Hokkaido Sugoroku: A Free Road-Trip Board Game Around Hokkaido

Hokkaido Sugoroku is a free board game that takes you on a road trip all the way around Hokkaido, starting from New Chitose Airport. This page was checked on October 5, 2026.

It runs in your web browser. There is nothing to download or print, and you don’t need an account. Roll the dice, move across a big map of Hokkaido, and you’ll meet towns, food and places you may never have heard of.

By the end, you will probably have found a few spots you really want to visit. The game is fully in English, so just open it and roll.

Play Hokkaido Sugoroku now →

What is sugoroku?

Sugoroku is a traditional Japanese board game. In the picture version, called e-sugoroku, players roll a die and move from the start square, furidashi, toward the goal, agari. Harvard-Yenching Library describes it as “a racing game similar to Snakes and Ladders.”

Picture sugoroku spread as popular entertainment in the Edo period. From around the late 17th century, boards themed on journeys came to be called dochu sugoroku, or travel sugoroku. Long trips were still hard for most people, so these boards let them enjoy the feeling of traveling at home. Over time, squares such as “lose a turn” were added. Sugoroku also became a classic New Year’s game in Japan.

Sources: National Diet Library, Japan (in Japanese), Waseda University Library (in Japanese), Harvard-Yenching Library.

Hokkaido Sugoroku is a travel sugoroku for today. The squares are real RV parks and campgrounds, and the roads are real roads.

How to play (4 steps)

1. Choose where to go
The bar at the top shows the date, your money, the days left in your vacation, the distance you’ve driven and your destination. A roulette picks your destination, and you get a bonus when you arrive. If you choose Kita no Mori as your goal at the start, the day you arrive there is the goal.

2. Pick a card and roll
Check the cards in your hand, then roll. The Long Drive card lets you roll two dice. When you roll with a card, a green sign like a Japanese expressway sign appears, the dice stop one by one, and the total shows up big.

3. Pick a route and drive
Choose your route from the options for each direction. Each option shows how many days and kilometers it takes, whether it’s the shortest route to your destination, and which stamps you’ll get. You drive up to 200 km and 9 hours a day. If a trip is longer, you stay overnight at a square on the way. For safe driving, this limit never changes, even in winter.

4. Read about your day
When you arrive, the day’s events come to you as a card. You might take a break at a roadside station (michi-no-eki), buy a local specialty, or meet someone unexpected. It reads like a short travel diary, and it keeps a record of your route, fuel and lodging costs.

Repeat these steps and you’ll feel like you’ve traveled around Hokkaido. When you reach your goal, Kita no Mori in Taiki Town, a “luxury trip” begins: you stay there and enjoy day trips around the area (up to 7 nights). Get back to New Chitose Airport to finish a lap, or keep going for a second or third lap. Up to 3 people can play together by passing one device around.

Coastal roads you can only take in summer

The summer course, from April to November, has two coastal roads that branch off the loop. On both, you stay at campgrounds near the sea.

The Hidaka and Erimo coast: from Tomakomai through Niikappu and Hyakuninhama in Erimo to Kita no Mori. Hyakuninhama Auto Campsite is open from April to October, so in November you drive past without staying.

From the northern Sea of Japan to Soya and the Okhotsk coast: from Ishikari through Mashike, Shosanbetsu, Wakkanai (Soya), Hamatonbetsu (Lake Kutcharo) and Esashi to Engaru. You can take this road only in July and August, when the campgrounds are open.

Things you collect on your trip

The farther you go, the more you collect. All the money is in-game money; nothing costs real money. Stamps, local specialties, cards, a goal celebration and a winter bonus are scattered along the way.

Ways to enjoy Hokkaido Sugoroku

The rules are simple: roll the dice and move. But changing your goal, the length of your vacation or the month you travel makes for a completely different trip. Here are a few ways to play.

1. Head for Kita no Mori and enjoy a luxury trip

At the start, you choose a goal. We recommend Kita no Mori in Taiki Town. The day you arrive is the goal, and a “luxury trip” begins: you stay at Kita no Mori and take day trips around the area (up to 7 nights). You can also pick a faraway town such as Wakkanai or Nemuro as your goal and make a big loop of Hokkaido.

2. Set your vacation length and race the clock

In the menu, choose a vacation of 7, 10 or 14 days. If you get back to New Chitose Airport by the last day, you finish the trip. Goals and route options show whether you can make it back in time, so you can plan around that.

3. Fill in the map of Hokkaido

Towns you drive through get a light color on the map, and towns where you stay get a deeper one. Drive through every town a road reaches in a subprefecture to complete its map, and you get a bonus at each monthly settlement. By the time you finish a lap, the towns along your route are colored in.

4. Collect local specialties and travel stamps

Buy a specialty in a town where you stay and it goes into your specialty book. Collect every one in an area to complete it (there are 38 in all). There are 21 travel stamps, with a bonus for collecting them all. Deciding what to collect changes which detours you take.

5. Play in a different season

You can choose the month you travel. From December to March, you follow a winter course that links only places open in winter, and in January you get a winter bonus. From April to November, you follow the summer course, with coastal roads too. In July and August, you can even drive north to Wakkanai and down the Okhotsk coast. Weather, snow and events change by month.

6. Take turns with family and friends

Up to 3 people can play together by passing one device around. At the end, you compare money and memories. The same Hokkaido makes for very different trips depending on the roads you choose.

7. Use it to preview a real trip

Distances and driving times come from real roads, and you drive up to 200 km and 9 hours a day. The itinerary lists the dates, routes, distances and places you stayed, and you can copy it. It also gives you a sense of how many days a drive around Hokkaido takes.

Every square is a real place in Hokkaido

The squares are 37 real RV parks and campgrounds. You start from Moving Inn New Chitose Airport and loop around central, southern, northern and eastern Hokkaido, through places like Eniwa, Kutchan, Hakodate, Asahikawa, Abashiri, Kushiro and Taiki. The roads, distances and driving times are real. Search for a square’s name in a map app and you’ll find a place you can actually visit. Kita no Mori, the goal in Taiki Town, is an RV park where you can really stay.

From December to March, you follow a winter course that links only places open in winter. You never stay somewhere closed for the season.

The local specialties are real too: yakitori in Muroran, surf clams in Tomakomai, squid in Hakodate, ramen in Asahikawa, hanasaki crab in Nemuro, wine in Ikeda, Tokachi, and more.

Driving in Japan with a foreign license

If the game makes you want to take a real road trip, check your license first. You need an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. Licenses from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco and Taiwan can instead be used with an official Japanese translation. Licenses from mainland China cannot be used to drive in Japan. (Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, in Japanese)

FAQ

Is it free?

Yes. There’s no sign-up and nothing to buy. Just open the page and play. You don’t need to install an app.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes. The layout adjusts to your screen, so it works on a smartphone too. Sound is off at first, so you can play on a train.

Do I need to read Japanese?

No. The English version translates the whole game, including the day’s stories, place names and menus.

How many squares are there?

There are 37 real RV parks and campgrounds, or 38 squares including the starting point at New Chitose Airport. The coastal campgrounds can only be reached in summer.

Is the game over if I run out of money?

No. Your trip continues even at 0 yen. Destination bonuses, stamps and completed sets help you get back on your feet.

Once you’ve traveled around Hokkaido in the game, it’s time for the real thing. Find the RV parks from the board in our list of RV parks in Hokkaido, and compare camper van rentals on our Hokkaido camper van rental guide.

Play Hokkaido Sugoroku now →