Nanjamonja · Play notes
I love a card game called Nanjamonja, published in Japan by a board game company called Sugorokuya. You give your own made-up name to each of 12 mysterious creatures the first time it appears, then race to shout that name the next time it shows up. The rules are almost nothing, so why does it make everyone laugh this hard? And — a thing most Japanese players do not know — the game was born in Russia.
The first time was at a bowling alley in the basement of the EST building in Shibuya. A group of us from a club were waiting for a lane, and someone had brought Nanjamonja along. That was the start — we kept coming back to it after that.
On paper it sounds thin: flip a card, and if the creature is new, give it any name you like. Flip it again later, and be the first to shout that name. That is the whole game. But in practice, the fun does not come from the rule itself — it comes from who named what, and how.
Put together, I think what Nanjamonja really tests is the combination of naming sense and recall speed. As a card game that puts your naming sense on the spot, I have not found anything that does it better.
After enjoying it with the club, I bought my own copy of Nanjamonja Green (“Midori”). Just laying it out with family or friends reveals everyone's naming sense in the room, which makes it a good icebreaker even when some people at the table have just met.
There are two versions, White and Green, with different creature designs. Owning both lets more people play in one sitting.
Until I looked into it, I had no idea Nanjamonja was not a Japanese original. It began as Головоноги (Golovonogi), published by Простые правила (Simple Rules), a children's game publisher in Moscow.
| Original title | Головоноги (Golovonogi) — literally “cephalopods”, from golova (head) + nogi (legs). A plain description of creatures made of nothing but a head and limbs |
|---|---|
| Designer | Alena Lebedeva (Алёна Лебедева) |
| Illustrator | Nadezhda Fedotova (Надежда Федотова) |
| Publisher | Simple Rules (Простые правила), Moscow |
| First published | 2010 (revised edition 2015). Note: Sugorokuya's own product page lists “2011 (Russia)”, so sources differ by a year |
| Export title | Toddles-Bobbles (the follow-up is Toddles-Bobbles 2) |
It was never Russia-only: Granna in Poland published an edition too. This was a game already moving across borders under license.
This is the detail that impressed me most.
The Russian title, “Golovonogi”, simply describes what the creatures look like: a head and some legs. The Japanese title, “Nanjamonja”, comes from a real Japanese expression (nanja monja) used for a tree or an object whose identity nobody knows — the way villagers would point at some impressive unidentified tree and call it “the nanjamonja”.
So the Japanese title states the structure of the game itself: something whose identity is unknown, which you name anyway. You would never arrive there by translating the words. It is less a translation than a re-grasp of what the game is actually about.
Renaming the two sets is the same instinct. Abroad they were numbered 1 and 2; in Japan they became White and Green — easier to remember, and easier to say out loud.
The interesting part is that it was already catching on in Japan before the official Japanese edition existed. According to a Japanese blog covering Russian culture, the game took off after performers were shown playing it on a late-2015 TV program, and that demand is what led to the Japanese edition. (That is a secondhand account, so treat it as such.)
Sugorokuya released Nanjamonja White / Green on 1 February 2016 — 60 cards, 1,430 yen. And as of May 2024, cumulative domestic shipments had passed 1.5 million units, according to Sugorokuya's own press release, which notes the game was still growing eight years after release.
Being straight about this: the actual terms — royalty rate, duration, scope of exclusivity — have not been made public. What follows is what can be read from the published credits, plus how this normally works in the industry. None of it is a statement of fact about the contract.
Sugorokuya describes its business as including “localizing and publishing overseas board games” (founded April 2006, incorporated July 2010, led by Koji Maruta, with shops in Kichijoji and Jimbocho). Maruta has described their localization process as something worked out in discussion with both the original publisher and the designer — in one other title, he proposed changing the motif for a Japanese audience and the French designer agreed.
Line the series up, and you can watch the relationship deepen:
| White / Green 2016 | Publishing a Japanese edition of the Russian game |
|---|---|
| Deluxe Nov 2021 | Manufacturer listed as Simple Rules (Russia), distributed by Sugorokuya — but first published “2021 (Japan)”, i.e. a Japan-first edition |
| Oshiri 2025 | Manufacturer and publisher listed as Sugorokuya (Japan), first published “2025 (Japan)” — a new title originating in Japan, with an additional illustrator credited |
The key detail: even on Oshiri, a Japan-originated title, Lebedeva is still credited as the designer. That points to a license that preserves the original author's credit, not a buyout of the rights. From importing and selling, to making new editions in Japan — the relationship grew while the credit to the original creator stayed intact.
As a general industry pattern, such a deal is usually: a territory-limited exclusive license, a per-unit royalty, publisher and designer approval over changes to art, name and rules, and a fixed term with renewal. Again: that is the general pattern, not disclosed terms for this deal.
Nanjamonja aside, Sugorokuya is a company that brings overseas board games into Japanese households. If you enjoyed reading this, their official channels are worth a look.
I also happen to make Namaegao, a face-and-name memory app. Repeatedly experiencing how much fun there is in naming and calling out a name in Nanjamonja is part of what led there. Namaegao has its own original rules and creatures — it is not an imitation of Nanjamonja — but the idea that naming and recall carry their own fun genuinely traces back to Nanjamonja. I wanted to put that thanks in writing.
If you are connected to the rights holders, or you have spotted something factually off on this page, please reach out via the support page. I will check and correct it promptly.
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