Ohanami
Sarah S.: Hey, Pete!
Pete: Hey.
Sarah S.: You look a little stressed. What’s the matter?
Pete: We’ve got an unboxing every day this week for Corax & Coffee in preparation for the beginning of the holiday season.
Sarah S.: Busy time for retailers, busy time for reviewers.
Pete: Exactly. Plus I’ve got a gaming group on Saturday.
Sarah S.: Well, that sounds like fun!
Pete: And I’ve got a one-year-old’s birthday party on Sunday.
Sarah S.: Why is a one-year-old having a birthday party? They barely understand that they are a sentient being independent from the rest of the universe.
Pete: I know, I mentioned that to my sister, the kid’s mom. Trust me, that doesn’t go over well.
Sarah S.: Wait, this is a birthday party for your nephew?
Pete: Yup.
Sarah S.: And you said the quiet part out loud.
Pete: Yeah well, it happens.
Sarah S.: It frequently does with you. Maybe you need to take a nice, long walk in the woods.
Pete: Yeah. Can’t do the woods. There be monsters there.
Sarah S.: Okay, then maybe go to a Japanese garden. You know, get some fresh air, do some mindfulness, and kind of center yourself.
Pete: Oh, that’s a good idea! I need to get better at mindfulness. So, go out to nature?
Sarah S.: Yes.
Pete: Be mindful of all of the smells, and the sounds, and the textures? Maybe take a warm cup of tea with me?
Sarah S.: Yes, exactly.
Pete: Maybe sit down on the ground and run the dirt between my fingers or draw lines in a rock garden?
Sarah S.: Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Pete: Maybe lick some tree bark?
Sarah S.: Yeah—wait, what’s that now?
Pete: Yeah. After that, maybe I could eat some wild berries and harvest some forest floor mushrooms to cut up into a nice soup or red wine pan sauce. Have some food to contribute to the birthday party.
Sarah S.: No, no. Don’t do any of that in a public garden, or especially out in the wild. That’s– that’s bad. And I don’t think one-year-olds can have red wine pan sauce, so maybe just—
Pete: Maybe just walk through the garden screaming at the top of my lungs, letting it all out?
Sarah S.: Pete, ya see, there are gonna be other people there, and—
Pete: I could just grab cherry blossoms off of trees, smell them, and then fling them up in the air without a care.
Sarah S.: I don’t think you’re spending enough time outside. You don’t quite know how to do it right. You know what? Scratch that plan. I don’t think you’re ready for outside. Instead, why don’t you unbox Ohanami (2019) designed by Steffen Benndorf and published by Pandasaurus Games. It’s a card game abstraction of building a Japanese garden.
Pete: Is it relaxing?
Sarah S.: Well, thematically, maybe. But it definitely also seems like a card game where you and I will just sit down to try and have a relaxing game and end up trash talking each other the entire time. It involves a lot of hate-drafting.
Pete: That’s fine. Can we drink tea while we play?
Sarah S.: Absolutely.
Pete: Can we put tree bark in the tea and see what happens?
Sarah S.: Yeah, you’re definitely not ready for outside.
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Disclaimer: We here at Corax & Coffee do not now, nor have we ever endorsed venturing out into nature and tasting, licking, smoking, or all out grazing on random items that you might find there. While we are not foresters, nutritionists, or practitioners of internal medicine, our keen good sense and observation alone has led us to believe that there is a good-to-fair chance that engaging in said suboptimal behavior may lead to progressively less and less optimal behavior (e.g., screaming in a public park and making a general nuisance of yourself). What we’re really trying to say is: Walk in the woods at your own peril and watch out for witches, wolves, and sniveling younglings in hooded red cloaks. Please treat all persons and animals with deference and respect and don’t be a complete moron. We realize this last bit is a fairly squishy area, but it also covers a lot of ground. Happy gaming.
