Omotenashi
A downloadable game
Omotenashi is a game on cultivating an unforgettable experience for visiting animal guests by going above and beyond the customer's expecations.
In Japanese, Omotenashi (おもてなし) is a word that embodies the act of going above and beyond top class hospitality by anticipating customers’ desires through deliberate observation and attentiveness. In this game, you will play as a band of animals who have come together to delight their guests and welcome those looking for an escape, relaxation or even a luxurious getaway.
Through different prompts, you will jot down details of your lodging and its animal staff while exploring interactions with the various guests that visit. Depending on the guest, you may freely assign your staff to different positions to best suit your guests' needs.
What you need to play
- Pencil and paper (digital or analog)
- A deck of cards (excluding jokers)
This game was created as part of the Tiny Tome game jam and is a part of the Tiny Tome Kickstarter project.
Translations
Thank you to the following community members for the translations! If you can provide a translation for the game, feel free to reach out and I'd be more than happy to credit you.
- Brazilian Portuguese translation provided by Letícia Amboni
- French translation provided by Omnik
Playthroughs
Check out a review of the game here and a playthrough below!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- V1.1 - some new colours and minor changesJan 16, 2022
- Omotenashi selected for the Tiny Tome Kickstarter!Jan 13, 2022
Comments
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I really enjoyed my playthrough of Omotenashi! I played it as a kind of sketching/doodling game and really floored by the depth you were able to achieve with very simple rules. You're an amazing designer. This is a bit of fanart of my trio Gregory the Monkey, and the horse-siblings Berta and Neil . I have in my notes that they ran the Spring Mountain Forge Lodge. Thanks for making such a wonderful game.
Thank you for the beautiful comment and artwork - I also love that you included the actual cards that you drew for your lodging and staff too, what a nice touch!
Thank you for the warm reply! I'm going to share the original with you as well:
I realize you have so few examples of people playing in an almost actual-play-way. My goal, playing this as a doodle sketch game, was not to linger on the art or words. Just be quick and focus on the game (which makes this great for art warm-ups). So you can see the original doodles that informed the artwork with Gregory, Berta, and Neil. The guests all have names too, but I had to stop myself from drawing a mini-zine about the game and playthrough. I enjoyed it that much.
This is fantastic! You’re absolutely right that it’s difficult to show examples of actual playthroughs - do you mind if I include a link to this in the game’s description?
Absolutely feel free to link it, let me know if you need the file by itself for anything.
Shared on the main page and linked to your playthrough as well, thanks for letting me share this!
I've used this game with some of the people I volunteer to teach ESL (English as a second language). I'll set up the game for them and let them do their thing and will guide them along the way. I will play along with them but usually will be simpler so they can follow along and ask any sort of questions and use it as a guide.
Just this past week I decided to play it just for myself without any students and I was surprised at just how gonzo it got. It went from one of the guests going on a catnip bender and trashing the hotel room to another "getting into business" with the head chef and his special dried banana peels. You can go from cozy to crazy depending on how you feel. Quite fun, and a great teaching game!
Thanks for the comment and love the usage in ESL! I’d love to hear feedback from you and your participants, especially if there’s anything I can do to improve that specific experience. Thanks for playing yourself as well!
It's great because they can use food words, hotel staff names, card names, animal names, types of hotels, etc. Students can from all levels can play (I tutor adults). The thing that confuses them is the name. More than once they've said, "We're playing a Japanese game??" Other than that they totally get the concept. I was looking for a journaling game for me, but when I came across this game, I knew instantly it would be perfect for my students, thank you!
Fantastic, thank you so much! Glad it works so well for you and your students, good luck with the teaching!
Hello, I'm in the French gaming community and we love minimalist and cozy games like this one! Would you be open to French translation of this game and maybe of some of your others? I'm fine with them being hosted on your page and I'm not looking for any revenues, just helping these games reach a bigger audience!
Hi there, thanks for reaching out! Absolutely, please contact me over on onemorepotatochip@gmail.com, let me know who to credit and I’ll upload then on the page :)
Thanks, I wrote to you!
I’ve uploaded your translations for Omotenashi and Amayadori, thanks again for your help!
It was my pleasure!
Played it for like an hour yesterday and it was super fun! I added some of my own rules to spice things up, but the main game is really good already! From the overworked boar to the spoiled ox, the characters really got a personality after playing for a bit! Well done. We need more wholesome and warming solo rpgs.
Thank you for playing and sharing your thoughts!
I love this game! Once I had my staff set up, I ended up getting pretty attached to them, and it made for an easy episodic nature of play for me. I can see it being played with more of a focus on the guests but as I ended up focusing on how the travelers affected the staff, it was like watching a flowing river shape stationary rocks... very therapeutic and cozy for me. Highly recommended!
(I also was inspired to draw my characters. Much thanks to the creator of this game for the experience ^-^)
Glad you had fun and thank for you sharing the wonderful drawing!
This game puts a fresh spin on playing with fantasies about care and service-as-artistry. The "farewell" phase of play is a thoughtful push to explore how hospitality changes providers as well as recipients.
Great for a hanafuda fusion deck, as the cards are used to determine seasons (among other things that pull on the European card values). I can't wait to play again!
Thank you for the insightful review!
Awesome game! I played with my kid and wrote a review on my blog - you did a great job with this, and we had a lot of fun telling a story together from what you've made.
https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2022/03/03/tiny-tome-tiny-ttrpg-review-omotenashi/
Thank you for the kind words, glad you and your kid had a great time :)
Thanks! the colour version is great.