Godaigo: Secret of the Five Elements
A strategy board game for 2 to 5 players. Explore a hidden island of hexagon tiles, collect scrolls and win by mastering all five elements.
What is Godaigo?
Godaigo is a strategy board game about the five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void. You and your opponents move across a board of hidden hexagon tiles. Each tile hides a shrine. Shrines give you stones and scrolls. You place stones on the board to build the patterns that scrolls need.
The stones also change the board. They can block paths, open shortcuts, break traps and cancel other stones. You play free in your web browser, with friends or with bots. You can try a short tutorial first.
- Players
- 2 to 5 (bots can fill seats)
- Play time
- Usually 30 to 60 minutes. About 20 minutes for two skilled players. Up to two hours for a relaxed five-player game.
- Goal
- Activate one scroll of each element, then return to your player shrine.
- Cost
- Free to play
- Where
- In your web browser, on a computer or a phone
- Account
- Not needed. You can continue as a guest.
How it plays: the five elements
Every element gives you stones with its own ability. Learning how they work together is the heart of the game.
Earth Earth stones block the way. They are the hardest to break (5 AP).
Water A Water stone copies the ability of the stone next to it. Water next to Earth blocks. Water next to Wind lets you move free.
Fire Fire destroys adjacent Earth, Water and Wind stones when you place it. It breaks traps without spending AP.
Wind Moving through a hex with a Wind stone costs 0 AP instead of 1.
Void A Void stone in your pool raises your maximum AP by 1. A Void stone on the board cancels the ability of any stone next to it.
Catacomb tiles and scrolls
There is also a sixth tile type, the Catacomb. Revealing one refunds 1 AP and gives you a Catacomb scroll. A Catacomb scroll spans two elements, so activating it satisfies two of your win requirements at once. Standing on a Catacomb shrine lets you teleport for free to the center of any other revealed, empty elemental shrine.
Reaction scrolls
Some scrolls are Reaction scrolls. They activate on your opponent's turn, not yours. Build the pattern in your Active Area before their turn to surprise them. Only one reaction fires per turn, and you cannot react to a reaction.
In all there are 35 scrolls: 25 elemental scrolls and 10 Catacomb scrolls.
How to play and win
The goal
Be the first player to activate one scroll of each element (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void), then return to the center of your player shrine, which is your starting tile. You escape the mystical island and win.
Set up
- Each player places their Player Tile on the board, next to the edge of two existing tiles.
- All other tiles start face down. The tile deck holds one tile of each type (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void and Catacomb) for every player, minus one. These are shuffled to form the hidden board.
Your turn
- You start every turn with 5 Action Points (AP).
- Move your pawn. Each hex costs 1 AP.
- Step onto a face-down tile to flip it and reveal its shrine. You get a scroll in your hand.
- End your turn at the center of a shrine to collect its stones. For example, an Earth shrine gives 5 Earth stones. Stones come from shared source pools of 25 for each type.
- Placing stones on the board is free. Place them next to your pawn to build scroll patterns or to affect other stones.
- Click End Turn. Your AP resets to 5 next turn.
Scrolls
Your scrolls sit in three places:
- Hand: private, up to 2 scrolls.
- Active Area: face up and visible to all. Scrolls here can be activated.
- Common Area: a shared pool that any player can activate from.
To activate a scroll you must:
- Have it in your Active Area or the Common Area.
- Build its stone pattern on the board around your pawn.
- Spend 2 AP and activate the scroll.
You do not need to stand in the center of a tile to activate a scroll. Some scrolls can be activated more than once in the same turn.
Breaking stones
You can break a stone next to your pawn. It costs AP equal to the stone's rank: Void 1, Wind 2, Fire 3, Water 4, Earth 5. This works on any stone within reach, not only your own. The stone goes back to the shared source pool.
Other rules to know
- You cannot stand on the same hex as another player.
- You cannot end your turn on another player's player tile (but you can end it on your own). You cannot place stones on any player tile.
- A stone placed on the center of an elemental shrine blocks other players from teleporting there.
- Activating a scroll does not count toward your win for an element whose source pool is empty. Destroy a placed stone of that type to free one up.
