Games Like Tategoi

The pond in Ojiya is yours now.

Your grandfather Kenji left you his small koi farm in Ojiya, Niigata — the birthplace of nishikigoi — and a worn notebook of everything he still meant to do. One garden pond, eight ordinary koi, a few coins. The rest is up to you.

Breed living art

Every koi is painted by its genes: red and black patterns, skin quality, sharp pattern edges, metallic lustre, gin rin sparkle, body shape. Each spring, pair a female and a male, spawn two dozen fry, and see what the parents pass on. The breeding forecast shows the odds — the fry will still surprise you.

Bet on potential

Young koi are tategoi — "koi with potential". Black rises slowly from under the skin, red deepens or fades, a plain Kohaku fry may grow into a Showa. On selection days you walk the ponds, read the signs and decide who stays. The fish you almost let go may become your champion.

Grow your farm

Start with one pond and build a whole koi farm on the map: farm ponds, a koi house, mud ponds in the fields where young koi grow fast (if the herons don't find them first), a quarantine tank, and a showroom garden where visitors stop to make offers. Equip each pond with filters, UV lamps, heaters and aeration, and keep every pond's water clear. Hire a pond keeper, a feeder, a sales assistant and a farm hand — and watch them make their rounds.

Sell, show and compete

Deliver fry to clients who order the varieties you breed. List koi on the online auction, or raise your paddle at the monthly live auction against rival breeders. Enter your best three at the Local, Regional and All Japan shows — and hold your breath at the award ceremony.

A year on the farm

Festivals, typhoons, heatwaves and famous collectors make every year a little different.

Collect 34 varieties

From the classic Kohaku, Sanke and Showa to Asagi, Utsuri, the metallic Ogon and Kujaku, the netted Goshiki and the rare Doitsu Yamabuki Hariwake — and the Tancho, a pure white koi with a single red sun on its head. Every variety you raise goes into your Koi Book, with hints on how to breed the rest.

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