2013Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
- Videos
- 49
- Creators
- 33
2 - 4 players60 - 150 minVery heavy weight

2026Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
Mainly reviews and how-to-play. Nippon: Zaibatsu is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 18 reviews, 10 how-to-play guides, 7 recorded sessions, 7 unboxings, and 4 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
Nippon: Zaibatsu is a new edition of Nippon, a fast-paced, area-majority economic game. Players control "zaibatsu": massive conglomerates of interconnected companies driving Japan's economy in the Industrial Revolution era. During the game, players invest in new industries, build factories and railroads, and produce goods to saturate local markets and fulfill contracts - all to grow their influence and power and to become rulers of the new modernized country. Players are free to choose their playstyle and winning strategy: They choose what they score victory points for, control the game's pace with income turns, and race each other to get the most beneficial factories, markets, and bonuses. All the core mechanisms of the original Nippon are present, but the components, art, and design are upgraded, and many gameplay features are reworked to get the game in line with modern trends. Nippon: Zaibatsu features new resource types, ships are heavily revised with new Iwakura mission rules, factories are much more variable, consolidation turns provide players with new rewards, and much more. Also, the game now has an automa-driven solo mode. -description from the publisher
Review
Nippon: Zaibatsu has 46 videos from 33 creators: 18 reviews, 10 how-to-play guides, 7 playthroughs, 7 unboxings and 4 other videos. They date from 2024 to July 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "Nippon Zaibatsu - Tutorial & Playthrough" by Gaming Rules!, which runs 2 h 59 min. For a quicker teach, "Nippon: Zaibatsu | Game Overview" by LonelyMan BGs runs 5 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Nippon Zaibatsu – Full Breakdown: Strategy, Mechanics & What's Different in 2025" by Board Game Dad. 14 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "Nippon: Zaibatsu- 4p Teaching, Play-through, & Roundtable Discussion by Heavy Cardboard" by Heavy Cardboard, one of 7 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Madeira, Nippon, Panamax and Asian Tigers: A Story of Prosperity, also by Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro.
8 of 33
2013Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
2 - 4 players60 - 150 minVery heavy weight
2015Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
2 - 4 players60 - 120 minHeavy weight
2014Gil d'Orey, Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
2 - 4 players90 - 120 minHeavy weight
2024Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
1 - 4 players120 minHeavy weight
From BoardGameGeek:
Nippon: Zaibatsu is a new edition of Nippon, a fast-paced, area-majority economic game. Players control "zaibatsu": massive conglomerates of interconnected companies driving Japan's economy in the Industrial Revolution era. During the game, players invest in new industries, build factories and railroads, and produce goods to saturate local markets and fulfill contracts - all to grow their influence and power and to become rulers of the new modernized country. Players are free to choose their playstyle and winning strategy: They choose what they score victory points for, control the game's pace with income turns, and race each other to get the most beneficial factories, markets, and bonuses. All the core mechanisms of the original Nippon are present, but the components, art, and design are upgraded, and many gameplay features are reworked to get the game in line with modern trends. Nippon: Zaibatsu features new resource types, ships are heavily revised with new Iwakura mission rules, factories are much more variable, consolidation turns provide players with new rewards, and much more. Also, the game now has an automa-driven solo mode. -description from the publisher
Designers
Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
Artist
Maya Kurkhuli
Publisher
CrowD Games
Categories
Mechanics