- When scroll effects conflict, or several players react at once, they resolve by element rank.
- Undo Step reverses your most recent action until you end your turn.
The game has a guided tutorial that teaches all of this step by step. You need no account for it.
Games like Godaigo
Godaigo is a tactical race-and-build board game with a spell-crafting twist. In one line: you explore a hex board, place elemental stones to form patterns that cast scrolls, collect all five elements, and race home.
What it mixes together
- Exploring a hidden map. Face-down tiles are revealed as you walk, so part of every game is discovery.
- Spatial pattern building. Stones must make exact shapes around your pawn. This is the puzzle at the core of the game.
- A race. Activate one scroll of each of the five elements, then walk home. You can see how close each player is.
- Interaction between players. Response scrolls, counters, Arson, Telekinesis and blocking with Earth stones give the game a reaction layer, where you can disrupt your opponents.
- Elemental flavour with a calm tone. “Godai” means the five great elements in Japanese Five Element theory.
Board games it may remind you of
These are loose comparisons, not claims that the games play the same. If you like them, you may enjoy Godaigo.
- Tash-Kalar: you place pieces in patterns on a grid to summon effects. This is probably the closest to Godaigo's scroll system.
- Santorini, Hive and Onitama: short, clean, tactical games in which where you stand and what you place matter most.
- Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert: revealing tiles and moving your pawn around a changing board.
- Splendor and Azul: a race to a goal with readable progress and a light engine-building feel.
- Carcassonne and Tsuro: tile-laying, with a board that changes as you play.
- Magic: The Gathering: the designer's starting idea was to play something like Magic, but with players and mana that physically change the board.
Digital games with a similar audience
- Board Game Arena players, who already enjoy a board game in the browser.
- Into the Breach: grid tactics where each move is a small puzzle.
- Magic: The Gathering Arena and Hearthstone: card games with counters and responses. If you like reacting during someone else's turn, you may like Godaigo's response scrolls.
- Dorfromantik and Islanders: cozy strategy games. Godaigo's night-sky look, Calm Background setting and slow camera may suit the same mood.
Who it is for
Godaigo suits people who like modern hobby board games and puzzle-minded players who enjoy spatial “aha” moments. It works well for small groups of friends playing online. Quick Play and bots also let you play alone. A game usually takes 30 to 60 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Godaigo free?
Yes. You play Godaigo free in your web browser.
How many people can play Godaigo?
Two to five players per game. Bots can fill seats, and they count toward the five.
How long does a game take?
Usually 30 to 60 minutes. Two skilled players can finish in about 20 minutes. A relaxed five-player game can take up to two hours.
Do I need an account to play?
No. You can continue as a guest and make an account later. The tutorial also needs no account.
Can I play against bots?
Yes. You can play with friends or with bots.
What games is Godaigo like?
Godaigo is a tactical race-and-build board game with a spell-crafting twist. Fans of Tash-Kalar, Santorini, Forbidden Island, Splendor, Azul and Carcassonne may enjoy it. These are loose comparisons. See Games like Godaigo for more.
How do I win Godaigo?
Activate one scroll of each of the five elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void), then return to the center of your player shrine.
Is there a physical version of Godaigo?
Yes. The physical game is on The Game Crafter. The online version came from play-testing that physical copy.
Was AI used to make Godaigo?
The online version was built with the help of AI. No gameplay decisions were influenced by AI. The core of the game came from the designer's own tastes and feedback from players who tested the physical copy.
About the creator
Godaigo is designed by GMJake. The designer has worked on the game since 2014 and changed it many times based on feedback from players.
It started with one question: what if we could play Magic: The Gathering, but our players and mana physically affected the board, and we did not have to pay for booster packs?
The game also draws on the Japanese Five Element theory, an interpretation of traditional Buddhist philosophy about personal growth. The designer's connection to this framework is personal and comes from many years of martial arts practice. The five elements serve as a lens for pursuing emotional stability and harmony, and the game tries to express that idea.
The designer hopes to build a group of players who want to refine the game together. If you have questions or want to play a match, join the Godaigo channel on Discord.