2007 · Medieval
In the Year of the Dragon
Players act as regional rulers in medieval China and guide their court through a twelve-month year of escalating crises. Each round, a single action is chosen and one person card is recruited and placed into a palace; recruited characters provide abilities such as producing rice, collecting taxes, or defending against raids. At the end of each month a predefined event is resolved—disease, drought, nomad attacks, or imperial demands—which may cost workers, money, or yield points. Resource management, worker placement, and timing of recruitments determine who weathers the year most successfully.
- Players
- 2–5 best 4
- Playing time
- 75–100 min
- Age
- 12+
- Complexity
- 3.1 / 5
About the game
- Design
- Publishers
Expansions
See them in Ludoya
Where to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 264
- Plays logged
- 260
- Players
- 1h 20m
- Average play
- 50
- In collections
- 7
- On wishlists
7.3/10
from 60 Ludoya reviews
Garfield7.0 #54 #coins (silver & gold) An interesting Feld with very meaningful decisions. No point salad! [c] Theme: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Little, but hey for a Feld... --> Gameplay: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Very meaningful decisions to make --> Interaction: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Indirect interaction --> Artwork: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Somehow ok --> Luck: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]No --> Strategy: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Many strategies possible --> Components: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Still ok, but absolutely nothing special --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good for a Feld (82min@4) --> Easy to teach: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Quite easy (22min) --> Rules quality: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Setup time: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very fast --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Plays quite fast --> Replay value: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Random order of events, different strategies --> [/c]
Mestremuten5.0 Rating: 4/5 Production value: 1/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 0/1
Dragonshiq8.0 Included in "In the Year of the Dragon: 10th Anniversary" (2017)
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
If a group already has a dragon on it, do I have to pay before taking an action from that group?
Yes. If at least one dragon is already on a group you must pay 3 yuan to join it or you may not take any action from that group or place your dragon there. (Rulebook p.4)
Can I skip Phase 1 to take 3 yuan no matter how much I already have?
You may skip Phase 1 to bring your money up to 3 yuan, but you only take as many coins as necessary to give you a total of 3 (you do not automatically take 3 if you already have some). (Rulebook p.4)
When I play a person card and all my palaces are full, must I replace someone or can I decline to add the new person?
You may replace an existing person (the displaced courtier is removed from the game) or immediately release the new person instead; if you release the new person you do not move your person marker. (Rulebook p.6)
Do the coin icons printed on my tax collector tiles count toward paying the Imperial Tribute?
No. The coins pictured on tax collectors do not count when paying Imperial Tribute; you must pay actual yuan or release persons for any missing payment. (Rulebook p.6)
If a palace becomes uninhabited, when does it lose floors, and is it useful to build empty one‑story palaces?
After each event, every uninhabited palace loses one floor (and a one‑story uninhabited palace can disappear), so there is no point in building a one‑story palace unless you plan to assign a person to it immediately. (Rulebook p.8)
How is action turn order determined each round and what if multiple players share the same person‑track space?
Action turn order is set by players' positions on the person track (farthest ahead goes first); if multiple markers share a space, those players take turns in the top‑to‑bottom stacking order of their markers. (Rulebook pp.3–4)
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.