Ra - 2025 Japanese edition

Ra is one of Reiner Knizia's classics, first published in 1999. This is an important game in my boardgame journey, being one of the games I played a lot of when I first got into the hobby. At the time (2003) the game was out of print. I searched for images online and hand made a copy so that I could play it. Now that I think about the time and effort required to hand make a game with 180 tiles, I amaze myself. I did later get a proper copy of the game. I still own that copy. It is the first German edition. My Taiwanese friend Crystal found it on German eBay and bought a copy for me as my 2004 birthday present. Back then, in an age before Google Translate, navigating German eBay for anyone who doesn't know German is not exactly easy. 

This year 2025 a new Japanese edition was released. It comes in a much smaller box. What I was thrilled to find out was it uses the same art as the original edition. When I heard that Tim was going to the Tokyo Game Market, I asked him to help me buy a copy of this edition. This is a game with special meaning to me. I am very happy to get hold of a copy of this edition. 

This latest Japanese edition is less than half the size of the original.

The game components are a little different, so if you look closely, you will notice the photos on the backs are a little different. 

The colour tone is a little different too.

When I opened the box, I found that the unpunched component sheets almost completely filled the box. 

Rulebook

The game board comes in four pieces. You need to assemble it yourself. 

The board is not that much smaller than the first edition. 

Unpunched component sheets

The Japanese edition (left) does not have wooden components. The Ra marker and the suns are cardboard tiles just like the regular tiles. 

The game tiles aren't that much smaller

The original Ra did not have any player board. This player board you see on the right was created by a fan. I printed five copies of this and I use them whenever I play because they help a lot in learning the game and they make playing the game easier. The Japanese edition comes with a small player board (left). It is probably more a reference chart than a player board, but it does help you organise the tiles you collect. 

The player board

After punching out the game components, it is almost impossible to fit them all back into the box and have the lid completely closed. I need to deliberately stack some of the tiles neatly, as opposed to leaving them in an untidy pile, so that I can save some space.