Onitama: The Board Game helps kids practice and improve the following skills:

Flexibility

Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.

This game provides two opportunities for the player to practice flexibility. First, every game the players only have five move cards out of their deck that they can use. This means every game will have a slightly different combination of move cards the player is confined to. No matter how much they like the monkey card, they will have to be flexible enough to use other cards. Secondly, the players don’t have a specific order that they have to use the move cards. This means even if the player plans on their opponent using dragon, they may not. Which means if the player wants to be successful and win the game, they have to be flexible in case the opponent doesn’t act the way they expected.

Planning

Developing and retaining information in our minds while working.

This game provides a great chance to practice problem solving skills and short-term planning. Problem solving happens every turn as the player has to evaluate which move card and which piece are best to use that round. Short-term planning happens as the player looks at their possible moves and thinks about how the opponent will react to that move (as well as what move the opponent might counter with). The player can even go a step further and think about what move they will use after the opponent’s turn. If the player isn’t using these planning skills, he or she will end up making a mistake and losing the game.