Hot damn are paper “Sugoroku” game board sheets just the coolest! The 300 year old board game akin to Chutes and Ladders (“Snakes and Ladders” for you Europeans), is aimed at adults and children alike, is a New Year’s tradition in Japan and has even been perverted for gambling uses.
Game play and long history aside, I just love these multi-property collage sheets, often done by third party artists under mysterious or completely absent proper licensing. There isn’t a property or genre that hasn’t seen a Sugoroku adaptation.
We featured a great cartoony board a few year’s back here. Now here’s two more ninja and hooded hero themed pieces I just adore.
This one encapsulates several different chambara heroes with multi-film franchises, with an eye for some dramatic hooded costumes.
This newer piece is based on Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga, Kamui and Watari from Shirato Sanpei and various kiddie properties like Ninja Hatori Kun.
I don’t recognize the hero slightly left of center, but man is he chill and just happy to kill…
