The Game
This is a game entry I submitted to the BoardGameGeek database. I Googled the meaning of the original Japanese title and submitted the English translation - Isn't this just a relaxed daily life? That's quite a mouthful indeed. I'm going to just call it Relaxed Daily Life. This is a simple card game. The three main characters in the game are the policeman, the thief and the rich musician. The policeman wants to catch the thief. The thief wants to steal from the musician. The musician wants to bribe the policeman. They have a rock-paper-scissors relationship. To win the game, you need to collect a main character and help him catch his target.
You have a hand size of three. On your turn you play a card then draw a card. There are 16 different characters in the game and they have different powers. E.g. peeking at an opponent's cards, swapping cards with an opponent, skipping the next player, reversing the direction of play and protecting yourself for a full round. Some powers are actually handicaps, e.g. one card can never be played, which means you may be forced to play another card which you normally wouldn't want to play. After you play a card, it is placed in front of you and added to your collection. Everyone can see what cards are out.
The game mechanism of the main characters is interesting. You need to have played two cards of the same main character before you in order to use his power. When you use the power, you are attempting to win the game. You pick another player, and if that player has the target of your main character, whether in front of him or in hand, you win. For example you have played the second policeman card. You want to pick a player who has a thief, whether before him or in his hand. If you fail to catch the thief, you discard the second played card, but you still keep the first card in front of you. This is dangerous, because that policeman card is vulnerable to the musician. The second card requirement means if you attempt to win, you are also taking a risk. Playing main characters is not to be taken lightly.
If the deck runs out before any main character manages to catch his target, you need to check the secondary victory conditions. There are four rare cards in the game. Whoever has more wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most main character cards wins.
The Play
This is a party style game. I am probably making it sound more strategic that it is. This is a straightforward game and you don't really need to think very hard. The game is in Japanese so if it is your first time (and you don't read Japanese) it will be a little cumbersome to play. You need to regularly refer to a cheat sheet. Some of the characters are of the same animal type, e.g. there are two bears, and two cats too. So on my cheat sheet I needed to differentiate the two types of bears and cats. Still, this is a simple game. Once you get familiar with the characters, it plays smoothly.
There is a big dose of luck. Whether you draw a main character is luck. Whether you attack the right person is often also luck. Many of the card powers do let you do things which reduce the luck element. But then whether you get good cards is also luck. That said, since this is a casual and relaxing game, luck is not an issue. The card powers do give you some control, so you don't feel it is the game playing you. You still get to make meaningful decisions and take useful actions.
The Thoughts
Relaxed Daily Life is a light and casual game. It has the kind of attack cards which casual gamers like. Or perhaps I should say publishers making casual games think casual gamers like this kind of attack cards. I like the game mechanism around the three main characters. You need to hold on to cards, gather information, and wait for the right time to attempt to win. You want to minimise risk and maximise your odds of winning.
In recent years I am no longer easily impressed with heavy Eurogames. I have become more interested in clever and minimalistic Japanese-style games. Now that I have tried more and more of these, the halo effect of Japanese games is starting to wane. The earlier Japanese designs I got to play were mostly famous titles. I heard of them because they had gone through curation by boardgame reviewers and influencers. So they were generally good games. They gave me the impression that all Japanese games were good like they were. Now that I have played more Japanese games, I become more grounded. There are average games from Japan too, and also games which don't click with me. I don't mean to say I dislike Relaxed Daily Life. I do admire the game mechanism, even though it doesn't get me super excited. This game is a keeper for me, because my non-gamer friends who are fans of Japanese culture will like it. This is a nice souvenir from Japan.
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