Play cards from your hand, place the dice you unlock on actions on the board (dice placement) and then move those dice to the other side of the river. Players take turns choosing one of these three actions until everyone has passed. Many actions produce or cost raw materials (resource management).

Despite these simple rules, there are many ways to score points, both during the game and in the final score. During the game you send your pilgrims out, collect ghost cards, dragonflies, dragon cards, build buildings and place rocks, try to reach your goal cards and get as far as possible on the tracks near the lakes.

At the end of the game, players still score points for crystals on their player board, the starting player, various Bitoku cards, the treasures of the lakes, the Iwakura rocks, the values ​​of their dice, their vision cards, and the points visible on their player boards.

In short, Bitoku is a very versatile game with simple actions, but many possibilities and also with beautiful artwork and components.