The Travels of Isabella Lucy Bird

In 1878, British traveler Isabella Lucy Bird set out on a journey through Japan, traveling from Yokohama through the northern regions of the country toward Biratori in Hokkaido. In The Footsteps of Isabella Bird, players follow in her footsteps — or take their own routes — while recording the places they visit and the experiences they gather along the way.

The game is a roll-and-write with dice drafting, played over 12 rounds. Each round, players choose a pair of colored dice and use them to perform actions: gather materials representing horses, nature, culture, and faith; travel between connected towns on the map; or acquire journal cards. Higher die values generally allow stronger actions, but each die value is also recorded in a color-specific column on the player sheet. Creating long ascending sequences of numbers in these columns awards bonus points, so choosing the strongest die is not always the best option. Players can also complete journal cards by spending the required materials, gaining their effects and adding them to their record of the journey.

At the end of the game, players score points for completed journal cards, ascending sequences in their dice records, and the towns they have both visited and written about. A town counts as a “documented town” when the player has visited it on the map and completed a matching journal card, making it important to coordinate travel plans with the journals they choose to complete. Additional scoring comes from other elements of the journey, while overfilling dice-record columns can cause penalties. The player with the most points after 12 rounds wins.