make sure there are water tiles all around them – because that earns you extra points. Or you could build along the shore with lanterns and then earn victory points for the longest possible waterway right in front of a lantern.
To add some excitement to the game, there are three extra tasks. If you meet certain conditions – such as having three water lilies next to each other – you automatically earn additional points.
Once all cards have been played or all koi have been placed, the game ends and all points are counted. And since the tallying can get quite complicated, the publisher’s included a pre-printed billing pad. I’m a fan of this, because that way nothing gets forgotten.
This game concept has both advantages and disadvantages. Koi offers variety, and no round of the game is the same. That’s because the cards are turned over in a different order each time, and because three out of ten bonus tasks are randomly selected. However, the players must also be able – and willing – to be flexible. Anyone who has no plan in mind for their builds – or clings too stubbornly to a plan – will quickly become frustrated.
Once everyone has got the hang of it, the rounds end with pretty even scores. This makes it exciting right up to the end, and the points are so close that everyone’s already looking forward to the next round.
Spoiled for choice
But the players hardly interact with each other in this game. Everyone’s expanding their own pond. Only when someone else snatches the card you want right out from under your nose, does a bit of confrontation arise. Still, I never feel like I’m playing alone. Since you can only perform one action at a time, it’s soon the next person’s turn.
By the way, we editors came up with slightly modified rules for a solo game, namely, trying to score as many victory points as possible all by yourself. I enjoy this version as well; it’s almost meditative – if I weren’t constantly torn by the difficulty of choosing.
This is exactly what overwhelmed other players in the test rounds who don’t regularly play strategy board games. The many ways to earn victory points also means lots of cards, tiles and decorations. Even when the rules are explained, newbies sit there clueless, faced with a mountain of materials – no matter how beautiful they may look.
The combination of light-hearted theme and a challenging strategy and building game really appeals to me. Koi is a visual delight, but it also challenges the mind.
By the way, experienced players will be annoyed by the box design. Kosmos Publishers just packs everything into a box and throws in a few plastic bags. But there are so many pieces in the few bags that you have to spend a lot of time looking for them every time you start a game. The assembled decorations also tend to fall apart again. Plus, the materials barely fit in the box.
I’d have been happy to pay a few francs more in exchange for a box with compartments for all the pieces. This could then also serve as a storage container during the game. Setting up and tidying away takes far too much time.
In a nutshell
Pond building for experienced players
It’s kind of misleading: Koi isn’t just meditative gardening, but strategic work for logistics experts and planners. If you like the sound of that, you’ll appreciate the stunning design. The fish printed on acrylic plates, in particular, are a joy to look at.
The games always play out differently and the final scores are often quite close in the end. After all, you earn points for almost everything. Sometimes building a pond with lots of fish is more promising, and other times the player who snatches up the bonus decorations comes out on top.
The only issues I have with the game are the flaws in the box design and the steep learning curve for less experienced board game players. If you stick with it through the first few games, you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful, exciting building game where everyone has a fair chance to win.
Pro
- Pretty pieces
- Consistent theme
- Gameplay varies each round
- Even playing field
Contra
- Box too small
- Setup and packing away takes too long
- Steep learning curve
Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
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