Inori Components Overview and Impressions

Players will be building their villages around the great tree and scoring some major points. That is the story behind Inori, one of the prettiest games I’ve seen so far this year. Let’s take a look at what comes in the box!

Space Cowboys has been attempting to cut down on waste over the last little while, and the move towards a greener board game production are evident in this release. All the wooden pieces included in Inori are packaged in little white, recycled paper bags. I love this approach, and as more and more companies do this, I’m looking forward to a world where little plastic baggies are a thing of the past.

The thing is, if you are going to do away with plastic baggies, you are going to need some kind of insert. In many cases, the removal of plastic baggies is negated by the inclusion of a plastic insert. Space Cowboys has gone a different route, with a built-in cardboard insert with compartments for all the games little pieces, including the wooden resource tiles. Good job Space Cowboys, this is phenomenal!I

There isn’t a ton to Inori, which is not an issue in my opinion. The central gameboard is nice and detailed, and has locations to put all the various pieces like cards and tokens. I don’t have any major issues when a game tells me to set up things on the table (like tableaus and things like that), but I much prefer a board that has spots for the cards and pieces.

The pieces in Inori are fantastic as well. There are a few cardboard punch board tokens you will need, but not many. The bulk of the game is the deck of cards (beautifully illustrated by the way) and the plethora of wooden resource tokens. These are the perfect size, and feel good to hold and use. I know that recycled cardboard could have been an option here, but these wooden pieces are a nice way to make Inori feel a bit more premium for a retail release. They are screen printed and colored as well, which is nice to see.

The card quality here is OK. You won’t be doing a ton of shuffling and things like that, so I’m not overly concerned about sleeving up the cards. I’d also be a bit concerned that the sleeved cards wouldn’t fit into the insert included with the game. The box insert for the cards is really clever, allowing you to sort and place the cards in angled spots which allows you easy access to them to pull new cards when necessary. Again, good use of the box, Space Cowboys!

I’m looking forward to getting Inori to the table soon – whether the game is good or bad, the production value is very good, and the table presence is impressive!