Five Seven Five is available for purchase! You can pick up a copy over at The Gamecrafter for $15 + shipping.
In Five Seven Five you work together or alone to create a traditional water garden by building haiku from five and seven syllable phrases. Every deck contains the translated lines of different haiku by the 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, who is often credited as being responsible for popularizing haiku. These different lines can be combined to form many haiku with which to build your garden.
What is Haiku?
Haiku is a form a traditional Japanese poetry that is centuries old. Haiku usually consist of seventeen syllables divided into three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables in length. Though more traditional haiku focus on references to the seasons and pastoral life, even modern haiku feature a juxtaposition of circumstance or feeling within their lines
How to Play
To set up the game, stack the tan-backed garden cards to the side of the play area face down. Select a dealer to distribute six koi cards to each player. Place the remaining koi cards in the center of the play area face down (blue koi side up) to form a pond. Leave some space to the side of your play area for a discard pile.
Playing Five Seven Five
The dealer goes first, turning over the top garden card and playing two cards from their hand against the seven syllable line on the garden card to build a haiku, reading each to the group as it’s played. Each player, in clockwise order, plays two cards from their hands to create their own haiku, each reading their creation in turn.
Once every player has created a haiku, the dealer selects their favorite haiku from the group. The player who played those cards, then places the garden card face up in the play area in a location of their choosing. All koi cards which were played in that round are placed in the discard pile and each player draws two new cards to bring their hand back up to a maximum of six cards. The dealer role passes to the next player in clockwise order and play continues until all garden cards have been placed into the play area, creating a unique garden. If you run out of koi cards in the pond, shuffle the discard pile and stock the pond with cards.
Winning Five Seven Five
Five Seven Five is a game in which playing and creation are the victory conditions. Unity and peace are not achieved by placing each garden feature individually, but by working together to build a garden which is pleasing to all and by enjoying the haiku that are created during the game.
Each Deck Includes:
- 54 Five Syllable Koi Cards
- 10 Seven Syllable Garden Cards
- 4 Instruction Reference Cards
While I always appreciate the support, you can download an abbreviated printable deck on itch.io. If you have any questions drop me a line!